Car damaged in office car park - insurance advice please!

Car damaged in office car park - insurance advice please!

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Dr Mike Oxgreen

Original Poster:

4,101 posts

164 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
quotequote all
Boo-hoo! frown

My car was parked in the office car park, and one of the company's vans has slipped its handbrake and rolled into the front of my bonnet:



As you can see, there's some paint damage, but more seriously the fibreglass cross-member onto which the front of the bonnet is attached is fractured through and that side of the bonnet has pushed back a few mill.

I have already contacted the TVR specialist who normally look after it, and they'll be collecting it a week on Friday.

I'd really appreciate some advice on how to proceed, because there are several possible ways forward.

Should I:

  • Talk to my insurer (Admiral) and explain the situation, and let them handle everything. They will presumably talk to my employer's insurer and claim against them. The risk with this approach is if the repair bill is a few grand and they value my car at only a little bit more then it could end up as a Cat C/D, which would wreck the value of a car that should be worth £10-12k (and possibly more). This would seriously piss me off. I would also presumably pay increased premiums even if they don't write it off, which would also piss me off.
  • Talk to Admiral and tell them about the circumstances for information only, then talk to my employer and find out what they intend to do. They must have their own motor insurance or other liability insurance, or they may choose to simply reimburse me once we know what the bill is. (Update: the facilities manager, who is a decent chap who likes TVRs, has emailed indicating that the latter is likely, but he may be underestimating the cost of the fibreglass repair...)
  • As above, except not talking to Admiral at all.
  • Some other approach?
I will send Str8Six a picture to see if they can give a ball-park quote, which might help the company decide on their approach to reimbursing me. At least the company I work for is thoroughly decent.

If I tread carefully and do the right things, I might end up in a better situation because the paint damage might necessitate a front-end respray, which would get rid of the myriad stone chips. But if I do the wrong things and I'm unlucky, I could end up with a Cat C/D car worth a lot less than it should be.

Any advice gratefully received!

agtlaw

6,680 posts

205 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
quotequote all
An insurance claim does not mean that your car is a Cat [anything] unless it is written off.

Chrisgr31

13,440 posts

254 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
quotequote all
I suspect its likely that your employer may want to do it outside insurance anyway. Companies tend to have a very high excess.

Dr Mike Oxgreen

Original Poster:

4,101 posts

164 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
quotequote all
agtlaw said:
An insurance claim does not mean that your car is a Cat (anything) unless it is written off.
[Waits for eyes to recover from the blaze of bleedin' obvious. Yep... Vision slowly returning...]

Er... Yes, I know that. But if the repair cost is 60% or more of their valuation of the car (which won't be its market value; it'll be the "trade" value) then it will be written off. That's the risk I'm worried about.

Chrisgr31 said:
I suspect its likely that your employer may want to do it outside insurance anyway. Companies tend to have a very high excess.
Yes, the email I've received from the facilities manager suggests that's what he's thinking, but I suspect he's thinking of hundreds of pounds, whereas I can imagine a few grand by the time the fibreglass repair and respraying is done.

Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Wednesday 12th March 19:05

agtlaw

6,680 posts

205 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
quotequote all
Ok, you'd be surprised how many people don't know this.

Involving my own insurer would be a last resort, personally speaking.

Dr Mike Oxgreen

Original Poster:

4,101 posts

164 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
quotequote all
agtlaw said:
Involving my own insurer would be a last resort, personally speaking.
Apologies for my brusqueness - I know you're being helpful.

Yes, ^^ that is my instinct as well.

So should I tell my insurer for information only, or say nothing at all?


ETA: I should have pointed out, in case nobody's noticed... I own a TVR! Go me!

Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Wednesday 12th March 19:14

AlexRS2782

8,023 posts

212 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
quotequote all
Chrisgr31 said:
I suspect its likely that your employer may want to do it outside insurance anyway. Companies tend to have a very high excess.
Yep. In a similar instance in my old place of work years ago, one of the warehouse lads managed to somehow put the forklift spikes straight through the rear screen of one of the admin girls VW Golf banghead Evidently he was too busy checking out the arse of one of the sales ladies laugh

The cost of screen replacement & a full interior valet was all paid for by the company as soon as she supplied the invoice for the work to one of the directors smile

Dr Mike Oxgreen

Original Poster:

4,101 posts

164 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
quotequote all
I guess a few grand is nothing really, especially given that I know our company is in almost embarrassingly rude health. It may also help that (and I flatter myself, I know) I am a long-standing and well valued employee, and the company treats its employees well IMHO.

Oh, and the facilities manager likes TVRs. Did I mention that it's a TVR? Admittedly it's not an SLS, but maybe one day...

romee2000

121 posts

124 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
quotequote all
I usually find that small car park incidents are easier to settle privately without the insurer knowing about it. Knowing what they are like, they will probably increase your renewal with some pathetic excuse to back it up even if a claim is not made (personal experience).

dacouch

1,172 posts

128 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
quotequote all
Do you know what caused the van to slip it's hand brake?

I ask as there are circumstances where they would not be at fault / liable with hand brakes slipping.

Centurion07

10,381 posts

246 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
quotequote all
dacouch said:
Do you know what caused the van to slip it's hand brake?

I ask as there are circumstances where they would not be at fault / liable with hand brakes slipping.
This should be interesting. Go on then....

CoolHands

18,496 posts

194 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
quotequote all
Centurion07 said:
dacouch said:
Do you know what caused the van to slip it's hand brake?

I ask as there are circumstances where they would not be at fault / liable with hand brakes slipping.
This should be interesting. Go on then....
Was it windy?











getmecoat









sebhaque

6,402 posts

180 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
quotequote all
A colleague of mine was reversed into by a company vehicle in the works car park. The driver (one of the senior managers) was genuinely apologetic and offered to pay for the damage out of his own pocket - presumably because of the excesses on company insurance.

As it stands the damage wasn't particularly great (a scuffed bumper and a broken wheel trim), my colleague settled for £50 (for some T-cut and a valet), an afternoon off to work on the car and a bunch of flowers for the mrs, who owned the car!

TwigtheWonderkid

43,246 posts

149 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
quotequote all
Chrisgr31 said:
I suspect its likely that your employer may want to do it outside insurance anyway. Companies tend to have a very high excess.
The won't have any excess. The excess doesn't apply to third party damage. The OP is the third party as far as his employer and their insurers are concerned, so no excess will apply.

shep1001

4,599 posts

188 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
quotequote all
I would go and have a word with your companies fleet manager. No need to involve your insurance company if you are claiming off their insurance. In fact if your employer is going to shell out the couple of grand to fix it no need to tell the insurer anything unless you want to declare an accident for the next five years regardless of fault.


I have seen a few bent tvr's over the last few years, that's nowhere near being a right-off. It's not smashed properly if you can drive it, only when you have to put the bits and pieces of your car on the low loader do you need to get worried!

Shep

Edited by shep1001 on Wednesday 12th March 22:45

dacouch

1,172 posts

128 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
quotequote all
CoolHands said:
Was it windy?



getmecoat
The usual requirement for negligence will apply, it's feasible a handbrake can fail without any negligence on the vehicle owners part and them not to be liable for the subsequent damage.

Feel free to google it, there's plenty on the net about it




Edited by dacouch on Wednesday 12th March 23:22

Jim1556

1,771 posts

155 months

Wednesday 12th March 2014
quotequote all
shep1001 said:
I would go and have a word with your companies fleet manager. No need to involve your insurance company if you are claiming off their insurance. In fact if your employer is going to shell out the couple of grand to fix it no need to tell the insurer anything unless you want to declare an accident for the next five years regardless of fault.

I have seen a few bent tvr's over the last few years, that's nowhere near being a right-off. It's not smashed properly if you can drive it, only when you have to put the bits and pieces of your car on the low loader do you need to get worried!

Shep
I'd be very careful about the whole situation... My experience as follows:

In July 2011 I was at the Nurburgring, having just done a lap, was trying to get out of the car park which was rather busy at that time, queuing traffic at the roundabout etc. Some idiot in an old Golf pickup rolled back into me (despite me beeping profusely and me having another car behind so nowhere to go). It pierced my front M3 bumper, about the size of a 50p, nothing else...

Anyway, talked to him (seemed rather nonchalant) and eventually (his broken English vs my non German) got his details.

Told my insurer (Adrian Flux) on return to blighty a few days later who sent me out the claim forms. I then (in a moment of rare clarity) decided not to pursue due to not wanting anything on my record including 'A Non Fault Claim'.

Nothing more said.

Fast forward to June last year and I get a letter from my current insurer (Swinton) saying I'd failed a 'Q check' (as I'd not declared the incident) and my insurance would be cancelled!

It turns out, that I MUST now declare this as an incident for the next 2 years, even though I cancelled the claim, it had already been put on the system. This means that MY PREMIUM WENT UP regardless of blame, regardless I didn't persue it!

I fking hate the car insurance bullst in this country - it should be illegal for them to put my premium up as a result of a non fault claim! Apparently, cos I've had a 'non fault incident' I'm more likely to have another! ON WHAT fkING PLANET DOES THAT MAKE SENSE??? furious

Anyway, rant over, hope the OP gets it sorted without involving any insurance company, but bear in mind, I think it's a legal requirement to inform them even if you don't claim!

Best of luck!

ps. Don't get me started on splitting no claims - 11 years and I can't split if I buy another car? I can only drive 1 at a time!!! Grrr! mad

Dr Mike Oxgreen

Original Poster:

4,101 posts

164 months

Thursday 13th March 2014
quotequote all
So if I declare it for information only, does that mean I've had a "non fault incident" and must declare it as such when getting insurance quotes in the future?

Can anyone comment on whether I'm obliged to tell them, even if I get reimbursed by the company or their insurer?

I quite agree it would be wholly wrong for my premiums to go up over this, because parking in the office car park should be a risk that's covered by the premium I already pay (I'm covered for commuting to work). The fact that this has happened is just an unlucky roll of the dice - if I'd parked in the adjacent space the van would have missed!

Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Thursday 13th March 06:14

General Fluff

478 posts

136 months

Thursday 13th March 2014
quotequote all
Yes it's an incident, which statistically means you're more likely to be involved in an incident in the future than someone who hasn't been involved in one, regardless of whether you claim. Therefore your premium will rise. Frustrating but true so if you're not going to claim you're best off not telling them.

Think about it, you'd be telling them that you regularly park in an area with a history of vans rolling about unaided. I'd push your premium up if I were your insurer.

If they write it off you'll get a fair market value and their decision on whether to write it off will be based on that value.

Rick101

6,959 posts

149 months

Thursday 13th March 2014
quotequote all
Don't fall in the 'for information only' trap.

Anything you tell them they will use against you!

In private works car park you can easily claim off the company, several avenues to choose from.