Car hit by Truck tyre...

thefair1973

My car was hit by a truck tyre after it had a blow out. There's a small dent on the roof, lots of scratches to the roof and drivers side of the car. I was told by my insurance company today that the Haulage company are not admitting liability, as they weren't to know the tyre was going to blow.

As a result, if I want to get the repairs done, I have to pay my £350 excess and will obviously take a big hit in premiums next year.

Where do I stand here? It obviously wasn't my fault that his tyre flew off and hit my car, but I guess it wasnt exactly his fault either. Still, I don't see why I should foot the bill when regardless of fault, it was still his tyre that damaged my car.

Any advice here?

visidigi

why arent you getting your insurance company to deal with their insurance company? its an insurance issue and up to them to fix it, thats what we all pay insurance companies for.

pinkshoes

Of course the haulage company are liable! Whether or not they knew the tyre was going to blow out, they caused damage, and need to pay for it whether it be privately, or through their insurance.

Tell your insurance company to do what you pay them to do! (but politely...)

thefair1973

They told me that as they aren't admitting liability and there can be no proof that they were negligent, my only option would be to use a no-win, no-fee solicitors to try and recover my excess. As I wasn't injured, none of them are going to touch that with a barge pole.

I just feel that regardless of liability, the fact is their tyre caused the damage and they should have to pay for it.

EDIT: This is Churchill by the way. The haulage company's insurance brokers are refusing to admit liability to them and Churchill are now pretty much washing their hands of it.

Sally_A

Anything falling from a vehicle should be covered by their insurance, be it rubbish from a tip lorry, stones from a quarry lorry; we've even had claims paid for someone who scagged a frock on the trim of a taxi.

Is the haulage firm insured by Equity Red Star by any chance?

High__Flyer_2

Actually, If the haulage company aren't negligible (Which there is a high chance they aren't) then they are not liable.

There have been many cases with a similar outcome, one in particular was a woman who's wheel came off whilst driving home, someone had tampered with it but they couldn't prove who, the wheel hit another car and caused damage. The outcome:
The owner of the wheel had to pay her excess to get her own car repaired under insurance. The owner of the other car had to pay their excess to get their car repaired under insurance.

No one was liable, it was essentially (I hate to use this term) An act of God... It was no one's fault (Except the person who tampered with it but no one knew who it was)

halibut2209

Seems odd. By law you are meant to make sure your vehicle is roadworthy before driving. If someone had tampered with it, then the owner should legally know that. Of course they aren't expected to know that. That's why we have insurance.

Equaliser123

halibut2209 wrote: »

Seems odd. By law you are meant to make sure your vehicle is roadworthy before driving. If someone had tampered with it, then the owner should legally know that. Of course they aren't expected to know that. That's why we have insurance.

I guess the point is that they are saying that they had no way of knowing that the tyre was about to blow. Could have been caused, e.g. by a rock in the road or something.

pinkshoes

You don't need a no win no fee solicitor, as you would reclaim the money through the small claims court. It makes me wonder that if they told you this, they really don't know what they're talking about!

halibut2209

Equaliser123 wrote: »

I guess the point is that they are saying that they had no way of knowing that the tyre was about to blow. Could have been caused, e.g. by a rock in the road or something.

Then it would be their fault for not paying attention to the road and avoiding the rock.

arcon5

High__Flyer wrote: »

Actually, If the haulage company aren't negligible (Which there is a high chance they aren't) then they are not liable.

There have been many cases with a similar outcome, one in particular was a woman who's wheel came off whilst driving home, someone had tampered with it but they couldn't prove who, the wheel hit another car and caused damage. The outcome:
The owner of the wheel had to pay her excess to get her own car repaired under insurance. The owner of the other car had to pay their excess to get their car repaired under insurance.

No one was liable, it was essentially (I hate to use this term) An act of God... It was no one's fault (Except the person who tampered with it but no one knew who it was)

This does seem to be the policy most operate under. Whether legally it's right or wrong I don't know but about 16 months ago I had a phone call from my partner to tell me my car is up in flames... basically a car pull up behind my car (which was parked on a public road near my house) because the driver saw smoke coming from her engine. Apparently there was a "mechanical fault" and it went up in flames... took my Vectra car with it which was written off. Unfortunately I was third party only and when I went to claim on the other persons insurance my claim was rejected as "their client was not negligent in anyway". Unfortunately I never got round to filing a complain with the ombudsment, so to this date I have lost a car and didn't get any kind of refund on the 1-year insurance I prepaid (about 5 months left at the time, worked out at about £500).