Neighbour Damage Advice

[Jimmyrn85]

Morning all!

I'm after some of your advice and thoughts please. I'm currently on a ship, so can't phone my insurance company for their legal advice, so I welcome yours if you have any!

December 7th 2024, was a very windy night. My neighbour 3 doors up had her storage bin lid fly over and land beside my car, sitting on the drivers door rattling away from approx 0400 in the morning till about 0830 when we noticed it and removed it. There were several deep scratches on the door that I knew wouldn't polish out.

The same morning, we moved house. Left Cornwall and moved up to Devon.

I messaged my neighbour and told her my car had been damaged and showed her a CCTV still image, her response was:
"I'm sorry to hear that, what can I do to fix it" - I have a record of this Facebook messenger exchange.

I then had a call from her nephew, who said to me he thought it was ''excessive'' that I was going to visit my local Jaguar dealer to get a quote for repairs. I didn't say anything at the time, but hindsight, would it have been excessive if I took my Ford to a Ford garage or a BMW to a BMW garage? I digress.
He ended the call with "We'll get it sorted" - I don't have a record of that. He hasn't communicated with me since.

My local Jag repair department was closed on the Saturday, and I had to get the car dropped off at my sisters to store it temporarily whilst we moved house and due to me going to sea.

My sister took the car to a local place she's had work done before, they would respray the scratches and 2 others (not related to the bin lid) for a price of 720 pounds + vat. I said go for it.

The car is now repaired. I messaged the neighbour saying I would please like 240 pounds towards the damage (no vat charge). She hasn't responded.

I'd like to think I have a case here, if needs be to go to a small claims court? I know it is not a lot of money, but it is the principle to me. If I damage someone else's property accidently or crash my car into someone, I have to pay or I have insurance which will pay.

I know it wasn't intentional, but it still costs someone money. Or is it force majeure / act of god - Therefore no one is liable? I would have thought not, we were forecasted high winds, so we had time to prepare for them?

I don't have a copy of the CCTV video, I only have the still image below. I left the CCTV system at the house and didn't think to get a copy of the video of the event.

Cheers

 

[cj10jeeper]

Unfortunate, but this stuff happens and is very frustrating.

My take is if you could demonstrate negligence on their part you may have a claim, but you 'd have to assess if that is applicable, say for example it's happened before and not been fixed. If caused by a sudden unforseen event such as a storm, then no claim as likely deemed "act of God".

Personally I'd never subject myself to any sort of claims process against a neighbour as it simply can't go well in the future and could end up badly for all, over £240.
I'd go talk to them next time at home and discuss and if they pay great, if not forget it.

 

[Jimmyrn85]

Thanks for the input. I definitely agree that it's only 240. But in their shoes why do they think they shouldn't pay for damage to my car? Grr!

Good point about "unforeseen event" - However a weather warning for wind was issued well in advance.

I've moved house, not going to see her again.

 

[cj10jeeper]

Thanks for the input. I definitely agree that it's only 240. But in their shoes why do they think they shouldn't pay for damage to my car? Grr!

Good point about "unforeseen event" - However a weather warning for wind was issued well in advance.

I've moved house, not going to see her again.

I believe in general people feel sorry if something like happens and their reaction is apologise and perhaps initially offer to pay, but then they consider it and the amount and decide it's not their problem, can't afford it, etc. That seems to be the case given the Nephew's comments
Fact you have moved may have removed any thought of neighbour relationships.

Your call, but to me life is too short to spend weeks pressing a claim. She's bound to defend and it's unlikely you'll prove fault. Others may of course have different opinions.

 

[CSGMART]

I agree with cj10jeeper, although you might consider writing her a letter (posted using a signed for service) explaining that you are thinking of submitting a claim and all she needs to do to avoid this is do the right thing.

It might just spring her into action. At worst nothing will happen and you can move on with your life.

 

[Jimmyrn85]

Thumbs up!

 

[YorkshireSam]

Sorry to hear that - very frustrating when your pride and joy gets damaged.

I'm not a lawyer but I think the issue in a small claims court would come down to liability through negligence.

You'd probably need to show that your neighbour failed to take proper care to avoid a foreseeable risk.

Your neighbour may argue that they did and it happened anyway, so they were therefore not negligent.

Probably not something you'd want to get into, but I expect that would be the premise of any court case.

 

[mono-uk]

Annoying i know but you don't have a case, its an act of god, no negligence on neighbours part if they just put bins out as normal

 

[JonGreen]

Unfortunate, but this stuff happens and is very frustrating.

My take is if you could demonstrate negligence on their part you may have a claim, but you 'd have to assess if that is applicable, say for example it's happened before and not been fixed. If caused by a sudden unforseen event such as a storm, then no claim as likely deemed "act of God".

Personally I'd never subject myself to any sort of claims process against a neighbour as it simply can't go well in the future and could end up badly for all, over £240.
I'd go talk to them next time at home and discuss and if they pay great, if not forget it.

This.

Small claims would be a costly nightmare and you can't prove any intent or negligence. If they offer to contribute next you visit take it, otherwise you should just write it off.

 

[scm]

Many years ago I had a Nissan Almera damaged by a neighbour's wardrobe(!) which he'd left on his drive, which was adjacent to mine. He was waiting for the council to dispose of it - he wasn't a weird furniture person! It blew over in the wind and dented the Almera's door. First I knew of it was when he rang my doorbell to apologise and give me his house insurance details. I just said "at least it wasn't the Jag" (I had an XK8 in those days) and it all got sorted out amicably.

 

[Jimmyrn85]

Thanks all!