Breakdown company basic failure now damaged car

missymugwump

Could also be in vents as I am livid

I have a policy for breakdown it is the top package :j
Includes onward travel and recovery of vehicle to any UK address or garage


Broke down last Thursday
Waited 2.5 hours for breakdown truck :-(
He trailered the car to my hotel arrived around midnight (I was on a one night stop over for business)
He rang to get authority to take the car to a secure compound and recover it next day to my local garage hundreds of miles away near my home.
He was told to leave it at the hotel and a different operative would take it away first thing

They offered me a free hire car
Next morning I had to get a taxi to the car hire offices collected free hire car went to meeting as arranged,drove four hours home

On way home spoke to breakdown company who stated that my car had been collected from hotel and was in secure compound but due to bank holiday weekend would I agree to it being bought back on Tuesday instead

As I had a free car to drive I agreed

Tuesday no car,rang them it's coming Wed deffo
Wed no car,rang them it's not going to be with you until Thurs now!

Received a call on my mobile today from a guy who was ringing to inform me he was on his way to collect my car
From where I asked ?
The hotel he said !


I rang breadown company and complained that

1) I had waited 2.5 hours to be recovered to start with
2) I had only agreed to leave my car on the understanding it would be kept in a secure place
3) That I had rung the morning after the breakdown explaining that it had been off loaded in the hotel/pub car park,they wanted it moved asap and it was not in a good position,they were fully booked and it was a bank holiday weekend it was blocking 2 parking spaces.
4) My local garage had left space/time to repair my car and it had been cancelled twice and they now can't do it until Monday next week


Received another call just now guy whos collecting car wanted to know if the passenger side of my car had any damage when I left it ?
No I said why ?
Well it has now looks like someones keyed it from front to back ! :eek::mad:


I have rung and complained,can't view the damage until it is actually back at my local garage
They have extended the free hire car until Monday pm which is helpful
Where do I stand ?

I really don't see why I should have to claim on my insurance for vandalism to my car,I would never have left it in a public hotel/pub car park for 6 days

missymugwump

Forgot to say its with rescuemycar.com
It was one of Martin's best buys at the time I took it out :-(

Weirdlittleman

I don't see why you shouldnt have to claim it as vandalism. For all you know it was keyed on the first night when you would have left it there.

I don't really see you have much grounds for compensation at all. Yes complain and expect an apology but by giving you a hire car until monday they have ensured you are not losing out at all financially.

Also too add 2.5 hours for a collection isnt unreasonable; especially on a bank holiday weekend.

missymugwump

Hi
Thank you
The recovery was actually on the Thursday pm before the BH weekend

I feel they are liable for the vandalism because they told me the car had been moved and was secure on the morning after,I would never have agreed to leave it where it was.

I took my belongings out of it at 7am the morning after to get in a taxi and it was not damaged then

I think it was damaged by someone probably because of the inconvenient position of it near the entrance and it blocking 2 parking bays,it was conspicuous and looked badly parked

And I will lose financially as I will have to pay a £200 excess to claim and it may affect my future premiums

Weirdlittleman

missymugwump wrote: »

Hi
Thank you
The recovery was actually on the Thursday pm before the BH weekend

I feel they are liable for the vandalism because they told me the car had been moved and was secure on the morning after,I would never have agreed to leave it where it was.

I took my belongings out of it at 7am the morning after to get in a taxi and it was not damaged then

I think it was damaged by someone probably because of the inconvenient position of it near the entrance and it blocking 2 parking bays,it was conspicuous and looked badly parked

And I will lose financially as I will have to pay a £200 excess to claim and it may affect my future premiums

Yes but you are losing out due to vandalism not their actions.
Whilst it might not be ideal I dont think its fair to blame them for the vandalism at all.

missymugwump

But what I am saying is they left it in a vulnerable position
They also lied and told me it was moved just after I left that morning

I never leave my car in public car parks overnight,I would be concerned abut it attracting interest from kids who often target vehicles at night in poorly lit car parks

There policy is to secure customers cars and they have admitted that they always recover them to a secure locked compound
In this case someone failed to book the early morning moving of it

I shall push to get them to pay for the damage
I believe they were negligent with my vehicle :-(

custardy

Weirdlittleman wrote: »

Yes but you are losing out due to vandalism not their actions.
Whilst it might not be ideal I dont think its fair to blame them for the vandalism at all.

thats fine when its the OP's choice to park
the first breakdown driver called to get authorisation to move the car to secure parking
the company made the call to not do this,so they chose to have the car left in the hotel car park
they then lied to the OP about where the car was,so IMO they created the situation and as such should(would?) be liable

pulliptears

Weirdlittleman wrote: »

Yes but you are losing out due to vandalism not their actions.
Whilst it might not be ideal I dont think its fair to blame them for the vandalism at all.

Of course its fair to blame them! Had they collected the car when they said they were going to it would have been secure somewhere else wouldn't it? As it was it was left vulnerable in a car park for almost a week.

Their actions LED to the vandalism.

OP try posting this up on the motoring board.

Weirdlittleman

pulliptears wrote: »

Of course its fair to blame them! Had they collected the car when they said they were going to it would have been secure somewhere else wouldn't it? As it was it was left vulnerable in a car park for almost a week.

Their actions LED to the vandalism.

OP try posting this up on the motoring board.

No it didnt. The actions of the vandal led to the vandalism.

Basic legal principle. Where the breakdown company neglient which lead to the the vandalism? Well if they left it in a car park that the OP was happy to use on her own this is questionable.

Really one where it will be either goodwill from the company or a court case and a courts interpretation. These is no definitive answer here as each person will have a view on neglience/blame.

I dont feel that you can blame the breakdown company for the actions of a vandal.

pulliptears

Weirdlittleman wrote: »

No it didnt. The actions of the vandal led to the vandalism.

Correct. But were it not for the actions of the recovery company the car would not have been there.

Basic legal principle. Where the breakdown company neglient which lead to the the vandalism? Well if they left it in a car park that the OP was happy to use on her own this is questionable.

OP was happy to use it short term, not for almost a week. Nor I imagine would she have agreed to leave the car there unattended for a longer period.

Really one where it will be either goodwill from the company or a court case and a courts interpretation. These is no definitive answer here as each person will have a view on neglience/blame.

Not at all. Recovery firm failed in their duty of care as far as I can see.

I dont feel that you can blame the breakdown company for the actions of a vandal.

Yes you can. Firm left the car unattended in a car park for the best part of a week. Had firm collected the car when they promised the car would not have been there to be vandalised.

Replied......

neilmcl

I tend to agree with the above.