Looking to get info on the responsibility of damage during transport. A mobile home driver transports a used home. If damage occurs as a result of an accident such as axle giving out as a result of excess weight is the transporter responsible or his insurance? What are the typical factors? Does insurance make the mobile home owner whole or only up to book value of unit ?
I participate on both sides of this as the park owner and setup guy in NC. You should have some sort of contract with your mover/transporter. If the mover and transporter are different guys it’ll devolve into a finger pointing nightmare amongst them as to who is at fault ALTHOUGH, as far as DOT is concerned, the transporter is technically on the hook for anything that happens while that house is on his truck. Transparently, when I was still doing used houses for other people, my contract specifically stated that I was not responsible for any damage to the house due to latent defects/damage (i.e. water damage) and that I was not liable for anything that happened to the home other than due to my own negligence. Loosely translated: your house folds, not my problem.
On a practical basis, the used home is rarely worth the legal lengths you’ll have to go to collect anything. On the insurance side they’re going to pay out as little as possible. It would probably be in your best interest to at least have in the moving contract what the home is worth (what you paid) that way you’ve potentially got a leg to stand on if you are seeking more than book value to make you whole.
The problem you have is exactly why I do exclusively new homes except for a few park owners that are easy to work with and understand the risks of moving used homes.
Also - don’t buy a used home that has been altered in any way. Generally, we don’t touch a used home that isn’t factory. We’ll make exceptions for minor things like new kitchen cabinets or an aftermarket metal roof but NEVER buy a metal house that has been shingled or sheetrocked. Don’t touch a home with a corrugated frame (ripples in the I-beam). And if you live in an area that sees a lot of annual rain, don’t touch a masonite siding house. The masonite rots then the bandboard rots.
I have a question for Jake. I am completely new at mobile homes. I purchased a mobile home a few years ago and had it on my uncle’s property. I put on a new metal roof, drywall, ceramic tile flooring. We bought property and had a mobile home moving company come out to give us a quote to move our home. They came inside and looked outside. They were aware of our ceramic tile, and our drywall. I assume that they saw the roof when they were walking around looking at everything else. They gave us a price and never said any of that was a problem. After the first day of them trying to move the home, the frame bent. They said they were welding some spots to fix it and then it would be stronger than ever and they would try again. They got it turned and moved it about 100 feet, and tried to go over a tree stump. The welds broke and now my house is currently on a tree stump. The inside looks un-repairable. Am I responsible for the damages?
YES, All the ADDED weight—roof, flooring, and drywall was you’re doing—now pay the piper. You needed to ask questions first before all the added weight. Being on a tree stump is bad but it happens on a public highway—terrible.
There are a lot of movers out there that will move anything and when things go sideways just disappear. It sounds like you found one of them. But yes, they never should have agreed to move the home. The biggest no-no’s in moving used houses are shingle roofs on metal/metal houses and drywall in metal/metal houses. I don’t come across tile often but wouldn’t touch that either unless it was just a bathroom.
Technically the mover is responsible for damaging the home since he’s the one that parked it on a tree but on a practical basis it sounds like he disappeared and its something you’ll have to deal with.
All you need is his name.
Every trucker is registered with the DOT.
https://li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov/LIVIEW/pkg_carrquery.prc_carrlist
SDGuy—yes ones moving such need to be licensed and registered BUT with the fees for such the profit is nil. We had an unlicensed mover move an old RV with the slide outs still out (12 feet wide) and the cops looked the other way!!! 25% of motorists in Florida have NO insurance. In Mi. the DOT will wait for the 10-wheeler just to get to a main road and pull out the scales and smile with their control and power over hard working people and maybe 2 hours later after receiving a +$500 fine let you move on. We are being regulated and taxed to death. Next door park sold for $25,000,000 and the new tax is over $300,000.
Moving an RV is a whole different enchilada than moving a MH.
An RV can be pulled/moved by anyone with a Class A license. Out here in CA if the RV weighs 10K GVW or more than you need a Class A.
I agree that we are being over taxed, over regulated, etc.
Luckily, we live in a (mostly) free capitalist society and nobody is being forced to move MHs. If there is no money in it then don’t do it. Which makes the supply of drivers go down, which makes the price to move one go up, which makes it profitable to move one, the market gets efficient.
This is Econ 101 stuff.