If you live in Houston you know the construction on 610 in the Galleria area. I went under 610 on Westheimer tonight towards the Galleria. For those of you who don't know area, this is a very yuppy upscale part of town... it's the state's largest shopping district. Anyways, I said that to say that there was an unsually large amount of rocks on the road and piles on the curbs (not just pebbles, but nickel and quarter size round rocks). There was no immediete construction on the street... everything was 40 yards+ away, so obviously they didn't clean up their previous mess OR they don't tie down their loads hauling around the rocks over this street, a street frequented by Ferraris and Porsches.

ANYWAYS, I am driving along and "THUD".... all I see is a rock bounce off the hood area of my car. I park and find a nice nickle size dent and a little scratch not on the hood but on the side of the car . I really have no idea how it happened as traffic only moves about 30 miles an hour here, but someone's tire around me picked up a rock and chunked it. I am just glad it didn't hit my glass! I had my friend with me as a witness, but he's blind so he's only and audible witness!

I am thinking about going after the Public Works Department of Houston in the same motive as those whose rims are busted on pot holes. I had my digicam on me so I snapped picks of all the rocks... the lack of construction... and the neglect on the city's part to keep the streets clean of debree. What if it had struck someone on the head? There's no reason they can't keep rocks off the street... ESPECIALLY rocks of that size!!!

I just want them to pay my $125 dent removal bill. Any chance?

i would definatley bring it up to the city to see if they can help you out with the problem but call a PAINTLESS dent removal company and see if they can take it out ...we use those guys at work and they work wonders sometimes.

its worth trying but i can imagine it would take forever to get them to pay. and i drive over that part of 610 every day and along westheimer. that whole area north of 59 is all messed up. i hate it, especially with my new car. scares me.

Ok, I have some pics. Let me first explain a few things.

PICTURE 1: This is the dent and scratch. I circled the dent in red because I took the picture at night, and dings are hard to get a picture of.

PICTURE 2: Take a look at the street! Also, notice the sidewalk! Obviously they have rocks flying around here quite a bit. No construction is on this street ... just blocks around it. Note that this part of town is Houston's Beverly Hills. I feel this circumstance is different than blaming the city for getting a rock on the freeway. Why? Because I can point at the city's dump trucks dropping the rocks!

PICTURE 3: Rocks up close.

http://home.alltel.net/dhdelony/dent01.jpg
http://home.alltel.net/dhdelony/dent02.jpg
http://home.alltel.net/dhdelony/dent03.jpg

Maybe I'm crazy, but it's defientely worth a try.[/img]

I don't know about Houston, Hugh (almost said Limping Poodle, sorry), but Seattle, for example, actually has a fair sized budget for those expenses - repairing citizen's cars damaged by city streets.

Give it a try - the worst that can happen is they say 'no.'

no the worst that can happen is he waits in line to talk to someone for 10 hours only to be told no.

UNBELIEVABLE.

Last night, just before I posted here about my incident above, I emailed the director of public works for Houston. He personally calls my cell at 7:30 this morning (first thing, I assume) and faxes me the forms I need to file a claim on the contractors who dumped the rocks on the road. He says it's a fairly common occurance and they have insurance for it. I am hoping since I have photographic proof and a witness and the fact my claim is only a couple hundred bucks they will pay up.

Whether or not I get paid, I have to admit that for being the 4th largest city in the country, Houston is on its game.