Storm damage to my car from garage roof, who to claim from?

[feefofum]

Hi All.

The storms we had on Thurs blew some garage roofing onto my car and has dented and scratched it.

Although I'm insured fully comp I have a £250 excess and no protection on my 3 yrs no claims.

1. What do I need to do now, isn't it the fault of the garage owners for not ensuring their roof was secure? I don;t want to have to go through my insurance company and loose £250 and my no claims bonus too when it isn't my fault. Infact would prefer not to have damaged fixed than go through insurance company. Can I go direct to the garage owners myself?

Thanks for advice

[craigwalton]

I'm afraid that you will have to claim through your car Insurance or stick with the damage.

It is higly unlikely the Household Insurance will pay up as it was an Act of God (the storms) that damaged your car - unless you can prove that the owner of the roof did not take reasonable steps to prevent the loss i.e. the garage was in a bad state anyway.

[feefofum]

hmmm, do you know this for sure? 'Acts of God' such as storm damage ARE covered on policies (well they are on my buildings insurance anyhow).

And yes their garage roof was in disrepair as theirs was the only one to come off during the wind.

[mooreda]

if you wish to pursue the owners of the garage for which is responsible, you need to approach them to disclose to you the name of their contents insurer. It is the contents insurer that provides them with public liability. You then need to make a claim to them but beware - the onus is on you to prove that their customer failed to maintain the garage roof in good condition and were negligent. I suggest you take photographs asap of the roof, the garage etc to build your case but you must get permission before you go onto their property. If your claim fails, you will need to claim against your motor insurance.

[bmw323i]

I thought public liabilty was included in Building Insurance, mine has it.

It may be worth phoning your Motor insurance company for advice, as some policies have free legal cover to fight third parties for damages.

Its worth a try



Emz

[mooreda]

no - claims of this nature would be dealt with under the contents liability section - I used to handle these claims in previous employment

[craigwalton]

Insurance companies do deal with Acts of God, i.e. storm damage, and the motor insurers would deal with the claim under comprehensive cover.

However, for a recovery claim one party has to prove that the other person had acted in a negligent way to cause his car damage. This will be highly unlikely to prove as the winds were strong enough on the beaufort scale to cause structural damage to a perfectly sound roof. That means, unless the car owner has proof that the roof was in a poor state of repair before the storms (thus being negligent in the upkeep of the property) then he will have a hard time prooving that it was not down to an act of god... Insurance Companies do have liability sections under the buildings and contents section, but as 99% of all liability claims are due to the "Policyholder failing to...." then it is dealt under the contents section.....

With regards to the fact that it was only their roof tiles that came off then this is a wafer thin argument, as this is not proof they were negligent.

I recommend as mooreda said, take photos ASAP and also keep the offending tile(s), as these should confirm that the roof was porly maintained.

[watercooled]

I work for an insurance company, This Act God is a load of rubish. To claim back from the Household company you need to prove the owner was liable for the damage which you can not do, due to the storm being out of control of the owner. You will have to claim through you motor insurer. If you could prove the owner liable i.e is roof was not up to standard, then you would still need to claim through you motor insurer and they will then try for a recovery from the home owners insurer

[craigwalton]

Which is what we've been saying ?!?!

[harrythehawk]

As a claim the requirement or provision for storm cover is largely irrelevant and what you have here will be a claim against the garage owners Public Liability Cover or if you are claiming under your motor Policy accidental damage. Storm damage as an insured peril or as damage on an all risks basis will only cover the garage owner for the damage to the garage itself, any subsequent damage caused to third party property or injury to third parties would involve cover for Public Liability.

Is the garage in question a residential one or a commercial premises and where was your car when the incident occurred ?? i.e. was it on the garage forecourt ?? any idea how much we are talking about ??

Harry