A Central Texas woman filed a claim with the contractor’s insurance and they sent a letter of denial in return, stating there was not enough proof of negligence.
CORYELL COUNTY, Texas — Central Texans are still sharing their complaints on a completed section of U.S. Highway 84 between McGregor and Oglesby that reportedly left dings, scratches and cracks in their vehicles.
The complaints are now shifting to the contractor who was hired to do the job, and how they are not taking responsibility or paying for the damage that’s been done.
Brandi Massingill couldn’t avoid the route in question as it was a part of her daily commute to work. She said her car shows for it, too.
“My entire car is gonna have to be repainted,” Massingill said. “I only had it for two months from the dealership when all of this damage happened, so it’s not like I don’t have proof that my car didn’t look like this before. We just really want them to stand up and fix our vehicles. We’re not asking for anything other than that.”
Massingill said she first started taking on damage from the roadway in September 2023. The damage is still there and since then, she’s been fighting Cox Paving of Texas, Inc. and their insurance.
“Cox Paving finally did give me the insurance information for their company,” Massingill recalled. “I went through about a two month long process to try to get them to take care of my vehicle. They had an adjuster come out and my car was covered in pink marks. All of that for them to send me a letter of denial stating that there was not enough proof that they were negligent.”
However, Massingill said it’s been negligence from the start and she knows that because she’s worked for a road construction company for nearly 10 years.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Massingill added. “It was negligent from the get go and they know it. Anyone that’s ever done road construction knows that and people probably that haven’t done road construction know it. It wasn’t done properly or those issues would not have been happening.”
Those issues entail gravel flying off the roadway in every direction. Massingill said it was unavoidable for any vehicle that drove that stretch of roadway before it got fixed.
In February there was work happening on this stretch of roadway after 6 News’ original story about it. TxDOT – Waco District said crews were “conducting a fog seal application on US 84.” The statement also said that application mitigates rock loss “which has been an issue on this roadway.”
Massingill is disappointed and how the contractor is handling the situation and believes she and other victims shouldn’t be the ones to foot the bill.
“It gives people, like hard working construction people, a really bad name and that’s not fair because not everyone’s like that,” Massingill added. “I still don’t feel like that’s my burden to have to bear and I don’t think that’s any of these people’s burden to have to bear.”
Massingill said she’s had to make a claim with her own insurance which will raise her premium. The adjustment came back with $7,700 worth of damage, and could be even higher.
6 News has reached out to Cox Paving of Texas, Inc. several times since February and still hasn’t heard back from them as of publish time.
