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Student starts GoFundMe to cover second car flipping amidst rivalry weekend chaos

November 5, 2021
<p>A vehicle belonging to Jack Borchanian&#x27;s grandmother sits overturned on Oct. 30. Due to the insurance coverage on the vehicle, Borchanian&#x27;s family has to pay for the damages out of pocket. Courtesy of Jack Borchanian</p>

A vehicle belonging to Jack Borchanian's grandmother sits overturned on Oct. 30. Due to the insurance coverage on the vehicle, Borchanian's family has to pay for the damages out of pocket. Courtesy of Jack Borchanian

Jack Borchanian planned on spending the weekend of the Michigan State, Michigan rivalry game celebrating and seeing old friends. Instead, he ended up with a totaled car and a bill insurance wouldn’t cover.

Borchanian, a University of Michigan computer science junior, drove to East Lansing in his grandma’s 2009 Mercury Grand Marquis on Friday. He parked the car on Milford Street, right across from his friend’s house.

Around 7 p.m. on Saturday, Borchanian headed to the bars. Soon after leaving, he received a text from some friends who stayed at the house he was staying at.

“They didn’t actually know it was my car,” Borchanian said. “They saw people congregate around the car and it looked like they were about to vandalize it.”

His friends were correct. Borchanian soon received a video of the car in question and recognized it as his immediately. He left the bar and headed back towards Milton Street.

When he arrived, the damage had been done. His vehicle had been completely flipped over. The windows were smashed. Multiple people remained near the wreckage, laughing and taking photos with the vehicle. The police soon arrived.

After talking to his insurance company, Borchanian soon had another problem: He would have to pay for the damage out of pocket. His grandma’s car only had liability coverage. The damage could only be covered by collision coverage.

“We have just liability, which ensures that you don’t get sued in certain scenarios,” Borchanian said. “But it doesn’t actually cover any kind of external damages like that.”

He broke the news to his grandma soon after. She lives in an assisted living community and lends her car out to various family members— most recently, Jack.

“She was very disappointed to hear about it,” Borchanian said. “It’s just really, it’s really hard.”

In order to pay for a replacement vehicle, a cost estimated to be around $8,500, Borchanian started a GoFundMe on Nov. 3.

“This car held great sentimental value to my family as it had been driven by my sister, my cousins and my grandmother and late grandfather before me,” Borchanian wrote in the GoFundMe description. “My family now has to deal with the financial aftermath caused by the reckless actions.”

The fundraiser has been largely successful. At the time of publication, 167 donors have donated $6,821 in two days.

Borchanian said that he’s had various emotions during the entire ordeal. What started as sadness soon turned to anger. However, he’s working on controlling such feelings.

“When you see those videos of that happening to your own property, it really stirs up a lot of anger and a lot of resentment,” Borchanian said. “You kinda have to get those sorts of emotions under control ... That was really just a terrible feeling.”

Borchanian’s vehicle was one of two known vehicle flipping incidents in East Lansing in the aftermath of Michigan State’s victory over Michigan. These incidents were one part of the large-scale crimes that happened across the city on Oct. 30.

Click here to view and donate to Borchanian’s GoFundMe.

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