Shop error causes catasrtophic engine failure.
 

Long story short, I had a top end refresh done by a shop this summer only to lose the bottom end shortly after picking it up. The engine is now out of the boat and when we were pulling it apart we noticed that the wrong head gaskets were installed and the remaned heads that they sold me and installed were cracked!! This obviously caused the failure of the bottom end. My insurance company is going to pursue the shop for a new engine, however I was wondering if anyone knows what other course of action I might be able to take to recoup some of the money I lost while having the top end work done. I was changed for remaned heads which obviously were damaged before they were installed. The shop also charged me an absurd amount of hours for the work. My question is, what if anything I can do to go after the shop? Is there a particular type of lawyer I would want to speak with or is this a small claims court type thing?

Been there done it. There are so many variables its impossible to win this type of case. Other then sending a letter your insurance company won't go after the engine builder. They are usually just looking to stall or deny the payment they are going to have to make.

Insurance does not cover mechanical breakdown or failure.

Bad news: You have to lawyer up and go after the shop for faulty workmanship, deprecation of value, lose of use, ect.

A fellow boater just got done with this when the shop didn't install risers correctly causing one motor to ingest water.

Here is the kicker. Be ready to be bootless wile its tied up in court. His had to stay in current condition till every thing was warped up and settled since it was the evidence in the case. Several surveyors, and suits will come inspect the boat and engines. They come up with every excuse and reason to delay anything!!! Then they will point the finger at you and how you were responsible for the brake down. In hopes you get fed up and just say F*** it. You have to stay protestant, and have plenty of vacation time from work.

After 3 years Charley finely settled for $28K. He just got the boat back into the water.

Hope this helps a little.

Two things, was he able to collect and what did it cost to get that far?

Here's the sad part, we see this all of the time in the aviation world, and most of the time, a faulty overhauled engine results in multiple deaths. Now you will have lawyers banging the door down trying to get the case because there is big $ involved. In your case it is small money involved, so it's not even worth their time.

Only difference between a vulture and a lawyer????? The lawyer earns frequent flyer mileage.......

Nice avatar 302....CJ3?

Yeah, good eye. It is an 06 with about 600 hours.

Never imagined that religion would have a bearing on this problem :drink:

My insurance company has already written the check for the new engine. They are going to pursue the shop. I am just wondering about trying to recover some of the money from the work that they said they did, but didn't. Luckily, everything is very well documented from my builder who has it now. To be honest, I'm just happy to have a new engine, it would be great to recover some of the money I spent on the **** work, but if not it's not really that big of a deal.

@Enough 4 Play... Mine does, as long as it is not related to normal wear and tear.

.. sorry, double post

Yep he got a check for $28K around end of July 2013, (the shop f***ed up spring 2011). Now what he pd for retention fee I'm not sure of. Or his lawyer took the case for a % of the settlement. (witch is my guess) (Sue the shop for 60K, you get 28, lawyer gets 32??)

It has been a touchy subject so I just don't go there. This coming off season Im going to ask since his scarab is back in the water now.


^^^ Nice!! Who do you have insurance threw? I want to go with them :)

Never heard of insurance covering something like this.

Pretty easy to prove when the wrong head gaskets were installed along with cracked heads and exhaust valves installed incorrectly. Everything had to be very well documented as you can imagine. I'm just glad that I don't have to pursue the shop myself, even though I would like to try to get some of the original money back.

Foremost Insurance is who the boat is insured with. They have been amazing to work with.

What shop did the faulty work? Please warn so we can be mindful and aware down the road...

But do so, out of the public eye / forums, until things completely conclude.

Lol are you kidding me. You're trying to walk away from the table with more than you started? Dude you have money for a new motor! If I were you I would shut up, try to make everything disappear, and hope foremost rewrites your policy. You made out like a bandit.

Very Nice! I was a BE-400 driver for a while.

You took the words right out of my mouth. He comes on here acting as if he is out of pocket on this deal but goes on to say that Foremost paid to provide a new engine. The insurance company now has the right of recovery against the shop that caused the damages. Insurance is not designed to cover mechanical breakdown of this type so you are right about Foremost possibly non-renewing coverage. Insurance should not be used as a maintenance policy for your repairs.

WTF are you talking about? Mechanical breakdown was directly caused by the shop that did the work. My policy through Foremost covers any damage that is not directly related to normal wear and tear. The reason for my post was asking if there was anyway to recover money from work that I paid a shop to do that they failed to do. This isn't some sort of bull **** insurance scam. Maybe I didn't do a very good job of explaining the situation.

Farmers/Foremost are the best,,I have them for my car/home/boat..
Hit bottom 5-6 years ago and they paid for a new drive no questions asked..
Not the cheapest but like everything you get what you pay for..

you still dont get it,.... take what you have and move on. you are more than lucky.

Guess I'm confused to. What money are you wanting extra? For the original motor work or did they do additional work non motor related?

Never would have thought ins would cover a mechanical breakdown like this, sounds more like an issue for lawyers to handle. Either way, good luck.

I was just wondering "IF" there was any way to recoup any of the money I spent on the top end work where the mistakes were made. I spent $6500 for the shop to do the top end work and some other work, but from what I am seeing they didn't do a lot of the work they claimed that they did. For example, they said they had installed completely remaned 088 heads, however the heads they sold me and installed were cracked and look worse than the heads that came off. Again, these were supposed to be completely rebuilt and "like new". Anyways, it sounds like I should just be happy with the fact that the ins company is footing the bill, which I am. I was more curious than anything.

in all my years working at a marina i have never seen an insurance company pay for faulty work done by a repair shop .you say your insurance company does ??. in an other thread you say they pay for anything other than normal wear and tear ?? if thats the case i say let the motors freeze this year and get new power .never happen !!!. i say be happy you got what you did and dont open a can of worms

Believe me, I am VERY happy with how everything was handled. I had no idea that this sort of thing would not be covered in most policies. Thanks for your input guys!

I owned an Insurance Agency longer than a lot of folks ,here,have been on this planet. I have heard of a couple BIG dollar yacht policies with that type of mechanical break down coverage but have never seen nor read one. Boat policies are either 'a named peril' policy.. (listed perils) or 'all risk' which has exclusions.of coverage listed. Never having sold a Farmers /Formost Policy...... I called a Claims Rep with Foremost. Her response was.... "unless it's a Policy that she has never seen issued with Foremost... there would not be any coverage". She could not speak for Farmers and she tried to connect me to a Farmer's claim Rep but there were none available. I'm by far not the sharpest pencil in the backpack but I really don't know how, if the facts were as presented here, that claim got paid.

For what it's worth, you should just get the boat fixed and live happily ever after.....

all.....IMHO