Car hit by falling roof tile

Careful_with_that_Axe

Hi
I'm hoping someone here may be able to help me clear my mind on what to do about this.

I rent a ground floor flat and park my car in a specified parking place. Last Sunday (after some fairly strong overnight winds) I noticed that a couple of tiles had come off the roof of the flat above me and one had hit and damaged my car.

I spoke to the Manager of the Residents Assocuation who stated that their insurance would not cover this as it was storm damage and I would have to claim through my car insurance cover. I am obviously reluctant to do this due to the effect on my NCB and having to pay the excess.

I have no intention to be out of pocket in this matter and am sure that there should be insurance held which would cover the cost of rectifying this damage - in case, say, a falling tile hit a person.

I have taken photographs of the roof, the tiles and the damage and noticed that the roof has signs of previous repairs.

Any thoughts/advice?

Many thanks

Debt_Free_Chick

You should still claim off your insurance. If there is someone else to blame, your insurance company will deal with it.

lisyloo

Hello,

I'm afraid I have bad news.
The owner of the roof is only liable if they were negligent i.e. had failed to keep the roof in a good state of repair.

If it was a freak accident caused by unusually high winds then I'm afraid they are not liable.
Sorry, but I'm pretty sure that's the case.

If you could prove negligence then you would have a case, but evidence of previous repairs is not sufficient (in fact it demonstrates that they had made repairs and would actually support a case for maintenance having been carried out).

am sure that there should be insurance held which would cover the cost of rectifying this damage

Yes, you should have car insurance for this.

If a tile hit did kill someone then there might be a more thorough investigation but the same laws still stand.
They are only negligent if liable.
Of course there would be more resources thrown at it if someone had died.
The police are not going to inspect the roof because your car is damaged.

mattymoo

Careful_with_that_Axe wrote: »

I have taken photographs of the roof, the tiles and the damage and noticed that the roof has signs of previous repairs.

This goes against any case you may have had.
In order to succeed with a claim like this you have to prove somebody was negligent. When high winds are involved, this is very hard to prove.

The fact that there is evidence of previous repairs suggest there is routine maintenance / inspections being carried out. Had it been a roof in a state of neglect with tiles hanging off etc, then yes, you might have stood a chance.

Hopefully you have comprehensive insurance on the car. You'll lose NCD and the excess of course.

mattymoo

lisyloo wrote: »

They are only negligent if liable.

Or t'other way round Lisyloo

lisyloo

They are only negligent if liable.

He He.....yes, it's standard law you are only liable if you are negligent.

So let's say (for exmaple) that you open your window when you have music playing and round the corner there is someone riding a horse who get's thrown off.
You would not be liable if you could not have seen the horse round the corner.

You would be liable if you had done it deliberately or negligently.

Careful_with_that_Axe

OK. Thanks to all.
I do have Comprehensive car insurance and will claim through this. I'll also try to get them to reclaim excess form someone (!) through the legal services cover I also have.

How annoying though!!

lisyloo

I'll also try to get them to reclaim excess form someone (!) through the legal services cover I also have.

Sorry but don't think you'll be lucky here either.
Legal services only works where there is a liable 3rd party.

If the main claim doesn't find anyone liable then there will be no-one to chase for the un-insured expenses.

Yes, I agree it's a bummer, but at the end of the day that's what insurance is for.
You've been unlucky to have the incident but lucky to have insurance.

I have an extremely reliable old car.
If it happened to my car it would write it off and I'd have no insurance as I'm not fully comp so I would loose a very reliable car completely.
It's value to me far exceeds the paper value.

jimanywonderkid

Hi,
Exactly the same thing happened to me. I noticed a roof tile from my next door neighbour's house had blown off on Friday night and damaged the roof of my car.
I have spoken to him and he is ringing his house insurance this week but was reluctant to help. The thing is I can prove it is due to his negligence.
He admitted he knew that the loose roof tiles needed sorting out and a year ago he asked the builder we were using if he could fix them while he was on our roof but he didn't get it done.
Also I have photos of the roof with the other loose tiles that are still there now.

If I claim against him will he be liable or will his insurance cover it? His wife is very ill and I wouldn't want to sue him or anything as that would cause a lot of grief for the sake of a few hundred pounds.
Any advice would be much appreciated,
Thanks

lisyloo

If I claim against him will he be liable or will his insurance cover it?

Well it's actually both.
Liability is a different concept to insurance.
Liability indicates who is responsibile for settling the debt.
Insurance means the payment is covered that's all.
Just because someone is liable does not mean they are insured and just because they have insurance does not make them liable.

How good is your case in terms of proof?
What I mean is that they are very likely to deny they knew the tiles needed fixing and you will have to prove it.
Will you builder act as an independent witness?
If so then I'd say you have a good case.

It's not just about what you know to be true, you have to proof it when the other person lies. An independent witness is ideal.

Yes his insurance will cover it but if it's a small claim he would be better off paying you directly as his premiums will go up if he claims.

jimanywonderkid

Thanks for the advice.

Yes I feel I have a strong case. He admitted he knew the tiles were a problem to me and our builder would be a witness. Also I have pictures taken on saturday of the roof with more loose tiles that have slid into the guttering. These could also blow off at anytime (I park my car across the road now though!)

I really don't want to take him to court and cause a lot of grief though. I will see what he says about his insurance and then decide what to do.

Thanks