A couple weeks ago, he was hauling his son's four wheeler, and had it tied down with four ratchet straps, one at each corner of the bed.
He was running down the highway in Huntingdon county, when the end of the front passenger side tie down must have come lose in the wind. Next thing he knew, "It felt like I ran over a motorcycle!"
The tie down strap worked its way between his truck cab and pick up bed, and got wrapped around the drive shaft. The drive shaft reeled in the ratchet strap like a high speed winch, drawing the bed down rapidly on the rear suspension. It destroyed his rear suspension and his drive shaft, and bent down a deep "V" in the front of his bed, which is currently for sale on Pennswoods at http://classifieds.pennswoods.net/classifieds/viewad.cgi?adindex=1394156:
The tie down ratchet was hooked to a loop in the bed of the truck, which took the brunt of the pull from the strap, so the four wheeler was not damaged.
But between the new bed, new rear suspension, and new driveshaft, this little tie down strap caused a $7,000 repair job!
Bud went to his insurance agent to file a claim. He says he told the girl, "I was driving down the road, and a UFO came out of no where and hit the bed of my pick up and blew out my rear suspension and driveshaft! Does that sound unbelievable? Well, then let me tell you what really happened. Its even more unbelievable..."
They paid the claim.