Damage to car from neigbours trampoline

Hm121

My neigbour had placed a huge 13ft trampoline in his front garden on his side of the grass and during the weekend with the bad weather the trampoline has been blown across the grass, flipped upside down and flipped over again and landed on my car which was parked on my drive way. The tramplonie landed upright with the metal legs of the trampoline landing on my rear passanger quarter and bouncing down the side and resting against the boot of my car and the wall of my house.


I have cctv footage of the incident which shows the full incident. The trampoline has left 2 dents/ripple at the top of my rear quarter towards the roof and has left a crease on the boot where the tramplonie has eventually slid down and rested.


I have had the damage inspected by a trusted bodyshop who I have used before and the cost of the repair comes to a total of £600, initially we thought the cost was going to be less but the tramplonie had transferred alot of the silver/grey paint from the aluminium legs over my car and the full damage wasnt apparent untill the paint was removed. The repair includes removing the rear 1/4 glass panel and the tail light and filling all the dents and painting and blending the paint into the panels, the colour is a tangerine pearlescent which costs more then a standard paint job.


My neighbour has only offered to pay half of the £600 repair cost as a good will gesture, I don't believe this is fair or reasonable and I don't see why I should have to pay out £300 of my own money for something which wasn't my fault, it was his tramplonie that blew across the lawn and damaged my car because he never safely secured it. I tried to offer some solutions such as if he could pay the half now and I could wait until next month for the rest but he said all he is going to offer is £300. He kept stating that he isn't legally responsible and doesnt have to give me anything, he's only offering £300 because he doesn't want to fall out over it....


My neighbour has said he contacted his home insurance and was told by nationwide that he isnt legally responsible and that's what I have car insurance for, which he suggested that I could claim on my own car insurance which is ludicrous as I would lose my no claims and my premium would go up for the next several years when I wasn't even driving my car as it was parked on my property on my drive way.

To be honest I don't believe he spoke to his home insurance as I have spoken to them this morning and they said that trampoline damage would be covered assuming he was negligence which I belive he was. He never secured it and left it out in the open, after the incident I helped him carry it into his back garden, it took 2 people to carry it and that included carrying it up a ladder to move it over the top of a garage so it could be placed in his backgarden which is where he should of placed it to begin with and even now he hasn't secured it.

Does anyone have any experience with this and how would I fair in a small claims court, thanks in advance.

elsien

You spoke to his home insurance about his policy?
What happened to data protection?

Personally I'd go with the half he's offered. £300 isn't a big enough sum to warrant falling out with a neighbour with the ramifications moving forwards.

Hm121

Not about his specifc policy they wouldnt give me any details about his policy but I asked regarding trampolines and they said damage would be covered under all their policy's assumimg he was negligence

elsien

It's the assuming he's negligent that's the catch.

Long debate here from the other perspective if you're interested.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5729965

foxy-stoat

If he was negligent and you can prove it then you will have a case, his insurers would pick up the tab for the damage under the liability cover on the home insurance.

Only problems I could see, if he bought it secondhand with no instructions and the seller didn't warn him it could get blown away in strong winds and he didn't do research and was unaware of the risks if it wasn't secured down. He could say it was only going to be there for an evening and there wasn't any weather warnings so no need to secure it for one evening before he moved it to the back garden.

I have had experience of neighbours roof slates falling onto my car in strong winds, my car insurance paid for the damage as the neighbour was not negligent in keeping his roof maintained.

Good luck and report back once you have started the small claim.

Aylesbury_Duck

If it came to a small claims situation, I suspect you would win unless he could prove he took reasonable steps to secure the trampoline (weights, pegs, tie-downs, etc). However, I think there are a few things to consider before you go down that route.

Firstly, it might be your "trusted bodyshop" but it might be worth seeing if another place would do the same job cheaper. I think it would be fair for your neighbour to ask you to get at least two quotes for the work.

Secondly, you could make a claim from his insurer but I suspect they will ask for at least two quotes as well. Also, see my third point.

Finally, do you want to fall out with a neighbour over £300, an insurance claim and possible small claims action? How long are you likely to remain neighbours? You've only got to read the numerous threads on here where a relatively trivial disagreement has resulted in a long, emotionally and financially expensive neighbour dispute. It could end up costing you a lot more than £300 in the long run.

neilmcl

Hm121 wrote: »

Not about his specifc policy they wouldnt give me any details about his policy but I asked regarding trampolines and they said damage would be covered under all their policy's assumimg he was negligence

Claim directly from his home insurance.

stator

Send him a letter before action, then take him to small claims court.
I think most judges will side with common sense.
A trampoline is such an obvious hazard it needs to be secured.

Hm121

Thank you all for the replies.

To begin with he never took any action to secure it, it's been on the front garden for the last week or so in the open on the grass so no walls or fences to box it in.

I agree its my trusted bodyshop but I have been to other body shops for paint work who have done awful jobs and I have had to have them corrected again at more cost. The bodyshop I have chosen can guarantee the paint job as I have used them before and they have done a fantastic job and at the end of the day it's a pcp car and I can't just hand it back with a dodgy paint job as it will just cost me more when I give it back.

I have spoken to his insurers but they won't let me make a claim though them, they are saying I have to claim through my own car insurance who then might be able to recover the costs back, but this is a huge risk as there is no guarantee I will get my excess back and the excess is practically the same price as the repair cost.

You say do I want to fall out with my neighbour over £300, honest I don't but if I was in this situation I would of found a way to cover the costs as I would of been responsible. All he's tried to do is worm his way out, I tried to offer some solutions but he blatantly disregarded them and basically told me to f*** *** last night, he said if any other neighbour had done this they wouldn't of paid anythinng and told me to do one which isn't true.

kazwookie

I'd take him to the small claims court along with your cctv, and be done with it.

cubegame

Some might say if you own a tangerine coloured car it's increased the value if there is less paint on it than there was before.