Advice needed - Cars covered in cement by neighbours!

onedaymyfriend

Good morning guys, I could really do with some advise as what to do next..

On Sunday 28 August, we woke up to find our car (a 2016 Mazda Mx5) covered in cement dust. The neighbours had been doing some building work and had been mixing cement approx. 8ft away from the car (which was in our drive). Rather than brush it off and risk scratching the paintwork I rinsed it of with the hose and it dried click and clean all was well. We didn't mention this to the neighbours as it was removed easily with no damage.

Unfortunately, the next morning we found that not only had the car been covered in cement dust again, but it had been rained on and then baked on by the sun. I went round straight away to bring it to his attention and asked that he be more careful and that this sort of thing wasn't on. He offered to wash it there and then, but as we were in a hurry and had to be somewhere we declined and told him we'd rinse it off upon our return. (Little did we know that it wasn't going to come off as before).

It had now become apparent that both cars had been affected, so I rinsed both cars off with the hose thinking that would do the job. The following morning, to our surprise the cars looked no different and we're still covered.

After work that afternoon we took the car to a local bodyshop, who advised that we don't do anything with it ourselves and that we should hire a professional detailer to correct the paintwork. We saw three different detailers, we were surprised at the quotes to fix the issue £500, £600 or £1200 per car.

On Thursday 1st September I delivered by hand the cheapest quote to our neighbours. The husband came round about an hour later asking it we were having a laugh and that there is no chance he'll be paying that, he even had the cheek to ask why we park our car there to which we replied (with expletives) it's our drive!

We then explained that we have two more quotes of £600 and £1200 a car, to which he replied 'No way! I'll get my own quotes tomorrow (Friday 2 Sept). We didn't hear anything for 4 days and then received a letter yesterday (Tues 6 Sept), stating that they will not be paying for the paintwork to be fixed, but as a good will gesture will pay £80 for the local car wash to do both cars inside and out. Needless to say we're not happy..

What would you guys do?

Thanks as always!

D&T

AdrianC

Ask him for the details of his buildings insurance.

foxy-stoat

Either claim on your car insurances or pay for the work yourself, take photos etc and get a report from the detailer and start a small claims.

You could advise your neighbour that he wont end up paying, his House Insurance will have liability insurance that would cover him for this sort of thing.

Good luck with it.

onedaymyfriend

AdrianC wrote: »

Ask him for the details of his buildings insurance.

Thanks Adrian. Unfortunately, as our neighbours are housing association tenants they don't have building insurance and they're not covered under the house associations policy.

AdrianC

Then small claim.

Anyway, if he's a tenant, why's he doing "building work" in the first place?

Fat_Walt

onedaymyfriend wrote: »

Thanks Adrian. Unfortunately, as our neighbours are housing association tenants they don't have building insurance and they're not covered under the house associations policy.

So unless their house is full of luxury goods or they have a decent car your chances of getting anything out of them are slim.

onedaymyfriend

Fat_Walt wrote: »

So unless their house is full of luxury goods or they have a decent car your chances of getting anything out of them are slim.

He's works an electrician and doesn't seem to be short of a few bob, and they've got a 2011 Nissan (assuming they own it outright).

AnotherJoe

Small claims. A CCJ against him isnt going to look good when hes trying to get work.

m0bov

Have you got legal cover on your car insurance? I would not let a hand car wash near it. It needs to be clayed and polished and sealed. I would point out there would be betterment here, as most likely it will be in far better condition then when it left the showroom! So, maybe ask for 70% contribution? Would look better if it went to court as well. Put it in writing.

onedaymyfriend

m0bov wrote: »

Have you got legal cover on your car insurance? I would not let a hand car wash near it. It needs to be clayed and polished and sealed. I would point out there would be betterment here, as most likely it will be in far better condition then when it left the showroom! So, maybe ask for 70% contribution? Would look better if it went to court as well. Put it in writing.

Cheers m0bov, I'll look in to that. Is a judge likely to mention betterment when looking at this case? In the letter we received from them, we have been accused of not making the vehicles available for inspection by their choice of detailer. But the Mazda 2 has been in the drive way all along. Because they haven't got their own quotes, not that they tried that hard would that go against us? Thanks again!

Fat_Walt

m0bov wrote: »

Have you got legal cover on your car insurance? I would not let a hand car wash near it. It needs to be clayed and polished and sealed. I would point out there would be betterment here, as most likely it will be in far better condition then when it left the showroom! So, maybe ask for 70% contribution? Would look better if it went to court as well. Put it in writing.

He may as well claim if he's going to speak to his insurance about it.