Damage following car re-positioning. Can I claim?

Storstark

A few weeks ago my car was re-positioned by the council as I was parked in a suspended bay. My partner saw the removal guys moving another car on the same morning and said that they dropped it back down to the road from a height, and that the noise frightened the dog. After hearing this I did a quick walk around of my car to check everything looked ok, but there were no scratches, dent, etc so I walked away thinking that was that. I do not drive my car very often at the moment, so it was a week after the re-positioning that I came to drive it for the first time.

As soon as I tried to move away from the curb I got a puncture and my car stopped moving. I did not have a spare tyre so I called a mobile tyre fitter who came out to replace the tyre. On removing the wheel, he found that the puncture had been caused by a broken shard of suspension coil piercing the inside wall of the tyre. He couldn't slide the new wheel back on because more bits of broken suspension were in the way, so these had to be cut off to make the wheel fit, but he advised it was unsafe to drive and should be towed to a garage for repairs. I arranged this and later at the garage it turned out that both of the front suspension coils, shock absorbers and the strut mounting were damaged and had to be replaced. I am certain that the damage was caused during the re-positioning - how else could the front suspension get shattered when it was sitting in a parking space? (The car was completely drivable before this - no problems whatsoever).

I complained to the council, who gave me the details of the re-positioning company. They sent me their claim form which I filled out and sent back with photos, receipts, etc. but obviously they have rejected liability, mainly because their photos (taken before, during and after the re-positioning) show the car "clearly in the same condition" as my photos of the damage. I'm not sure how they can say this, as their pictures show the outside of the car only. Obviously I replied to contest the decision, but have heard nothing back since.

I'm now thinking of bringing a small claim against them for the cost of the damage and I hoped that someone might have experience with a similar situation and can advise on my chances of success?

AdrianC

Not a hope. 

Yes, springs do just fail... usually because they're already cracked and corroded. Can you show us a photo of the broken edge? Is it all clean, or is it corroded apart from a small section of clean?

I had a phone call from a friend a little while ago - she was getting the car out of her garage when exactly the same happened as you describe - spring fractured, pierced the tyre.

How did they move the car? Using the typical local authority crane tow-truck, hoisting by wheel cradles?



It simply cannot be "dropped". The cradles taking the weight are underneath the wheels. They cannot be removed while taking the weight. It can be put down less than gently, sure. But think about the loads on the suspension from that compared to hitting a pothole at speed...

Storstark

Thanks for your reply AdrianC. Here is one of the broken springs. And yes, they moved it with a vehicle like the one pictured above.

If the car was dangling from roughly the height of truck's wheels when they let it go, is the weight in relation to the cradles not irrelevant - because they've slammed it to the ground, and then removed the cradles afterwards? Or do you mean if the suspension was broken during the lifting there would have been more weight on the wheels and they wouldn't have been able to take the cradles off?

neilmcl

AdrianC said:

Not a hope. 

Yes, springs do just fail... usually because they're already cracked and corroded. Can you show us a photo of the broken edge? Is it all clean, or is it corroded apart from a small section of clean?

I had a phone call from a friend a little while ago - she was getting the car out of her garage when exactly the same happened as you describe - spring fractured, pierced the tyre.

How did they move the car? Using the typical local authority crane tow-truck, hoisting by wheel cradles?



It simply cannot be "dropped". The cradles taking the weight are underneath the wheels. They cannot be removed while taking the weight. It can be put down less than gently, sure. But think about the loads on the suspension from that compared to hitting a pothole at speed...

What about all the hundreds of cars, up and down the country with wheel and suspension damage from hitting potholes which are probably only a couple of inches deep compared to the car being put down without care from a much higher height. It's eminently possible for this sort of thing to happen.

It would be quite rare for both sides of the front suspension and mountings to damaged through natural wear and tear.

tacpot12

The point is that cannot be dropped when it is moved this way, it can only be lowered. So the maximum speed it could hit the ground with is the maximum speed that the hydraulics will lower it at. 

I imagine that could be quite fast if the hydraulic seals are a bit
worn, but really it should be slow enough to ensure that no damage is caused. Perhaps the MD of the relocation company would let the OP lower his car at maximum speed to measure how fast this is?

Perhaps they will settle for a 50/50 split of the costs to settle? I think the OP would win this in court because the car could not have been driven in the state he found it in when he returned to it. 

Manxman_in_exile

I'm not sure I'd allow the council to fob me off by passing me onto their contractor...

neilmcl

tacpot12 said:

The point is that cannot be dropped when it is moved this way, it can only be lowered. So the maximum speed it could hit the ground with is the maximum speed that the hydraulics will lower it at. 

I imagine that could be quite fast if the hydraulic seals are a bit
worn, but really it should be slow enough to ensure that no damage is caused. Perhaps the MD of the relocation company would let the OP lower his car at maximum speed to measure how fast this is?

Perhaps they will settle for a 50/50 split of the costs to settle? I think the OP would win this in court because the car could not have been driven in the state he found it in when he returned to it. 

They can be "lowered" pretty fast if not done without care. Not much difference to a skip lorry and I've seen a few of them being lowered/dropped at a fair rate.

AdrianC

Storstark said:

Thanks for your reply AdrianC. Here is one of the broken springs.

Can you take a clearer photo showing the fractured ends?

The bit you can see clearly there is clean and bright - is it all like that?

And yes, they moved it with a vehicle like the one pictured above.

If the car was dangling from roughly the height of truck's wheels when they let it go, is the weight in relation to the cradles not irrelevant - because they've slammed it to the ground, and then removed the cradles afterwards? Or do you mean if the suspension was broken during the lifting there would have been more weight on the wheels and they wouldn't have been able to take the cradles off?

I mean they physically can't "just drop it". It's simply not possible.

It can ONLY be lowered to the ground using the crane hydraulics, then when the tyres are taking the weight the wheel cradles can be slid out.

Alter_ego

Did you park before or after the bay was suspended?

Storstark

Hopefully that's a bit clearer. The jagged edges fit together - one is a nice shiny clean-metal colour (on the right of the photo - even though the outside surface of the spring looks rusty). The other edge (on the left of the photo) is dull, but that's the bit that went into the tyre so I guess it's got rubber or tyre-gunk, or whatever on it.

I parked in the bay before it was suspended, but then didn't check on it for a couple of weeks, which in hindsight was foolish. I've challenged the PCN but have yet to hear back. I imagine I'll end up having to pay it, but a £60 parking fine is the least of my worries!

Storstark

And here is where it pierced the inside of the tyre and caused the puncture. So I'm pretty confident that the spring wasn't cracked prior to the repositioning!