Car Damaged by Fallen Tree in Hotel Car Park £17000 damage

Norman_Castle

For £17k I expect your insurer will pursue the hotel if its an option.

Sandtree

cmarkhammiller said:
Whilst, I understand they may not have been negligent, the tree was on their property, in the car park that they told us to park in (it had no at your own risk notice) so surely this should come under their insurance under the public liability insurance?

So if I came over to your home and had a heart attack would you feel obliged to pay my loss of earnings claims for the next 20 years because I happened to have been on your property at the time?

Negligence - doing something a reasonable person wouldnt do or failing to do something a reasonable person would - is required in any unwillful act. So to hold the hotel liable you would need to demonstrate that the tree was clearly rotten or damaged and therefore they were negligent for failing to deal with the issue before the tree fell. 

Assuming it was just high winds etc then its an "act of god" and as such no liability on the hotel. Your own insurance will cover the damages, they will consider if there are grounds to attempt a recovery but unless there is evidence of the pre-accident state of the tree it'll be closed fairly quickly.

cmarkhammiller

Thanks for all comments,  a couple of things.
1. My insurance company will not pay appropriately, the car will be written off and they will pay me less that it's worth and recoup either via hotel's insurance or a salvage company.
2. Sandtee - truly not sure the reference to a heartache but just to clarify - it was not windy, the tree was rotten as confirmed by the tree surgeon at the time and could have fallen anytime in the last 20-50 years!
3. As always insurance companies will win - and will reclaim or lay off the cost. I will be left with no car and 50% of the value even under fully comp insurance as advised by The AA, they will approach Aviva the hotels insurers and recoup and sell the car to a salvage company who will repair and get 50% more money than they offered me....as I said, it truly does not feel fair as I am the only one who will be worse off!!
But not surprised - insurance companies are so not fair!

Jenni_D

So you've negotiated a better pay-out for your write-off then? Rarely should anybody accept the first offer. And how are you determining that their offer is only 50% of the car's worth (prior to the incident)?

Ebe_Scrooge

cmarkhammiller said:

Thanks for all comments,  a couple of things.
1. My insurance company will not pay appropriately, the car will be written off and they will pay me less that it's worth and recoup either via hotel's insurance or a salvage company.  They will pay the market value, not what you paid for it originally.  That's standard practice, and is why GAP insurance is a thing.  If you disagree with their valuation, you can challenge it and provide evidence as to why you believe it should be higher.
2. Sandtee - truly not sure the reference to a heartache but just to clarify - it was not windy, the tree was rotten as confirmed by the tree surgeon at the time and could have fallen anytime in the last 20-50 years!  Were they aware of this at the time, or were they only made aware of this after the fact?  It could have fallen in the last 20 or 50 years?  It didn't, did it?
3. As always insurance companies will win - and will reclaim or lay off the cost. I will be left with no car and 50% of the value even under fully comp insurance as advised by The AA, they will approach Aviva the hotels insurers and may try to recoup and sell the car to a salvage company who will repair not if it's not economically viable for them they won't and get 50% more money than they offered me....as I said, it truly does not feel fair as I am the only one who will be worse off!!
But not surprised - insurance companies are so not fair!

A couple of points above.

AdrianC

cmarkhammiller said:

1. My insurance company will not pay appropriately, the car will be written off and they will pay me less that it's worth

No, they are obliged to pay you the market value of the vehicle immediately prior to the incident.

You and they may disagree on what that is - the financial ombudsman will adjudicate. But unless the vehicle is significantly outside the mainstream, then the price guides are usually fairly accurate.

If it was outside the mainstream, then that's what agreed value policies are for.

just to clarify - it was not windy, the tree was rotten as confirmed by the tree surgeon at the time and could have fallen anytime in the last 20-50 years!

Then the hotel may well be liable. But since their insurer are refusing liability, you have a choice.

1. You can launch legal proceedings against the hotel, indemnified by their insurer...
or
2. You can claim from your insurer. They will pursue the hotel if they think it financially viable to do so.

The first of those would be expensive and complex even without the incident having occurred outside the UK.

cmarkhammiller

So here's the thing, it is a "classic" car, so they obviously got a standard valuation but if I research, there are 9 cars of similar age, mileage etc that are up for sale at 50% above what the insurance offered, of course I haven't accepted it  , it's just the tiresomeness of the whole thing - especially as it occurred over 7 weeks ago and they are slow to respond form all side as in both insurers.....
Agreed legal proceedings far too much effort, hence my point the only loser here is me!

AdrianC

cmarkhammiller said:

So here's the thing, it is a "classic" car

Was it on a classic policy?

If not, why not?

Also - what did you declare as the value on the proposal?

Ebe_Scrooge

cmarkhammiller said:

So here's the thing, it is a "classic" car

That's why you have Agreed Value or specialist Classic Car policies, as referenced by AdrianC earlier - that's exactly what they're designed for.

cmarkhammiller said:

if I research, there are 9 cars of similar age, mileage etc that are up for sale at 50% above what the insurance offered

You are free to challenge their initial valuation, and if you have reasonable evidence as to its true value then they will often adjust their offer accordingly.  Of course, just because a car is offered for sale at a certain price, doesn't mean it will actually sell for that price.

AdrianC

Have a read of this, OP...

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/businesses/complaints-deal/insurance/motor-insurance/vehicle-valuations-write-offs