Landowner chasing us for excessive reimbursement

midnight_toker

Hi,
about a year ago, my partner lost control of his car on an icy road. His car ended up in a field, having gone through a fence. (luckily my partner walked away uninjured, but the car was badly damaged)

We arranged for the car to be recovered from the field the next day, and made contact with the landowner (a farmer) to apologise and to give him our contact details etc.

Three fence posts were damaged, and there was some damage to the crops, but only over a very small area. My partner asked him if he could pay him directly to reimburse the farmer for his lost crops and damaged fence as he didn't want to go through the insurance company so as to avoid losing no claims bonus etc.

We heard nothing more about it until last week, when we got a phone call from the farmers insurance company, seeking to go through our insurance company to recover costs in the region of £1000. Our estimate is that the damage was a maximum of £200 (and that's being generous!)

Where do we stand? Can we challenge the amount that the farmer is claiming? Do we have to go through the insurance company?

Thanks in advance.

bigjl

Why do you estimate the damage at such a low figure?

Would you be happy to accept £200 if somebody deposited their car in your front garden?

£1000 seems a fair enough price as the fence would have needed repaired ASAP and who knows what other damage was caused when your vehicle was recovered.

midnight_toker

I have worked as an estimator in construction for many years and I know that the cost was no more than £150, but I have rounded it up to £200.

The area affected was only a few square metres, and the fence posts were half a metre high. There was no fencing, just the posts.

WestonDave

No harm in asking for a breakdown of the figures to back it up, at which point you can see what if anything is excessive. Bear in mind however that it will be cost for the posts themselves, labour extracting the old remains, labour in installing, lost crops, any damage due to chemicals leaking from the car, management time by the farmer etc etc. You can't expect the farmer to deal with your damage for free so its perfectly reasonable to charge something for the time taken to liase with insurers, recovery people and contractors. Whilst it would be wrong for him to profiteer from it, its also not his problem if someone else's accident turns out to be more expensive than a few quid for some new fence posts.

reeac

Posts would be around £5 each plus an hour [max!] to remove each old one and install new so that's £20 each or £60 for three. Crop loss and land reinstatement , say £100. Total £160 or call it £200 to compensate the farmer for his mental anguish.

Stoke

It's a tricky one this. Most crops are self-sufficient aren't they? So they just grow back every year. I'm pretty sure ploughing a car through them isn't going to do them any good though.

£1000 may be excessive, but I'd say £200 is very low, even if that is what the damage came to in your own mind. There's the inconvenience factor as well, don't forget that.

comeandgo

Crops grow back every year? Have you heard of crop rotation? Do you honestly think grain just grows year after year?

Strider590

Sounds slightly excessive, but then that's just the insurance company taking their cut on top.

fivetide

reeac wrote: »

Posts would be around £5 each plus an hour [max!] to remove each old one and install new so that's £20 each or £60 for three. Crop loss and land reinstatement , say £100. Total £160 or call it £200 to compensate the farmer for his mental anguish.

What size posts? Oh we don't know. Postcrete is nearly a fiver a bag. Two posts to one bag so there's an extra tenner straightaway.

I don't doubt what you are saying but it is hard to put costs on something that hasn't been seen.

Stoke

comeandgo wrote: »

Crops grow back every year? Have you heard of crop rotation? Do you honestly think grain just grows year after year?

No I get that you have to replenish the land but I was under the impression that most seeds could supply a single crop repeatedly? Not just once...

Building_Surveyor

Did you take any photos at the time?