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Jun 14, 2022 20:27:49 GMT
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Hi everyone,
I thought I would ask for some advice as if anyone could answer it would be you lot.
A couple of days ago my elderly next door neighbour was reversing their car onto our shared driveway. His foot apparently slipped and proceeded to ram through the garage door pushing my corrado through my tool boxes and shelving and then through the back of the prefab concrete garage. Now this is where it gets complicated, due to the garage door and frame being pushed through the garage is has pushed the concrete supports for the asbestos roof back.
As you can imagine this has made a right mess, it also complicates things as I am currently renting the property I live in. But also my car being off the road for numerous years and not being insured.
The elderly next door neighbour has obviously owned up to it being his fault and to go through his car insurance.
With the little info I have given, sorry.
I have contacted his insurance and told them I will be making a claim due to damages to my car, spare parts for my car and also tool boxes.
What Limited space I can currently view my car it isn't a total loss, short a new bonnet and a slam panel which was placed infront of the car upright a new passnger wing. Obviously until the garage door has been removed and the car removed from the garage to have a proper assessment.
Should I speak to a solicitor? Should I kiss my car good bye and subsequently years and years of hardwork and money?
Thanks for any advice
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slater
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,390
Club RR Member Number: 78
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Neighbourly damageslater
@slater
Club Retro Rides Member 78
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Not got house contents insurance who could help?
If there no insurance your end I'd send them the bill first. They should then be able to get a payout for it on thier insurance. If not its solicitor and courts job I think.
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Hiya,
Sorry totally forgot to mention the garage isn't covered in the contents insurance (cries).
I have been pricing up good used panels and they can still be found but I'm afraid if the price keeps rising the insurance might just so hell no!
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squonk
Part of things
Posts: 855
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There is always (usually) the option of buying the car back from the insurance company if it is deemed a total loss. I have done that three times and have come out very much in profit every time. To the insurance company a vehicle of that age that isn't on the road will be nothing more than scrap. Hence its purchase price back to you will probably be less than the cost of them having to get transport to take it away.
Personally I'd be more concerned about the asbestos content of the garage roof. Getting copanies to deal with that is both difficult and expensive.
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2004 Chevrolet Avalanche Z71 2005 Mercedes CLK320 Cabriolet 1996 Mercedes C180 Elegance Auto Saloon 1996 Rover 620Ti (Dead fuel pump) 1992 Toyota HiLux Surf 1987 Range Rover Vogue (Rusty) 1992 Range Rover Vogue SE (More Rusty) 2006 Chrysler Grand Voyager 2008 Corsa 1.4 Design
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Some years ago one of my vehicles became a total loss. I told the insurance company I was keeping the wreck and asked the procedure. They admitted that it would cost them more than it was worth to haul it away and just let me have it.
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paul99
Part of things
Posts: 410
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It's up to his insurance to sort out and make good. You don't need insurance on a car that's off the road, he has entered your property and caused damage, the fact it's a vehicle is irrelevant.
You need to be back to where you were before, so the car and your landlords building both need repair.
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slater
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,390
Club RR Member Number: 78
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Neighbourly damageslater
@slater
Club Retro Rides Member 78
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Jun 15, 2022 12:52:42 GMT
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Yeh I think you misunderstand how insurance works. They can write off his car but not yours! You just send the bill for what it costs to fix. They have no say in how you fix it or even if you fixed it or spent the money on beer tbh! You are literally claiming damages from them. I think there is some kind of legal process to stop you claiming for costs that you didnt really occur but that's where solicitors may well come in to it.
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,712
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Neighbourly damageDez
@dez
Club Retro Rides Member 34
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Jun 15, 2022 13:13:42 GMT
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Realistically, you need to return everything (that’s car, garage, and any other damaged items) to pre-accident condition, then hand the bill over. OR possibly get multiple quotes to show what it will cost and get a settlement based on that, but that method is open to wild misuse by both sides. . Obviously there will be a many different trades involved by the sounds, from builders to auto body to asbestos removal specialists.
As mentioned the fact it’s another vehicle is largely irrelevant, the point being he’s left the highway and damaged property, which means it’s the third party liability part of his insurance you will be testing not the road risk.
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Jun 15, 2022 13:51:49 GMT
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Also, if they ask to take the car away for assement, tell them to jog on. You wont see it again & they will write it off & offer you next to nothing. As other's have said, *they also cant write your car off*.
Do you have any insurance that has legal cover?
*They have a legal duty to re-instate your property how it was, however they will try and write your car off as it's cheaper for them.
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Last Edit: Jun 15, 2022 14:51:07 GMT by joem83
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Jun 15, 2022 14:32:30 GMT
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Yeh I think you misunderstand how insurance works. They can write off his car but not yours! You just send the bill for what it costs to fix. They have no say in how you fix it or even if you fixed it or spent the money on beer tbh! You are literally claiming damages from them. I think there is some kind of legal process to stop you claiming for costs that you didnt really occur but that's where solicitors may well come in to it. They can and will, had it happen to me twice on non fault claims
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Jun 15, 2022 14:41:28 GMT
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They can write off his car but not yours! They absolutely can and will write your/his car off, I've had 2 written off that were non-fault accidents, the first one wasn't even being driven but some clown rear ended it on a straight piece of road.
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paul99
Part of things
Posts: 410
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Jun 15, 2022 15:36:52 GMT
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Stand your ground. If they think it can be replaced, ask them where and don't get fobbed off.
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mrbig
Part of things
Semi-professional Procrastinator
Posts: 461
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Jun 15, 2022 15:42:17 GMT
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Make sure you play hardball with them. Find adverts for similar cars for sale, play on the 'cherished classic' angle and don't accept the first offer. If you put in a bit of legwork to demonstrate that the car has significantly more value than a £1k scrapper, they should play ball.
I know you are probably already thinking this, but laid up insurance is not expensive, Classicline (recommended on here) cover my beetle for about £90 a year including all spare parts and tools etc.
Best of luck getting it sorted.
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1969 German Look Beetle - in progress
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Jun 15, 2022 17:41:02 GMT
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As mentioned above, my understanding is that the insurance company have to put you back in the position you were in before the accident, the problem with that is that means if you had a car with a market value of 5K they either have to repair it or give you 5K and they don't have to repair it if they believe its cheaper to just pay you out.
What they don't have to do is pay you more for it than its market value just because you have poured your heart, soul and bank balance into it which is (relativly) fine with a modern car but when the condition of an old car can vary so much its hard to find comparable ones to set a price.
When I had someone hit my Riley Elf the insurance company paid me out for the repair because they didn't want to get involved with it on an old car due to the risk of more work being required, sourcing parts and potential problems with the quality of repair by a bodyshop not used to working on old cars (the bodyshop they got me to take it to for an estimate wanted to replace a whole load of body panels on it that were no longer available).
With the damage to the garage, the issue might be that they are not liable for betterment which they might argue removing an asbestos garage and replacing with new is. I would suggest leaving anything to do with the building to the landlord and just concentraiting on your car and belongings.
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Jun 15, 2022 18:00:07 GMT
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Thanks everyone so much for your advice and opinions, I will stand my ground and I definitely won't be having the car written off. I have already started to look into replacement front panels and have managed to source nearly everything so far. I suppose the car being able to roll on its own wheels and being chocked to stop rolling back into the garage door has saved it from more severe damage.
I genuinely just want my stuff back to how it was before, I doubt they would be able to replace my car with another, due to it being a very early corrado with no sunroof and no electric windows etc.
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Jun 15, 2022 18:08:50 GMT
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They can write off his car but not yours! They absolutely can and will write your/his car off, I've had 2 written off that were non-fault accidents, the first one wasn't even being driven but some clown rear ended it on a straight piece of road. Who were you claiming off - your own insurer, or the third party's one? A motor insurer is allowed to write off a vehicle owned by one of their policy holders without that policyholder's consent, however a third party insurer is not allowed to write off a vehicle unless that is agreed as part of the settlement. Doesn't stop them trying though and also claiming that they are allowed to. I have it in writing from an insurer repeatedly lying about this - they eventually backed off when I responded appropriately in the proper legalese (the letter in question included the sentence "your actions are at best highly misleading, and at worst, verging on fraudulent" when they had illegally applied a write-off marker to my car without consent, which they had to remove. And this was after I had already received a small claims judgement against their insured, despite their vicious written attempts at bullying me into backing off and accepting their derisory offer which was £1k less than the relevant owners club valued the vehicle at in its post collision condition!
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jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,834
Club RR Member Number: 40
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Neighbourly damagejamesd1972
@jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member 40
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Jun 15, 2022 18:20:04 GMT
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As above legally I think fixing the garage / roof etc. and claiming for that is the responsibility of your landlord not you. I wouldn't want to get involved in that side other than to push to get garage watertight / safe ASAP as you are paying rent on it. Obviously would make sense to work together on the claim to an extent but the building isn't your problem. I would also say that quotes to fix / dealing with builders / insurance company are all on the owners. Nice to help but you being paid for your time ? I'd have thought a note on your claim to say only contents and landlord is claiming for building and vice versa might make sense. Good luck - play straight but hard. I had heard that if they start messing you about start adding fee's for your time dealing with them is an option but not sure if this true. Keep a note of time taken along the way as a record in any case. Good luck, not a happy situation. James
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jgtr
Part of things
Posts: 270
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Jun 15, 2022 23:12:09 GMT
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Ask for payment in lieu of repair. They will then pay you an agreed amount and you can then do what you want with the money and keep the car. Best to call them to discuss.
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Me and the landlady have agreed she will sort her property and I will do the same.
I have spoken to the neighbours insurance and they have instructed me to gather any invoices or proof of prices for any damages ie parts and tool boxes.
I haven't picked up any parts as of yet, I will hopefully do that this weekend. The landlady's house insurance assessor is viewing the damage tomorrow.
Hopefully I will know with regards to being able to remove my car possibly, the supports for the roof are intact and are still supported by the concrete panels that haven't been damaged. So fingers cross.
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Hi, Just a thought but be wary of pushing the landlord too hard, they might decide it's cheaper and easier to remove the garage completely and adjust the rent accordingly. Try being realistic and work with them.
Colin
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