Car storage gone wrong

[egAs103]

The initial message was deleted from this topic on 17 August 2020 at 19:02

[ozzuk]

Nasty one, sounds like if you didn't take out insurance or have it stipulated in the contract you are looking at a total loss:

https://www.surewise.com/storage-insurance/article...

[Hashtaggggg]

I would suspect the insurance cover is down to you, after all they are your property.

Similar to a rental agreement for a house.

Your items are your responsibility

[motco]

There's no reason they couldn't have been insured while on SORN. I have a SORNed car which is insured. You pays your money (or not) and takes your choice.

[rlw]

Something along the lines of unless you can make a negligence claim against the fire starter, you are fked, comes to mind.

[zzrman]

egAs103 said:

Should the land owners insurance be stepping in?

For the barn maybe but I doubt if they'll step in for your contents, unfortunately.

[vonhosen]

egAs103 said:

Thanks for advice.

Trouble is I want to see if anything is salvageable but everything is now covered in asbestos roof remains and associated dust.

I certainly don't want to climb over/through remains of the barn as both unstable and possibly contaminated.

Should the land owners insurance be stepping in?

Depends what they have insurance for.

[NGee]

egAs103 said:

Being rented from a farm would their insurance cover my loss?

Things are dragging on and I think the farmer is hoping I cancel and walk away.

I think you have answered your own question. If they were covered by the farmer's insurance (unlikely) then why would they hope you walk away? It wouldn't make any difference to them.

I also wonder how you would value a 90's potential classic, presumably with no MOT. As they are not insured for a given value I would assume their paperwork value would be almost zero.

I do feel sorry for you loss as you might have been onto a good little earner, however like most things in life, if you have something valuable, insure it or take a gamble. Unfortunately not all gambles work out.

[Stay in Bed Instead]

Do you know how the fire started and does the neighbour have insurance?

[Riley Blue]

motco said:

There's no reason they couldn't have been insured while on SORN. I have a SORNed car which is insured. You pays your money (or not) and takes your choice.

This has been raised before and it seems most owners cancel the insurance on SORN'd cars. I've never understood the wisdom of this as it may still be stolen or damaged. I have one SORN'd a restoration project in my garage and a car in a council lock up. All are insured, I would never do otherwise.

[Jasandjules]

egAs103 said:

Burning rubbish that caught hedge and barn on fire. Neighbour is in a rented property with presumably building and contents Insurance. Although they arnt keen on disclosing much.

I would suggest you obtain insured legal advice. Allowing something to get out of control and cause harm could potentially be actionable but you need to know the current law, my law knowledge in this area is 15 years old and I can think of a case called Rylands v Fletcher (which I now also hope is correct!)

[Jaaack]

fking hell. My worst nightmare - I hated having a storage yard away from home for this reason, always used to worry.

Would the neighbour's insurance be an avenue worth pursuing? They caused it, you could potentially sue them?

Good call on not wanting to get in the middle of the asbestos, very nasty stuff, I'd expect if any of the cars are salvageable they're probably full of it through broken windows etc meaning they're not really safe to use, and realistically never will be. I don't know how these things work but I'd assume a specialist cleanup contractor would have to come in to clean up the mess with it involving hazardous materials, they probably won't be too sympathetic to the cars in getting them out. If the fire was bad enough to collapse the roof, I doubt there would be much left to salvage anyway car wise.

What a fking nightmare, do feel for you massively! Hopefully you can get some money back and restart the collection. You can get special 'laid-up' cover from some companies which cover for anything happening during storage.

[Stay in Bed Instead]

Jasandjules said:

egAs103 said:

Burning rubbish that caught hedge and barn on fire. Neighbour is in a rented property with presumably building and contents Insurance. Although they arnt keen on disclosing much.

I would suggest you obtain insured legal advice. Allowing something to get out of control and cause harm could potentially be actionable but you need to know the current law, my law knowledge in this area is 15 years old and I can think of a case called Rylands v Fletcher (which I now also hope is correct!)

This.

Sue the arse off the neighbour due to their negligence.

Does your own home insurance have legal expenses cover?

[anonymous-user]

Ouch.

You have my sympathies to a large extent, but honestly, every time I have rented or leased a unit/storage/barn it has always been 100% down to me to insure any contents. The landlord/freeholder has only ever insured the building.

I am very surprised you didn't have the barn insured for contents.

As above, I think your only chance is to speak to a lawyer and try to claim negligence on behalf of the fire starter, and see if their insurance will pay up for the subsequent damage.

[S100HP]

What cars were in there or if interest?

[untakenname]

I think the best course of action would be to document where the fire started with photos and perhaps the fire brigade report (if that's available via a subject access request) and then go after the neighbours if it's their negligence which has caused the fire.

Watched my neighbours have their asbestos garage roof removed and the waste disposal people just wore disposable body suits and what looked like standard FP3 respirators so maybe worth researching what PPE you need to go and visit the site to see if any of the cars can be salvaged.

Edited by untakenname on Friday 14th August 12:26

[anonymous-user]

From memory, the person who started the original fire may have liability if what they were burning made it a non-natural use of the land and something dangerous (in this case fire) escaped as a result.

J&J had the right case.

Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 14th August 10:56

[vaud]

Jasandjules said:

I would suggest you obtain insured legal advice.

OP, you need proper legal advice from a reputable lawyer.

[anonymous-user]

untakenname said:

I think the best course of action would be to document where the fire started with photos and perhaps the fire brigade report (if that's available via a subject access request) and then go after the neighbours if it's their negligence which has caused the fire.

Watched the neighbours have their asbestos garage roof removed and the waste disposal people just wore disposable body suits and what looked like standard FP3 respirators so maybe worth researching what PPE you need to go and visit the site to see if any of the cars can be salvaged.

With respect, I deal with Asbestos legislation as a small part of my work, and I wouldn't be going anywhere near it. I don't care how valuable the cars are.

I would leave it to specialists to clean up the site and decontaminate the remains of the cars.

[NGee]

egAs103 said:

Burning rubbish that caught hedge and barn on fire. Neighbour is in a rented property with presumably building and contents Insurance. Although they arnt keen on disclosing much.

Negligence, as opposed to 'it just caught fire' is a whole different ball game. As above, you need legal advice.
If it all goes horrible wrong (even more than it has!) there might be the possibility you could be financially responsible for the cleaning/removal of your property.

I can't work out whether the 'owner', 'farmer, 'neighbour' is the same person (or 2 or 3 different people) but the 'neighbour' who lives in rental property is very unlikely to have building insurance for something they don't own.

Once you have worked out who is legally responsible, are they insured or do they have any money?

You can sue whoever you like, you may or may not win, but remember - you can't get blood out of a stone!

Edited by NGee on Friday 14th August 11:55