SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) – A man is claiming he hit a Bird scooter with his SUV on a busy San Diego freeway causing him to pay hundreds of dollars in repairs.
Now, Brand Jackson is in a dispute with Bird. Jackson claims that early Monday morning he was merging onto Interstate 15 from Interstate 8 in Mission Valley when he ran over the Bird scooter causing serious damage to his new car.
Jackson said he is concerned his insurance rate will go up because of the incident.
He also said he has given Bird a lot of business.
“If they look at my email and saw how often I rode their scooters – I have given them more than $500 worth of business. Sounds like Bird is just going to brush it off and assume I am not going to do anything about it,” he said.
Jackson claims the left side of his car “ran directly over what was a Bird scooter."
"These things are really heavy," he said. "Basically, [it] sounded like it sawed my entire car in half.”
Jackson’s new Mazda CX-5 SUV had a split tire and a banged up undercarriage, according him.
As soon as he learned the scooter collision had caused more than $1,000 in damage, Jackson reached out to Bird believing each scooter is trackable. He claims Bird should have known the scooter was on the freeway and should have had it removed.
In an email response from Bird by a “Kathie Bird,” the company told Jackson, “The company does not compensate third-party causes to property damage.”
Jackson said Bird is “a billion-dollar company. They should do a little bit better job of addressing those types of issues.”
In another email by Bird to Jackson, the company quoted the DMV driver handbook which states: “Drivers have to scan their surroundings at all times.”
With his SUV in the repair shop, Bird tried to offer a bright side by crediting Jackson with a $10 ride credit saying:
“Hey sorry for the inconvenience. We will credit you $10 to ride Bird.”
A Bird representative told News 8 there have not been any Bird rides listed from the location of the site where Jackson claims the incident took place or in the vicinity for the last two weeks. Further, the spokesperson said there is no evidence that a Bird scooter was even involved.
Jackson insisted it was a Bird scooter – adding that his wife drove separately and agrees it was a Bird scooter.
Jackson said he is considering legal action.