{"id":507215,"date":"2026-04-01T14:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T14:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/507215\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T14:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T14:30:08","slug":"aaa-reverses-38k-denial-after-local-4-helps-inkster-family-with-fathers-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/507215\/","title":{"rendered":"AAA reverses $38K denial after Local 4 helps Inkster family with father\u2019s claim"},"content":{"rendered":"

INKSTER, Mich. \u2013 An Inkster<\/a> family was nearly out $38,000 for damage to their deceased father\u2019s cabin after AAA refused to cover their claim for nearly a year. <\/p>\n

They turned to Local 4, and now the insurance company says their claim is eligible and will be processed accordingly. <\/p>\n

We had just gotten to the car after speaking to Jeffrey Woodruff and checking their email. <\/p>\n

There it was: AAA now said the claim was eligible.<\/p>\n

They turned right back around to deliver the news Woodruff had been waiting nearly a year to hear.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou solved it for us,\u201d Woodruff said. \u201cThank you so much. There you go, Channel 4 News, the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just five minutes earlier, Woodruff had told us how this all started. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad bought a house out in Jackson in 85, I believe it was,\u201d Woodruff said of his dad, Alvin. \u201cIt was just a small, one-room summer cottage.\u201d<\/p>\n

For 40 years, Alvin and the entire family turned that summer cottage house into a home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went out there all the time,\u201d Woodruff said. \u201cWe have many memories of camping in his backyard and fires.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alvin died at the end of 2023.<\/p>\n

Heartbroken, but determined to protect what he left behind, Woodruff says the family still checked on the place week after week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lifetime neighbor over there that would mow the lawn and check on the house and stuff like that,\u201d Woodruff said. <\/p>\n

As the winter crept in, the gas furnace was left running at 60 degrees. The bills for the house show the furnace was on. <\/p>\n

All other appliances had been removed from the house the summer before, aside from the dishwasher, because it was electric. <\/p>\n

The family says the house is also heavily insulated. <\/p>\n

In January of 2025, the family says there was a -25 degree cold snap, and the furnace stopped working.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey walked into a waterfall,\u201d Woodruff said. \u201cOver the course of a week, the house got colder and colder and burst the pipes.\u201d <\/p>\n

The damage was devastating. The family immediately told AAA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am pretty sure, from the time he bought that house in 85, he insured his car through AAA, he insured his girlfriend\u2019s car through AAA, and the home, and he only filed one minor claim, a couple thousand for siding damage,\u201d Woodruff said. <\/p>\n

They had everything repaired. All told, it was $38,000. They got a denial letter from AAA in the mail. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys filed this claim, and then they denied it for what reason?\u201d I asked Woodruff. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey said we didn\u2019t take \u2018reasonable precautions,\u2019\u201d Woodruff said. <\/p>\n

We asked Woodruff why this denial felt so personal. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s our inheritance from my father,\u201d Woodruff said. \u201cThat\u2019s what he left us. They are taking part of our inheritance is how I feel about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, he\u2019s grateful to have a piece of his dad back. <\/p>\n

\u201cKyla Russell and Channel 4 News, they get it done,\u201d Woodruff said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for bringing this to our attention,\u201d AAA told Local 4. \u201cUpon further review, we confirmed the claim is eligible under the policy and will be processed accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INKSTER, Mich. \u2013 An Inkster family was nearly out $38,000 for damage to their deceased father\u2019s cabin after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4176,177841,4174,4175,56,54,55,51027],"class_list":{"0":"post-507215","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-inkster","11":"tag-personal-finance","12":"tag-personalfinance","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom","16":"tag-wayne-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}