Minor Scratch, but am I responsible?

htrj

Ive just done some Man and Van work picking up a sofa.



I arrived at the guys house, reversed my van into the drive. Two men came out to help me load the sofa. I lifted the sofa furthest away from the van, but the guy holding the other end of the sofa nearest the van asked the third guy to open the doors.



Before I write what happened next I want to make it clear that there is no damage to my van at all so it may not have caused the damage.



However, It might appear that the door of my van was touching the adjacent car and the subsequent moving and lifting of the sofa into the van caused the corner of the door to rub on the adjacent car causing a scratch in the paintwork.



I am not admitting liability, these other guy has my contact details but I have not provided my insurance details at the moment. What are your views on this situation and how to proceed?

AndyMc.....

Did the door touch the car?

htrj

I dont know, there is no damage on my van so I would say it didnt.



Why dont we consider the scenario that door did touch the car and the scenario that it didnt?

htrj

I dont know, there is no damage on my van so I would say it didnt.



Why dont we consider the scenario that door did touch the car and the scenario that it didnt?

facade

If your door scratched the paint and you were negligent, then you are liable.


If your van didn't scratch it, or you weren't negligent, then you are not.


Letting someone else open the door for you into a parked car is probably negligence, but by who?
He wasn't your employee, was he acting under your direction?


If not, I'd say the door opener was negligent, not you.

Car_54

I'd suggest you were negiligent in parking where the customer could open the door so as to cause damage. You were the professional, the customer was not.

Won't your " Man and Van" insurance deal with it?

htrj

Car_54 wrote: »

I'd suggest you were negiligent in parking where the customer could open the door so as to cause damage. You were the professional, the customer was not.

Won't your " Man and Van" insurance deal with it?

I'm sure it will, but is this a typical car accident? For instance its not as if I was driving the vehicle and it hit his vehicle. To me this seems more akin to, say, car park damage. Whats the proceedure in that instance?

Car_54

htrj wrote: »

I'm sure it will, but is this a typical car accident? For instance its not as if I was driving the vehicle and it hit his vehicle. To me this seems more akin to, say, car park damage. Whats the proceedure in that instance?

What is "typical"? It's an accident involving your vehicle.

If your vehicle insurance won't cover it for some reason, then your public liability policy should.

As a business, you do have public liability cover, don't you?

AndyMc.....

htrj wrote: »

I'm sure it will, but is this a typical car accident? For instance its not as if I was driving the vehicle and it hit his vehicle. To me this seems more akin to, say, car park damage. Whats the proceedure in that instance?

The person responsible pays