Told neighbor I pay for trampoline damage if I'm responsible, but am I responsible?

girlneedshelp

Joshua_Nkomo wrote: »

I do not understand why your home insurer is messing around here they can talk to you and then make up their mind.

I'm guessing that the home insurance company is not going to write a cheque quite yet as some people make fraudulent claims. I gave him my home insurance information (policy number, address, phone, etc.) so he can contact them himself if he doubts the information I have provided.

Joshua_Nkomo wrote: »

If I was your neighbour I wouldn't be messing about with the smalls claims court I would be straight to a solicitor and that could double or triple the claim.

What else is there to claim for? You can't normally get legal costs back on a small claims action.

vikingaero

Without getting into the discussion above, can I suggest that the OP has a look in shops for trampoline tie down kits. It's the end of the trampoline season and some shops will be selling kits off cheaply. I bought mine from Asda for £3, reduced from £15 a few years ago.

dld2s

Why shouldn't the OP let insurance company deal with it, that's what he pays insurance for, it sounds to me that near two and a half grand is a lot of money to him (as it is to me and a lot of folk)



As for his neighbour frankly it looks to me like the neighbour has gone to the most expensive local bodyshop and got a price without any intention of getting it fixed and then passed the price onto the OP and make himself a few quid for his next holiday or whatever. (I think this is backed up by the fact he wasn't going to claim for the hire of a car for 7 days whilst it was "in the bodyshop" and obviously the last conversation OP hadwithhim) OP I wouldn't feel guilty or sorry about it, it sounds to me that you were trying to be reasonable, but it also sounds like your neighbour has tried to take the P~~~ out of you being reasonable and has basically tried to get quite a lot of cash off you.


Y[URL="file://%5C%5Cou"]ou[/URL] tried to be reasonable he hasn't, leave it with the insurance company, don't you pay him a penny, as I said leave that to the insurance company if you are found liable. Another thing, I would be tempted to ask my neighbour what does he mean by "things are going to get ugly" is that a veiled threat?

AdrianC

vikingaero wrote: »

Without getting into the discussion above, can I suggest that the OP has a look in shops for trampoline tie down kits. It's the end of the trampoline season and some shops will be selling kits off cheaply.

I'd have thought this was peak season for selling tie-down kits.

Aretnap

Joshua_Nkomo wrote: »

I do not understand why your home insurer is messing around here they can talk to you and then make up their mind.

They have spoken to the OP and it sounds like they have made up their mind.

If I was your neighbour I wouldn't be messing about with the smalls claims court I would be straight to a solicitor and that could double or triple the claim.

No it wouldn't. Legal costs are not generally recoverable for claims below the small claims limit (£10000 for property damage). If you want a solicitor to make a claim for some dents to your car then you'll be paying his bill yourself - win or lose.

(For the same reason the first person to mention "no win no fee" gets a great big raspberry.)

Aretnap

arcon5 wrote: »

Also unless home insurance is different, you won't pay an excess will You? Isn't it only payable if you make a claim for your possessions... in this case a third party is making a claim against you for their own property. So you shouldn't pay a deductible for a third party claim...

I'm willing to be corrected but I was under the impression that the excess on home insurance was applicable to liability claims as well as own damage claims. My own policy documents are not 100% clear on the question however.

The difference with car insurance is that the Road Traffic Act requires the insurer to pay any claim in full, so they don't have the option of deducting any excess from a payment to the third party. A handful of car insurers do impose an excess on third party claims, but it involves paying out the full amount, then getting into the murky world of debt recovery and trying to bill the policyholder for the excess, which he may or may not be able to pay. Frankly it's too much effort for the sake of an average £200 excess - for the insurer it's much easier just to have no third party excess and price their policies accordingly.

Home insurance however isn't compulsory so the insurers have more freedom as to how it operates; if someone gets a judgement against them for £1000, the insurer is free just to pay out £800 and leave the policyholder to pay (or not pay) the remaining £200.

As I said that's my understanding; I'm prepared to be corrected.

trailingspouse

Just a thought - if the OP is liable because they haven't secured their trampoline, and it was obvious that in a high wind the trampoline could fly over the fence, then perhaps the neighbour is also negligent for leaving his car in a place where it could be damaged... In fact, the fence could have blown on to it.

Our car is normally parked near our neighbour's house - but in high winds a tile could fall off their roof and damage it, so we park on the road instead. Yes, if a tile damaged our car, we might claim from their insurance, but as sensible people we would try to avoid the damage happening in the first place.

Mercdriver

girlneedshelp wrote: »

I spoke to my neighbor this afternoon about the damage, and told him what my home insurance said, namely:

1. Claim on his car insurance and they will go after my home insurance for the money owed. or
2. Go to small claims, and the home insurance will take responsibility for the claim and pay out if successful. I gave him my insurance details, policy number, etc.

My neighbor said that he was definitely not going to claim on his car insurance, so that was out. They are going to think through what to do over the weekend. He was pretty angry, saying that this is going to get "ugly." I told him that I would be completely honest about the status of the trampoline if asked, and that I would help them get the necessary forms to file with the county court. He said that this isn't what he wants, as he doesn't actually want to fix the car now, but wants to be compensated for the damage. I'm not sure why he said that, as I was under the impression that the insurance company would pay the judgement to him, and not to an autobody, so I'm a bit puzzled by that. Shouldn't he still be able to pocket the money if successful? That's what I understood anyway...

And you've been helping this guy with his computer? Seriously, you've been a good neighbour and the first chance he gets, he wants to fleece you.

Tell him to go through his insurance. A court will likely tell him he needs to get an independent assessor to decide whether it would be a repair or a replacement of panels. He can't decide which is needed as he is not an approved body shop repairer himself. He is not qualified to make that decision.

Note down everything he has said in a diary and keep it going in future. Note down any harassment and if serous, call 101 and report it to the police so that it is noted down. If he is going to make life "ugly" for you, then you need to be prepared.

Stop helping him.

esuhl

arcon5 wrote: »

The neighbough has a duty to mitigate his losses op. He can't just get one expensive quote for the most expensive works and expect you to pay for it.

I couldn't agree more. He's trying it on.

girlneedshelp wrote: »

I was wrong about the policy, and just got off the phone with the insurance company (Together Mutual). They say the trampoline damage is not specifically excluded, but that they would more than likely consider it an act of God.

This article from 2015 claims that there is no such thing as "acts of god" clauses in any new UK insurance policies.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-3373352/Do-Act-God-clauses-really-exist-pays-check-insurance.html

It would be well worth reading the full policy so you know exactly what you're covered for, rather than relying on the word of the insurance company.

girlneedshelp wrote: »

[My neighbour] said that this offer was subject to paying him directly, as it's "possible" he might be willing to just live with the dents, but that would be his decision, only after I paid him the £2400 quoted by the auto body repair.

So... he doesn't even care about the dents and just wants to extort a random amount of money from you for unnecessary repairs, with the veiled threat of "things getting ugly"? Sounds like a nice guy.

I'd leave it to your insurance company to sort out.

Whatever you do, don't hand over cash to him. He could just claim you hadn't paid him and claim on the insurance too.

girlneedshelp wrote: »

What shocked me the most today was when I asked him to show me the damages on the car again. During our conversation he said that the quote included painting for both sides of the car. I said, "why would they have to paint the sides" when there is no damage there? He said, "in order to perfectly match the new paint on the bonnet" as even identical paint would not look the same next to the paint on the sides, as it has aged since purchase. I just smiled...

Absolute scam artist! You should record any future conversations on your mobile phone as proof that he is trying to fraudulently extort money from you. If you get a good recording, pass it to the police and both your and HIS insurance companies.

I'd be doing everything I could (legally) to make sure he doesn't get a penny more than you absolutely have to pay... if that's anything at all.

lush_walrus

Be careful of strangers talking you into a dispute with your neighbours...