Damage to neighbour's car possibly from a JustPark booking - what to do?

KimJongUn88

You’re being a soft touch. You have no legal liability to settle his claim whatsoever. You weren’t negligent. You weren’t driving the vehicle that caused the damage. Tell him to issue Court proceedings against you. What will his allegations of negligence be against you? None whatsoever.

Mercdriver

KimJongUn88 said:

Herzlos said:

It certainly sounds like one of your visitors did it, and if you can't figure out which one then it's on you to pay it. £200 is nothing for a door.

Just think; would you expect go split the bill if he damaged your property?

How much do you make via justpark? Is there any kind of insurance provided?

Are you for real? The OP has done nothing wrong whatsoever. It was the person who caused the damage to the vehicle who was negligent and is responsible. 

Why are you asking about the insurance from Just Park? The insurance of the vehicle driven by the Just Park user will
cover their Road Traffic Act liabilities.

Your response is absolute rubbish.

There is a world of difference with having done wrong, and being responsible for something happening.  Would the incident have happened had the OP not rented out the spot?  If yes, then there is a sense of responsibility - not necessarily legally, but morally.  Now the OP and anyone in this situation could front it out, but in the end your neighbours are your neighbours for the whole of the time that you share the same street.  

It could easily turn very nasty with that one neighbour turning the whole street against the OP.  Personally if I was in the OP's position, I would be pragmatic and just pay the £200 but make sure she gets a signed receipt for it stating full and final settlement. If the OP is willing to pay £100, for the sake of £100 it could end very badly.  
OP if it leaves you feeling bad towards the neighbour concerned, you could avoid future contact with him after paying and getting receipt.  

Mercdriver

KimJongUn88 said:

Herzlos said:

It certainly sounds like one of your visitors did it, and if you can't figure out which one then it's on you to pay it. £200 is nothing for a door.

Just think; would you expect go split the bill if he damaged your property?

How much do you make via justpark? Is there any kind of insurance provided?

Your response is absolute rubbish.

Pot. Kettle. Black.  Personally, going on how in my opinion I view the vast majority of your replies, I wouldn't follow your advice.  Not ever.  There i more to living in a street than legal rights and wrongs.  If  neighbour saw your house being broken into, the right thing for them to do would be to call the police.  They wouldn't be obliged too legally.  In my parental home's street this happened as a result of a parking dispute. 

shaun_from_Africa

Herzlos said:

Ok, so if one of your neighbours guests damaged your property you wouldn't expect the neighbour to pay for it?

Exactly, "if".
At present, there is absolutely zero proof that any damage was caused by someone parking in the OP's parking bay. All that there is at the moment is the neighbour claiming that there was no damage previously, now there is damage and they assume that it was caused by someone parking there and they want the OP to pay.
For all anyone knows, the damage may have been there for a long time and the neighbour simply hasn't noticed it before (after all, the OP describes it as "barely noticeable").

If your neighbour thought that you or someone visiting your house caused damage to their property but they had no proof whatsoever of how it was actually caused, would you simply pay what they asked for?

£200 for a vintage Mercedes door to be supplied, painted and fitted? If it was a die cast scale model maybe but for a road going Mercedes convertible £200 probably wouldn't even come close to covering the labour charge.

neilmcl

What is the exact extent of the damage? If it's just a dent then a PDR specialist may be able to fix it at a fraction of the cost.

mcpitman

Legally - no proof, not your problem.
However, in the real world, if his car hasn't moved and has been under cover, than all probability is that your customer caused the damage.

To keep the peace I agree with your husband, £200, signed receipt, no hard feelings, live in peace and comfort in your own home. There are lots of people saying sic "tell him to do one", but they don't have to live there and it can be remarkably uncomfortable living next to someone who holds no courtesy for you and makes life awkward.

After that install CCTV covering your parking spot, at least you have some form of evidence (or defense) should this occur again.

Jonathan_Powell

I think you should pay for it. If it's a near certainty one of your customers made the dent and you can't track them down, you should pay for it. Not obligation to do it from a legal perspective but morally I think you should.

NBLondon

mcpitman said:

Legally - no proof, not your problem.
However, in the real world, if his car hasn't moved and has been under cover, than all probability is that your customer caused the damage.

To keep the peace I agree with your husband, £200, signed receipt, no hard feelings, live in peace and comfort in your own home. There are lots of people saying sic "tell him to do one", but they don't have to live there and it can be remarkably uncomfortable living next to someone who holds no courtesy for you and makes life awkward.

After that install CCTV covering your parking spot, at least you have some form of evidence (or defense) should this occur again.

This is the sort of sensible approach I'd agree with....  But a few questions arise:

This can't be on-street parking, otherwise you wouldn't be able to rent it out at specific times.  So it must be resident's parking or an allocated space of some sort that goes with your address.    Do you own the space?  If not - you may be breaching landlord's conditions by renting it out.    I'm guessing you must do if you are able to put up a barrier - which is a good idea.  Ditto CCTV if you can.  This would effectively be part of the costs of working with JustPark so if there was an incident in future, you could point to the offending customer.  Would that also allow you to raise your rate to the customer - because you are offering them a more secure spot?

Car_54

Dealership? Vintage?

NBLondon

Car_54 said:

Dealership? Vintage?

I'm assuming that the OP is using the term in the "fashion" sense of vintage (meaning anything pre-1990 it seems) rather than the car buff's meaning of 1919-1930.    If we're talking a 60s or 70s pagoda roof MB then maybe "dealership" means a classic car dealer/restorer.   Which would mean £200 for a door is far too cheap (as shaun_from_Africa said above) but maybe a touch up for a regular customer.