Wind storm damages Aggie Village cars
Thirty vehicles parked in Aggie Village were hammered by gravel late last Friday after weather reports throughout the state predicted high winds.
Utah State University is prone to canyon winds already so it’s no wonder with the extra wind warnings that gravel on top of Aggie Village apartments was swept into windshields and the exterior of many cars.
“There was glass and paint damage,” said Dale Huffaker, director of USU Risk Management Services.
The cost of the damage is unknown at the time, but Huffaker guessed it to be in the thousands.
“We know it’s not a few dollars,” he said.
Police reports filed by many residents following the gravel damage reached Huffaker by Thursday, so the university is still in the process of collecting the facts. Andrew Wilson, a graduate student in welding engineering, got an estimate on his broken, rear window, then took that estimate to the Risk Management office. They told him they couldn’t control the extremely strong wind that night.
“I understand that, but they are responsible for the gravel on the roofs,” Wilson said.
While he’s waiting to see what happens, some residents have already had their cars repaired.
“If they don’t come through we’ll just have to go to a junk yard and get a cheap window,” he said.
Residents of Aggie Village, like Wilson, sign contracts before moving into each unit. According to Housing and Food Services Director, Steven Jenson, there is no stipulation in the signed documents that USU is responsible for compensating in a situation of this nature.
“Nothing in the contract addresses this type of thing,” he said.
He added the contracts “make no warranties about the weather.” Acts of God, as he called them, are not in the Housing office’s control. Typically the damage, in this type of predicament, is not covered by USU.
Kurtis Reed, a senior majoring in biology and a resident of Aggie Village, owns a GMC Jimmy. A little after midnight on Saturday he was informed by another resident that his driver’s side window had been smashed in. He ran outside to secure his vehicle and found $1,200 in window damages alone and severe chipping of the paint all over his SUV. Monday he took the estimate to the Risk Management office and was not pleased with the “pessimistic” employee who accepted the paperwork.
“I was really disappointed with [Risk Management],” he said. “It was university property that damaged my personal vehicle.”
He said that, like most college students, he can’t afford to repair the entire vehicle. He fixed his driver’s side window on his own dime, but if Risk Management doesn’t come through, Reed has no idea what he’ll do.
“The [office] told us it takes two to three weeks for payment, if they rule in our favor,” he said.
Risk Management Services has informed university insurance, which is controlled by the state, Huffaker said, and adjusters have been assigned to assess the damage.
“It’s like a puzzle right now. We don’t know all the facts but we’re piecing what we find together,” Huffaker added.
Risk Management Services will get advice from the adjusters and then see what can and will be done. Most insurance companies offer comprehensive damage for their insured, Huffaker said.
“But I do understand and have been told that most students don’t have that,” he added.
Although no final decision has been made at this time, Huffaker’s best advice for car owners in this situation and any situation like it “is to contact their own [insurance] carriers first and see what they can do.”
-ireneh@cc.usu.edu
Glass that was broken out from a car window is scattered on the asphalt of an Aggie Village parking lot. (Photo by John Zsiray)