Builders got dirt on neighbour's car

GenieBoy

I recently had some building work done and the builders got cement dust on my neighbour's car. Who is at fault? The builders or me?

The neighbour is blaming me and he says it's my fault.

I say it's the builders fault as they dirtied the car and should have public liability insurance to cover any repairs.

The neighbour never asked me what I wanted to do about it, he just went on a big rant and sulk like the manchild he is. I said I can't do anything until I speak with my builders to see what they say/suggest. Neighbour said he was going to leave his car so the builders could see the dirt but after we finished our exchanges he went off and got the car cleaned. For the record he now says there is no damage.

Apparently my neighbour spoke to my builders and told them I was washing my hands of the problem (which I never said) but it was OK as his car came up clean with no damage.

Now my neighbour doesn't like me and hates me when my only crime was his car got dirty by my builders.

flashg67

Life's too short - it's childish but perhaps either treat him the same and hope he's sees the error of his ways, or just ignore him completely. Or attempt to make the piece with an apology, or just have it out with him publicly - that approach worked with me with a grumpy neighbour.

FreeBear

GenieBoy said: I recently had some building work done and the builders got cement dust on my neighbour's car. Who is at fault? The builders or me?

Ultimately, you are responsible for the actions of the builders as they are contracted to you. However, the builders would be liable for any damage caused. In this situation, I'd be asking the builders to make an apology and suggest they offer to pay for a car wash.

GDB2222

Of course, the OP should immediately have apologised and accepted liability. I’m not surprised that the neighbour is seething. The OP then describes the neighbour as a man child …  wow!

It’s up to the OP to sort things out with the builder, but I can’t imagine why the op thought it was necessary to involve the neighbour in that discussion. 

billy2shots

My immediate thought is. 

Wow ,what has MSE become. Posting about dust on a car !!!

Don't give it a second thought and don't write about it on an internet forum. 

Doozergirl

Cars get dirty all the time.  That's why we have to wash them.   Whether it's salt from the road, mud, sand from the Sahara, bird poop or building dust, it's just a part of life.

I can't help reading the entire post as 'man washes dirty car'.   I'd probably give him £20 to be quiet but I agree with the phrase man child for someone who rants before they've even established that there is a problem.  It's embarrassing behaviour, especially to now hate your neighbours for something that didn't actually happen and they didn't do.  

Behaving like a grown up would have seen absolutely no drama.  

GDB2222

Doozergirl said:

Cars get dirty all the time.  That's why we have to wash them.   Whether it's salt from the road, mud, sand from the Sahara, bird poop or building dust, it's just a part of life.

I can't help reading the entire post as 'man washes dirty car'.   I'd probably give him £20 to be quiet but I agree with the phrase man child for someone who rants before they've even established that there is a problem.  It's embarrassing behaviour, especially to now hate your neighbours for something that didn't actually happen and they didn't do.  

Behaving like a grown up would have seen absolutely no drama.  

Our neighbours have had builders in since last summer, and it is a bit tiresome. There’s a lot of dust and rubbish, but not the end of the world. 

However, if they dropped cement on my car, I would worry about that. If it washes off, that’s fine, but I would certainly worry that it could seriously damage the car.  So, I would bring it to my neighbour’s attention, and I would expect them to take note of what happened and take responsibility. If they actually did as the op did, and refused to take responsibility, then I would be really surprised and disappointed. 

stuhse

If you want to maintain  relations, and my experience is it's a lot nicer  and more convenient to be friends with your neighbours than not, then write a quick card with a note of apology for the inconvenience and ten pound note which you hope will cover the cleaning costs.  You then have the moral high ground if nothing else.

Doozergirl

GDB2222 said:

Doozergirl said:

Cars get dirty all the time.  That's why we have to wash them.   Whether it's salt from the road, mud, sand from the Sahara, bird poop or building dust, it's just a part of life.

I can't help reading the entire post as 'man washes dirty car'.   I'd probably give him £20 to be quiet but I agree with the phrase man child for someone who rants before they've even established that there is a problem.  It's embarrassing behaviour, especially to now hate your neighbours for something that didn't actually happen and they didn't do.  

Behaving like a grown up would have seen absolutely no drama.  

Our neighbours have had builders in since last summer, and it is a bit tiresome. There’s a lot of dust and rubbish, but not the end of the world. 

However, if they dropped cement on my car, I would worry about that. If it washes off, that’s fine, but I would certainly worry that it could seriously damage the car.  So, I would bring it to my neighbour’s attention, and I would expect them to take note of what happened and take responsibility. If they actually did as the op did, and refused to take responsibility, then I would be really surprised and disappointed. 

The OP says cement dust, not cement.  

The OP also said that they wanted to speak to the builders first, which is not the same as not taking responsibility (for something that turned out to be nothing).  I think it's perfectly reasonable that the builder speaks to the neighbour and takes responsibility if there was a problem. 

I had half an acre of land ripped up and six houses built next door, with the closest 2m away, so I also know that it's tedious to have dust all over the house windows and in the mvhr filters, but no way worth fighting over or even worth spending much time thinking about. 

sugar-walsh

It's a non issue, and frankly the neighbour should be apologising for his behaviour. As an adult It's not OK to rant and sulk because some dust got on your car.

outtatune

sugar-walsh said:

It's a non issue, and frankly the neighbour should be apologising for his behaviour. As an adult It's not OK to rant and sulk because some dust got on your car.

Totally the opposite. OP should have just apologised immediately and taken responsibility and cleaned the car. And then taken it up with the builders afterwards.