Car damaged in private car park
Discussion
Hello all. A friend of mine at work lives in a fairly new block of flats with subterranean residents' parking.
One day she went to her car to find some of the ceiling above her car had come away leaving dents on her car. She contacted the building management people who said not their problem, use your car insurance. My friend, understandably, is not keen to do this as her premium will increase and she doesn't feel like it's her fault. She thinks the building insurance should take care of it.
The management company has responded saying that the building is subject to regular checks and has passed them therefore they are not negligent and therefore not liable.
I think, legally speaking, if they're not deemed to be negligent then they're not liable, but does anyone have experience of this sort of thing and what was the outcome?
Thanks in advance.
One day she went to her car to find some of the ceiling above her car had come away leaving dents on her car. She contacted the building management people who said not their problem, use your car insurance. My friend, understandably, is not keen to do this as her premium will increase and she doesn't feel like it's her fault. She thinks the building insurance should take care of it.
The management company has responded saying that the building is subject to regular checks and has passed them therefore they are not negligent and therefore not liable.
I think, legally speaking, if they're not deemed to be negligent then they're not liable, but does anyone have experience of this sort of thing and what was the outcome?
Thanks in advance.
I would think that the building owner is liable negligent or not getting them to admit and pay might be a problem.
Her insurance company will have to be informed, so her premium will likely be affected whatever, even if the building owner pays up, this is what she is paying her insurers for, to deal with stuff like this. They have vastly more experience in dealing with matters like this than your mate. If its a £500 fix then they are no likely to contest liability, if its £15K they might.
However I am not sure that would be my biggest concern... bits should not be falling off a building. If its her space whats to stop it happening again?
Her insurance company will have to be informed, so her premium will likely be affected whatever, even if the building owner pays up, this is what she is paying her insurers for, to deal with stuff like this. They have vastly more experience in dealing with matters like this than your mate. If its a £500 fix then they are no likely to contest liability, if its £15K they might.
However I am not sure that would be my biggest concern... bits should not be falling off a building. If its her space whats to stop it happening again?
It is an allocated space. The ceiling has since been repaired and there have been no further instances.
The cost to repair the car is £1800.
She's informed her car insurance who've said it should be the building insurance covering it, but she's not making a claim yet because it will almost certainly increase her premium. It may well do regardless, of course.
The cost to repair the car is £1800.
She's informed her car insurance who've said it should be the building insurance covering it, but she's not making a claim yet because it will almost certainly increase her premium. It may well do regardless, of course.
Mr Pointy said:
If a slate comes off a neighbour's roof or their tree gets blown over & damages your car it's down to your insurance, unless you can prove negligence. This is likley to be the same situation.
This is slightly different situation, the lease likely imposes maintenance of the common areas and insurance of those areas for the benefit of the lease holders. I had a sewage leak in a flat that had it come from the flat above would have required negligence to claim against that occupier, as it came from the communal sewage system the building insurance covered the repairs.
Slightly different scenario but an old colleague of mine had damage to an outbuilding after a limb from an old oak tree fell into it, that belonged to the local council.
No manner of letters and and threats of court action would make them admit liability as they also said that they had carried out checks the previous year and found them to all be in good condition.
The following year the council were out with a chain saw removing various limbs from trees that looked precarious.
Best of luck but I think unless you have deep pockets and a lot of time, it ain’t worth the aggro.
No manner of letters and and threats of court action would make them admit liability as they also said that they had carried out checks the previous year and found them to all be in good condition.
The following year the council were out with a chain saw removing various limbs from trees that looked precarious.
Best of luck but I think unless you have deep pockets and a lot of time, it ain’t worth the aggro.
jamesson said:
It is an allocated space. The ceiling has since been repaired and there have been no further instances.
The cost to repair the car is £1800.
She's informed her car insurance who've said it should be the building insurance covering it, but she's not making a claim yet because it will almost certainly increase her premium. It may well do regardless, of course.
Not sure I understand the logic in not claiming - her insurance is unlikely to go up by more than £1,800 - that's even assuming it goes up at all, which is not quite as certain as many people on PH seem to think.The cost to repair the car is £1800.
She's informed her car insurance who've said it should be the building insurance covering it, but she's not making a claim yet because it will almost certainly increase her premium. It may well do regardless, of course.
nikaiyo2 said:
I had a sewage leak in a flat that had it come from the flat above would have required negligence to claim against that occupier, as it came from the communal sewage system the building insurance covered the repairs.
You building insurance covers damage to your property as a result of water/sewage leak etc. It doesn't cover damage to your car. Your claim was an own damage claim on the buildings insurance. This is a third party claim on the communal buildings insurance. And to be successful, she will have to prove negligence. Thank you all for the replies so far.
In terms of her car insurance, her renewal premium went from £300 to over £900 because her querying whether or not her car insurance would/should cover it was listed as an open claim.
She feels, quite understandably, that she shouldn’t have to pay any extra when this isn’t her fault and in this case her premium would be going up substantially.
In terms of her car insurance, her renewal premium went from £300 to over £900 because her querying whether or not her car insurance would/should cover it was listed as an open claim.
She feels, quite understandably, that she shouldn’t have to pay any extra when this isn’t her fault and in this case her premium would be going up substantially.
Maybe she should change insurance companies? A claim of that size should not be tripling the insurance, even if she's lost some no claims.
I had a fault claim of very very much more than that in Autumn 2022, which made sod all difference to my premium in 2023 (albeit with protected NCD).
I had a fault claim of very very much more than that in Autumn 2022, which made sod all difference to my premium in 2023 (albeit with protected NCD).
jamesson said:
Thank you all for the replies so far.
In terms of her car insurance, her renewal premium went from £300 to over £900 because her querying whether or not her car insurance would/should cover it was listed as an open claim.
She feels, quite understandably, that she shouldn’t have to pay any extra when this isn’t her fault and in this case her premium would be going up substantially.
Part of the increase in premium is due to her having an incident whether she claimed or not and doesn't matter whether it was her fault or not.In terms of her car insurance, her renewal premium went from £300 to over £900 because her querying whether or not her car insurance would/should cover it was listed as an open claim.
She feels, quite understandably, that she shouldn’t have to pay any extra when this isn’t her fault and in this case her premium would be going up substantially.
For insurance purposes, she is now statistically more at risk so her premium goes up. I also found that out the hard way with the insurance company - didn't make a claim but explained by insurance company why my premium went up.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff