Rear windscreen smashed - claim or no claim?

penyekz

Just showed the police out after taking my statement. A low-life fungus threw a large rock at my rear windscreen and smashed it. He smashed another car as well. The police caught him and hopefully will procecute him.
My wife and I moved here thinking it'll be safer for her as I work lots of nights. Its a new block of flats with secured compound and car parking She's now 7 months pregnant and is so shaken up by this whole incident. The car was parked right in front of our bedroom window and that idiot could well have thrown the large rock through our windows.

I have a few questions I hope you can help:
I have a churchill third party fire and theft insurance cover.
Will this be covered? Is a private locked garage similar to a private locked carpark? (I live in a block of flats)

OR will it be cheaper for me to get one from the local garage? My excess is £100.

The car is a 1997 ford mondeo saloon.

What legal stand do I have against my management company so that they improve security (CCTV, higher gates so that people cannot climb over, etc)?

Astaroth

Glass cover (which wouldnt have counted as a claim and has a lower excess) is only available on ocmprehensive cover.

Seeing as you are limited to third party, fire and theft risks you will only be able to claim from your insurance if the smashing of the window is considered part of a theft attempt... given that it was the rear windscreen it is unlikely any insurer would buy it.

As to your question on car parks, no carparks arent considered the same as garages as people outside of your household have access to them (even if it should just be other residents in the case of a secure car park)

Legally with the management company it depends what they claim the car park is. If they simply state it is a gated car park then that is what it is still. If they state it is a safe/ secure car park well then there is more of an "arguement". The reality of this is however that it is the owners of the flats that will end up paying for anything the maintanance company does. Rather than trying to force the hand of the management company to use up funds to make alterations (and potentially put up the fees for the residents to cover this depending on how the books are) why not contact all the leaseholders/ freeholders of the units and get an agreement that the alterations need doing and then simply give the instructions to the management company

flang

your best bet mate would be to go to the salvage yard and put a new back windscreen yourself (or get a mate to do it) otherwise be prepared for a large bill from a garage as they will most likely use new parts.

penyekz

it should be covered if it is attempted theft. My CD's were missing. Is the windscreen cheaper through a salvage yard or should I pay my excess of £100?

Astaroth

Phone up and find out - I do not believe you get person possessions cover on TPFT and so there would be no cover for the missing CDs and I am not certain if you get theft of PP as counting as a theft claim on TPFT cover as I suspect it only covers attempted/ successful theft of the vehicle itself. Again if someone is going for the vehicle or contents it is a side window they go for as the easiest to break.

gazza975526570

with an xs of £100 its probably not gonna be worthwhile in claiming (even providing it is attempted theft) when you factor in any loss of NCD

DO you have legal cover? you could ask them to try to reclaim the costs - however if someone throws a brick through your window they are hardly the kind of person to repay an insurance company for the damage......

penyekz

The windscreen damage is covered as attempted theft of my CD's counts according to churchill. However, as its attempted theft, it will affect my NCB. Even though I have protected NCB, it may affect my renewal quote wouldn't it? I've decided to spend £17.50 more and get it done myself. The best quote I got was £117.50 including VAT and fitted. I don't want to have a higher renewal quote and ending up spending more.

gazza975526570

i think youve made the right choice. If this is your first claim it wont affect your NCD however you could be hit with a claims loading.
Even on glass only claims on comp cover the xs's are steadily rising and a lot of times not even worth claiming. RBS group generally have a £70 xs yet for a quarter light you may be able to get cheaper than the actual xs

penyekz

Whats a claims loading? I have never made a claim on my motor insurance in over 10 years. Thats why I changed to 3rd party fire and theft this year thinking it would save me some £££

Astaroth

Claims loading is the fact that your premium will go up because of the claim even though your NCD remains the same. So if you are on the max 5 years NCD (and under 70) you will still get 65% discount off of your premium but what that premium is goes up.

impy78

penyekz wrote:

I have a few questions I hope you can help:
I have a churchill third party fire and theft insurance cover.
Will this be covered?

It is unlikely, as even if you have windscreen cover on your policy, you would be covered for damage caused by fire and theft only. Vandalism and malicious damage are excluded from Third party, fire and theft policies.

penyekz wrote:

Is a private locked garage similar to a private locked carpark?

No, as the options will just be Garaged/drive/road/compound and car park.

penyekz wrote:

What legal stand do I have against my management company so that they improve security (CCTV, higher gates so that people cannot climb over, etc)?

This is tricky. Only if you could prove that they were negligent and that this directly resulted in the incident happening.

Had the management company advised at any time that they were planning to upgrade the security?

The other problem is that as they guy was trespassing and breaking the law, and the company have provided you with a locked car park, they are probably going to argue that if someone is willing to go to those legths to get in, then there is not much they can do to stop them.