Damage to persons van on our property - liable?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

So are you saying that if your house catches fire through no fault of your own and burns down your neighbours house, then your insurance won't cover it?

You missed out the most important bit



You don't have to be negligent if it was an accident.

in somecases no it wouldnt.

you posted liability for personal INJURY caused by your or your property. the van driver wasnt hurt or injured so this part of the policy isnt relavent.

damages to other property, is only covered if the homeowner is FOUND to be negligant in cases like this.

act of god is what caused it, not because they were put there, more so if the homeonwer put them there hours or days before the workman turned up and the workman parked his van next to them so who would be negligant there?

the workman who seen them and put his van next to them or the person who stood them there hours/days before?

HardWorker2010_2

OP,

Seems to me you are not the sort of person I would want as a customer.

If I came to your property and an item of mine was damaged by you (you put the boards there, not god) then I'd expect you to pay for the repair and compensate me for any loss of work.

Equaly, if while at your property I put something in a place that caused damage to your property I'd immeadiatley be looking to put things right ie. putting you back in the same position you were in before the accident, along with profuse appologies and a huge discount on the work I had been contracted to do.

I guess it comes down to respect and treating others as you would wish to be treated. (No I'm not a ranting christian)

shaun_from_Africa

you posted liability for personal INJURY caused by your or your property. the van driver wasnt hurt or injured so this part of the policy isnt relavent.

No I didn't.
What I posted is shown below.

which causes accidental bodily injury
including death, disease and injury to any
person or damage to property.

Quentin

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

No I didn't.
What I posted is shown below.

You posted the cover you have in your household policy regarding third party liabilities.

But you just selectively quote from it!

This is the relevant section you are ignoring:

Any amount that you or your family become legally liable to pay as compensation (including claimant’s costs and expenses) arising from your ownership (but not occupation) of the premises......

You have to be legally liable first!! That means that you have been proved to have been negligent.

shaun_from_Africa

which causes accidental bodily injury
including death, disease and injury to any
person or damage to property.

Accidental damage. Not damage due to negligence.

The kickboards fell over onto the vehicle, therefore it was accidental damage.

If you are stating that the only way you can be legally liable is for negligence to be shown, how do you explain the fact that I can be driving my car and have an accident to to a blowout, and if this involves my car hitting another, then my insurance will pay out due to my liability.
I may not have been speeding, it could have been a new tyre and I simply drove over a nail.

Accidents happen all the time in all walks of life. Many times no one is to blame, and many times there is no negligence involved, which is why there is insurance available.

Quentin

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Accidental damage. Not damage due to negligence.

Nothing to do with "accidental damage".

Everything to do with whether or not you are "legally liable" to pay compensation! (Which you again miss out of your quote from your insurance policy!)

And without proving negligence, then the OP won't be found "legally liable", and her insurer won't have to pay out! (Though the van owner's could do so!)

skiddlydiddly

If the workman had stacked the boards and they had fallen onto to the OP's car in the same circumstances, how different the posts would be I'd bet.

Just pay out or claim on your insurance, do you really want to have bad blood between you and someone working in your house?

Quentin

The insurer (and two other legal advisers) have already advised the OP they aren't liable.

The OP came to this money saving board for advice on this, not for moral opinions!

scotgirl

No I don't want the bad feeling, we both feel awful about it.

The scratch is very small but we do not have the money to pay for the repairs. We pay our insurance premiums and it is up to them, I will follow the advice given on the insurance board to just forward any correspondance to my insurer and let them deal with it.

Accidents happen, we did not willfully damage his vehicle, he parked in our drive at his own risk (there is masses of parking off road), he parked beside the wood, he knew it was windy. Why should we be responsible?

Anyway, thanks for the input, we will just do as our insurer advises.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

skiddlydiddly wrote: »

If the workman had stacked the boards and they had fallen onto to the OP's car in the same circumstances, how different the posts would be I'd bet.

Just pay out or claim on your insurance, do you really want to have bad blood between you and someone working in your house?

if he stacked them there and they fell instantly (no wind at help) then yes i would expect him to report it to me and put the ball in his court for repairs i.e privatly or insurance wise.

if he put them there hours before, and hard wind wind blew them over i would be gutted they were placed there yes, but couldnt hold him liable as the wind blew them over as he didnt drop them kick them trip on them. if i pulled up and they were there i would of made sure i parked away from them to prevent any misshaps.

if i was in the OP's shoes, i would be apologetic, take photo's, i would explain that even though OH put them there it was wind that blew them over and an act of god, i would be willing to arrange a mobile repairer for a quote, meet the guy at his place of work to reduce any out of pocket expenses that would arise from doing it in a body shop, then meet him again to over see and pay the guy for the paint job.

if the workman got shirty, id simply take photo's and sack him on the spot from untertaking the job in hand and tell him to take me to court and let a judge decide who pays.