Car vandalised in secure residential car park

georgies1

Hi 

I’d really appreciate any advice on what to do next with this - only the third car I’ve ever owned so I’m lacking in knowledge here! 

The situation is outlined below:

My car was vandalised a couple of weeks ago. There was a half hearted attempt to make it look like a break in - but nothing was stolen and the stuff that was in there wasn’t even looked through. Just a few bits and bobs chucked around.

The rear windscreen was entirely smashed in. Which - to me - isn’t really what someone would do if they were wanting to rob a car. Smash the side window, unlock the door - job done.

This was done in a secure underground residential car park - only accessible ( in theory ) by fob or door code. I pay for the ‘privilege’ of parking there (as part of my rent) - and despite numerous signs etc saying there is CCTV it appears on further investigation there isn’t any. 

Insurance company are being a nightmare - and this is likely to cost me considerably. Through no fault of my own. 

Do you think I would have any standing re: claiming back any financial loss from the building management company? 

Grumpy_chap

This is a claim on your insurance and let them deal with any recovery of costs or evidence from the car park operators.

I assume you reported the incident to the Police at the time.

In what way are the insurance company being a nightmare?
Is that your car insurance company?
How and why is this likely to cost you considerably?

georgies1

Hi - yes I reported it straight away - it is potentially 

Insurance is through a well known company / broker - underwriters however are 

I am basically having to chase the whole claim. No updates at all from them. 

Car was collected by recovery company and I was told it was sent to a garage for repair. It never reached the garage. Instead was kept at recovery agents then sent to salvage company. I had to ring the garage to find that out.

When I ring the underwriters it’s over an hour wait to get through. So every time I’ve called the broker instead to get them to put me through.

i was told that it’s been in theory deemed a total loss - although no one has actually looked at it to assess the damage. The age of the car is the primary factor.

When I went to salvage company to collect my stuff out of the car and looked at it again basically all that is wrong is a broken back windscreen. Was told that also by staff member there. 

Every time I call insurance company I get told something different. It’s a total loss, it’s not a total loss, this and that is going to be done blah blah ... 

If they do officially deem it as a total loss it’s likely I’ll end up with a very paltry settlement once my excess has been taken out so I won’t be able to buy a new car using that. Also because vandalism is seen as an at fault claim (despite it not being my fault) in the event that I do buy a new car at some point my insurance premiums will be higher ...

georgies1

Sorry - just realised first couple of sentences have bits missing!

yes - did report it straight away - it’s not an isolated incident. 

Grumpy_chap

What type of car and how old is it?

AdrianC

georgies1 said:

i was told that it’s been in theory deemed a total loss - although no one has actually looked at it to assess the damage. The age of the car is the primary factor.

No, the value is. They will not pay more to repair the car than the value of it, immediately prior to the damage. Storage costs, hire cars - they feed into that calculation, too.

If repairing will take a week for parts to arrive, then that's a week of a hire car that's part of the repair cost.
Write it off? Instant.

If they do officially deem it as a total loss it’s likely I’ll end up with a very paltry settlement once my excess has been taken out

No, they will owe you a fair market value for the car, immediately prior to the damage.

Also because vandalism is seen as an at fault claim (despite it not being my fault) in the event that I do buy a new car at some point my insurance premiums will be higher ...

If your insurer end up holding the bill, it's at-fault. That's how fault is determined in the insurance industry.

If not your insurer, who WILL pay?
The car park manager is not liable - you park there at your own risk.
You have no idea who committed the damage.
Even if you did have suspicions, you almost certainly have no mechanism to make them pay short of launching a court claim which you almost certainly won't win because of lack of proof.
Even if you did, do they have sufficient resources to pay any award the court makes?
The insurer will take a view on those factors, and pay rather than try to follow it up - because their costs would also be part of the claim. They'd be throwing good money after bad. It goes as a claim against your policy = at fault.

elsien

Would it be viable for you to buy the car off the insurer at write off value and have the car repaired yourself, if that really is all that’s wrong? 

Sandtree

The issue is that you have reported it as a theft/vandalism claim rather than glass... if its just the glass thats damaged you could have called the glass claims line that is likely to go straight through to Autoglass or such and they'd have been out and replaced the window for a small excess.

It sounds like you rent the flat and so arent the leaseholder and have no contract with the management company. The leaseholder may have some grounds to complain if they were advised the car park has CCTV when it doesnt but ultimately if someone is willing to do this when there are signs saying there is CCTV then they are willing to do it when there is CCTV. 

Grumpy_chap

I wonder whether the car is a Mini convertible?

AdrianC

Grumpy_chap said:

I wonder whether the car is a Mini convertible?

...or similar...

Interesting thought.

For those who didn't pick up on the reference...
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6298338/mini-cooper

neilmcl

Sandtree said:

The issue is that you have reported it as a theft/vandalism claim rather than glass... if its just the glass thats damaged you could have called the glass claims line that is likely to go straight through to Autoglass or such and they'd have been out and replaced the window for a small excess.

It sounds like you rent the flat and so arent the leaseholder and have no contract with the management company. The leaseholder may have some grounds to complain if they were advised the car park has CCTV when it doesnt but ultimately if someone is willing to do this when there are signs saying there is CCTV then they are willing to do it when there is CCTV. 

^This.

My dad's car got done in similar way a couple of years back, they broke in via the door window and stole what they could get their hands on, which wasn't much. Initially the insurance (Esure, I think) were being a bit difficult due to the theft element, even though my Dad wasn't claiming for any loss, but eventually he persuaded them to just deal with it as a glass claim and got someone from Autoglass out the next day.