storm damage to car from neighbours house

arsenalboy

So the gales in the west country blew a neighbours roof window out which landed on my wife's car.

Neighbour has acknowledged liability and contacted her home insurer More Than.

We have had my wife's car from new and it is an immaculate 15 years old. Its market value is circa £500 and damage is circa £1000.

We have 13 years no claim and a £200 excess. The insurance is in my name and I have a policy in my name for our main car.

More Than have told my neighbour to give their details to our insurer and arrange for the car to be repaired and they will settle.

But if I do this I will lose our no claims and it will effect the premium on two cars.

Am I right in thinking I do not have to go through our insurer and can deal direct with neighbours insurance as they have admitted liability?

missile

You certainly can, however>>>>
There are many posts from those who have tried to do this and for a number of reasons lived to regret it.
It will be a condition of your insurance that you advise them of any incident. Insurers share information.
If your car is only worth £500 it is most unlikely that neighbour or your insurer will pay £1000 to have it repaired.

Ms_Chocaholic

I'm not sure neighbour is at fault here, sorry. But unless the window that blew out was loose/faulty and the neighbour hadn't had it fixed, then I wouldn't say they are liable.

What is wrong with the car? If it's a few dents, is it worth spending £1k on a repair on a 15 year old vehicle.

Linton

As has been suggested the neighbour is not liable unless the damage was due to her negligence, which seems unlikely. So it would seem her insurer should not be paying anyway.

arsenalboy

Okay, thanks for the replies.

Neighbour admits liability because they left window open when gales were forecast and warnings issued. If window had been closed it would not have happened.

The bonnet has numerous dents and is askew, the front wing is buckled and headlamp is pushed down. The drivers door will only open a third of the way before it snags on the front wing.

Neighbour cannot afford to contribute to repair and therefore has to go through insurer. I am sure an approved repairer would replace bonnet, headlamp, and front wing. I am sure there would be cheaper options but they would not be entertained by insurer.

Aretnap

The neighbors insurance will only pay if the neighbours themselves are liable, which generally quid require there to have been negligence on the part of the neighbour. If there was no negligence, eg if the window was well maintained and in apparently good condition and the damage resulted from a freak storm, then you would have no right to recourse from the neighbour and it would be down to you to claim on your insurance or grit your teeth and pay for the damage yourself. Just as you would have to do if your car was damaged by a tile from your own roof, or a stray branch from goodness knows where.

If your neighbour's insurers have told you that they will be paying them you probably have no need to worry about the above, but if what you have been told comes via the neighbours then be aware that they may have misunderstood what their insurers have told them, and you should be prepared for the possibility that this will not be as simple as you hope.

If the car is only worth £500 it is unlikely that either insurer will be paying a £1000 repair bill - however good you think the condition is you will be looking at a write off. Of course, if they pay you £500 and you keep the car, you might be able to get it repaired more cheaply if you don't mind an imperfect for match and/or putting up with the odd dent.

If you claim on your own insurance then your no claims bonus will be restored if/when they recover whatever they pay out from the other insurer. The terms of your policy will doubtless require you to inform your insurer of the incident regardless of whether you intend to claim through them, and it would be unwise to hope they don't find out if you involve another insurer (shared databases etc). So the benefits of not claiming through your own policy are fairly marginal.

If you want to deal with More Than directly then you can try, however be aware that as you are not their customer they are under no obligation to deal with you if they don't want to. Their obligation is to cover their customers liabilities, and from a legal standpoint that means paying anything you persuade a court to order your neighbour to pay. Unless and until you actually take your neighbour to court it is down to then to deal with you or not as they see fit.

arsenalboy

Aretnap wrote: »

fairly marginal.

If you want to deal with More Than directly then you can try, however be aware that as you are not their customer they are under no obligation to deal with you if they don't want to. Their obligation is to cover their customers liabilities, and from a legal standpoint that means paying anything you persuade a court to order your neighbour to pay. Unless and until you actually take your neighbour to court it is down to then to deal with you or not as they see fit.

We have known neighbour for years and would not have to take them to Court.
When I say deal directly with More Than I mean via neighbour i.e., not formally claim on my insurance.
They would be happy to pass an estimate on to them.

My question is in this sort of incident would they insist on involving my insurer. I am happy to inform them of an incident but do not wish to compromise my no claims.

Cash-Strapped.T32

arsenalboy wrote: »

My question is in this sort of incident would they insist on involving my insurer. I am happy to inform them of an incident but do not wish to compromise my no claims.

If the other person's insurance is going to pay, hell if they, or any other insurer is told about the incident, even in passing, then you NEED to inform your insurer of the incident. No ifs, no buts, no whatevers - do it.

Note I said "inform". Use that terminology. You're informing them for information purposes, you're not making a claim (with them).

Then you'll need to deal directly with the neighbour's insurer.
Don't try & deal via the neighbour, as some sort of weird go-between, deal direct. In fact they shouldn't even discuss details with your neighbour really, once liability has been agreed.

It's a really simple scenario you find yourself in, don't make it complicated! :cool:
Best of luck

arsenalboy

Cash-Strapped.T32 wrote: »

If the other person's insurance is going to pay, hell if they, or any other insurer is told about the incident, even in passing, then you NEED to inform your insurer of the incident. No ifs, no buts, no whatevers - do it.

Note I said "inform". Use that terminology. You're informing them for information purposes, you're not making a claim (with them).

Then you'll need to deal directly with the neighbour's insurer.
Don't try & deal via the neighbour, as some sort of weird go-between, deal direct. In fact they shouldn't even discuss details with your neighbour really, once liability has been agreed.

It's a really simple scenario you find yourself in, don't make it complicated! :cool:
Best of luck

If I inform my insurer on this "banger car" that I have been involved in an incident which has been settled, do I have to inform my different insurer for our "expensive" car when I come to renew? Looking at proposal for renewal it just asks if I have made a claim in last 5 years?

eddddy

arsenalboy wrote: »

More Than have told my neighbour to give their details to our insurer and arrange for the car to be repaired and they will settle.

How do you know that?

Have you seen a letter from More Than? Or have you spoken to somebody from More Than?

It sounds like it might be wishful thinking by your neighbour.

More Than are likely to say it's the storm's fault, not your neighbour's fault. And therefore, they won't pay you anything.


Unfortunately, that's the way the law works.

arsenalboy

eddddy wrote: »

How do you know that?


More Than are likely to say it's the storm's fault, not your neighbour's fault. And therefore, they won't pay you anything.


Unfortunately, that's the way the law works.

I understand what you are saying but if the neighbour had not left their dormer window open when severe gale warnings were constantly being issued then the window would not have been pulled off its hinges.

So isn't this caused by the neighbour rather than the storm i.e., the neighbour has not taken reasonable care?