The owner of a $1.2m Bugatti Veyron EB is being sued for allegedly driving his superc

[csv8]

His crash made a splash on YouTube, but now man who drove $1m Bugatti into lake sued for allegedly doing it on purpose
December 2, 2011 - 7:58AM

Bugatti insurance a wet claim
The owner of a $1.2m Bugatti Veyron EB is being sued for allegedly driving his supercar into a Texan lake on purpose.

When Andy House drove his $US1m ($980,000) supercar into a Texas swamp he said it was an accident, caused by a rogue pelican in his way.

Two years later he is being sued by his insurer, who claims he did it deliberately to collect a $US2.2 million ($2.15 million) insurance payout.

Mr House, a car dealer from Lufkin, Texas, careered off the road into a saltwater Galveston Bay lagoon in November 2009.


Before the crash ... Andy House drives his Bugatti along the road.
Unbeknown to him, some car enthusiasts were filming him - after all, he was driving a French-built Bugatti Veyron, one of only 300 ever made.

The video became a YouTube hit, and has been watched more than 2.6 million times. No doubt, many of these hits came from Mr House's insurer, Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Co.

At the time, Mr House said he swerved off the road to avoid hitting a pelican. But his insurer argues there is no pelican to be seen in the video, and no skid marks on the road.


The Houston Chronicle reports that in addition to claiming Mr House drove the car intentionally into the lagoon, the insurer also claims he ran the car engine for 15 minutes after hitting the water, damaging the 1000 horsepower engine.

The company also claims that Mr House borrowed $US1million from a friend to buy the car, and then insured it at $US2million, as a collectors vehicle - doubling his money if anything happened to it.



The UK's Daily Mail reports federal magistrate Judge John R Froeschner refused to settle the matter at a summary hearing on November 10, deciding he was not qualified to sort out the "quizzical factual circumstances".

No date has been set for the hearing.

The Bugatti Veyron is the fastest car on the road, with a top speed of 408km/h (special edition models have a top speed of 431km/h). It is powered by a 8.0-litre, quad-turbocharged 16-cylinder engine that produces 736kW of power - roughly double that of a regular supercar.

There are no Veyrons registered in Australia but once you added local taxes (including stamp duty, GST and the luxury car tax) it would cost closer to $2 million.

smh.com.au

My comment would get me banned by the Mods!!!!