Advice please - damaged my car on a speed hump :(

Daniel_san

Hi all, I'll keep it as brief but as detailed as possible. Would like some advice please.

The car is a 2008 BMW 325D M-Sport convertible.

I went on holiday last week within the UK.
Stayed at a holiday home, self catering, on a large estate (over 200 "lodges").
The access is by a private road (I assume, as the sign for the place is at the entrance to the road, indicating to me it's all private grounds for the holiday estate).
The road is wide enough for 2 vehicles to pass each other but has a small section White lined for pedestrians to walk.
There were no pedestrians around at the time of the incident.
I'd gone over the speed hump along this road on the way in to the park when I checked in, and had no issue. I always go over humps slowly.
When I drove out of the holiday park on day 2 of my holiday, I passed an oncoming car as I went over the hump, and heard a huge BANG as I came off it (slowly, I remind you). On the exit side of the hump, the road dips down a little (going by the huge puddle next day, I guess it's drainage...), meaning my car landed on the side skirt on the left side. The right side didn't hit as the road didn't dip there. The skirt took the full force and is now dented and cracked, so will require repair or replacement.
I spoke to a woman on the check in desk and informed her I had damage to the car caused by their speed hump and the dip on one side and asked the woman what she suggested. She said to put it in writing, which I intend to. I asked if anyone would like to inspect the damage before I left to go home, and she declined, telling me that "noone is here to look at it"

Now, obviously I will write to them and include photos of the damage, along with the photos I have of the hump and road area either side of it. I noted that the other side of the road has had a repair "patch" done just before the hump (I took photos of this too), so maybe it's happened previously that side too, but I'm just guessing on that.


Any advice on how to approach and wording etc would be appreciated. I'm fairly sure they'll assume no responsibility and then I wonder if it's worth pursuing or not? I plan to call my insurance company on Monday too, as I should have access to free legal advice via my policy I believe.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

agrinnall

I'd have thought your only real hope is if you're able to find out that other cars have experienced similar problems on the same hump and use that to make the case that it was a known issue that they didn't fix. If you can't do that then they will simply say you weren't driving slowly enough and your chances of getting anything out of them must be slim. Perhaps see if anyone has said anything on Tripadvisor?

Bantex_2

why would you want side skirts on a road car? Surely they are designed for a race track.

Geodark

Bantex wrote: »

why would you want side skirts on a road car? Surely they are designed for a race track.

Some cars come with body kit as standard, it might not be that he has asked for them to be fitted. Or he may have bought a car with them already on after seeing how it looked. Don't really see how this is relevant though? I once had a 4x4 with bull bars - didnt mean I went chasing bulls with it :rotfl:

SuperAllyB

No doubt, as is the modern way, you will get some compensation out of them but, as far as i'm concerned it should be up to you to determine whether bumps etc are safe before you cross them if you choose to have a car with a low body kit.

scotsbob

In addition to your photographs you may have wanted to take measurements of the height of the speed hump and across it's length.


I would speculate that anyone presented with a claim will want to know the clearance of your car.


There is a government regulation that on public roads 10cm is the highest they should be but 6.5-7.5 is the recommended height

Altarf

Daniel_san wrote: »

The road is wide enough for 2 vehicles to pass each other but has a small section White lined for pedestrians to walk.

There were no pedestrians around at the time of the incident.
I'd gone over the speed hump along this road on the way in to the park when I checked in, and had no issue.

When I drove out of the holiday park on day 2 of my holiday, I passed an oncoming car as I went over the hump, and heard a huge BANG as I came off it

So on the way in you drove over the centre of the hump with no problems.

On the way out you didn't want to wait for the other car, so you drove over the no cars/pedestrian section, and as a result damaged your car.

Good luck with that claim.

At the end of the day if you have an abnormally low car (it may be legal, but it is not normal), if you choose to drive on a private road, then you need to check whether the road is suitable. If not, don't.

arcon5

Next time take care where your driving.

I certainly can't see them paying for it.

oldhand

Geodark wrote: »

Some cars come with body kit as standard, it might not be that he has asked for them to be fitted. Or he may have bought a car with them already on after seeing how it looked. Don't really see how this is relevant though? I once had a 4x4 with bull bars - didnt mean I went chasing bulls with it :rotfl:

Interesting,I used to have a dictaphone but never used it to........;)

AdrianC

There are regulations in law as to the maximum size of speed bumps. Whilst they don't, legally, apply to private land, if the bumps are within the legal size, you're going to be hard-pressed to hold them responsible.

Again, on a public road, if you can prove the body responsible for the road was aware of damage to the road surface, they can be held responsible for damage caused to your car. If you can't, they aren't.

Ultimately, responsibility rests with the driver - and taking your car across an area marked as "no vehicles" puts the ball firmly in your court, since the owner of the road can say "Well, no, that area is not suitable for vehicles - and they were adequately warned."

Goodwill is your only hope.

pitkin2020

i would suspect they have a policy in place that if it is indeed a private road you use it at your risk/liabilty, which would have probably formed part of your agreement when you booked the holiday. If they haven't that may go in your favour.
It does sound like though you went off the road and into a dip which if the road is marked with white lines along the side showing its edges and you went outside those then again you did so at your own risk.