Car has crashed into property boundary wall

[jezhumphrey75]

So friday night we woke up to a car skidding and hitting/destroying around 12 ft of our boundary wall including a granite post, got photos etc, but the driver did a runner after the police were called (loads of alcohol in car) police were quick and even got a dog unit out but we think they got picked up and drove off.

Anyways the police done there thing, the driver got in touch with us over Facebook 2 days later saying sorry bla bla bla (20mph road he must have been doing 60/70 judging by the tyre marks) i guess he didn't go home to get breathalysed, he has sent us his insurance details with a company called marshmallow and that hes sorry, confessing etc etc.

I have sent everything off to his insurer 2 days ago and have heard nothing, they dont respond.

We have a huge section of wall down, bricks everywhere, a granite post leaning over, smashed in gate, child and dog on the property and can obviously get out easily onto a main road if we were not careful.

any advice about how i go about getting this sorted very quickly and a wall paid for and rebuilt....it looks like a good 2k's worth of work if not more.

[bad company]

jezhumphrey75 said:

So friday night we woke up to a car skidding and hitting/destroying around 12 ft of our boundary wall including a granite post, got photos etc, but the driver did a runner after the police were called (loads of alcohol in car) police were quick and even got a dog unit out but we think they got picked up and drove off.

Anyways the police done there thing, the driver got in touch with us over Facebook 2 days later saying sorry bla bla bla (20mph road he must have been doing 60/70 judging by the tyre marks) i guess he didn't go home to get breathalysed, he has sent us his insurance details with a company called marshmallow and that hes sorry, confessing etc etc.

I have sent everything off to his insurer 2 days ago and have heard nothing, they dont respond.

We have a huge section of wall down, bricks everywhere, a granite post leaning over, smashed in gate, child and dog on the property and can obviously get out easily onto a main road if we were not careful.

any advice about how i go about getting this sorted very quickly and a wall paid for and rebuilt....it looks like a good 2k's worth of work if not more.

I had similar a few years ago though I had to trace the driver after he drove off. You need to give the insurance company more than 2 days though.

[Time4another]

Maybe an idea to get some quotes for the repair? Gets the ball rolling and hopefully puts you in a position to move quickly once they do respond.

I'd be keeping a copy of their admission somewhere safe too.

[bad company]

You need to inform your house insurance company straight away. You hopefully won’t need to claim but you should inform them.

[KungFuPanda]

It might be the case that you have to claim off your household insurance and they will seek to recoup their outlay from the at fault motor insurer.

[this is my username]

I just gave it to my house insurer to sort out - they sent a contractor round to fix it, as close to zero hassle as there can be after something like that has happened.

There is no need for you to deal with the car's insurers if you your house is covered.

[119]

this is my username said:

I just gave it to my house insurer to sort out - they sent a contractor round to fix it, as close to zero hassle as there can be after something like that has happened.

There is no need for you to deal with the car's insurers if you your house is covered.

Very much this.

[GasEngineer]

I'm in a similar position. Never thought of my house insurance.

Would notifying or claiming from your own house insurance cause any issues down the line with increased premiums having had a non fault incident recorded?

Or is that only with car insurance?

[TwigtheWonderkid]

119 said:

this is my username said:

I just gave it to my house insurer to sort out - they sent a contractor round to fix it, as close to zero hassle as there can be after something like that has happened.

There is no need for you to deal with the car's insurers if you your house is covered.

Very much this.

^^^THIS. And in due course, they will try and reclaim their outlay from the motor insurers of the driver.

[The big yin]

This may help but try your house insurance also

Financial Services Limited Director Email and Telephone
Mr Oliver Kent-Braham Director

Email [e-mail]


Postal Address 1st Floor The Featherstone Building, 66 City Road, London, England, EC1Y 1BDM

[Jamescrs]

Marshmallow will want to speak to the person they are insuring before they respond, if he’s not answering his phone there will be a delay.

As others have said use your house insurance

[alscar]

Expecting a reply from the third parties Insurer after only a couple of days is premature.
But inform your own Insurer now and let them handle it all.

[andburg]

Parents had this almost identically police estimated 60-70mph in a 30 based on skid marks....third party insurer refused the claim as the driver "swerved to avoid somebody" and therefore "wasn't liable".
For my parents it was less of an issue and my dad just rebuilt the wall himself from the bricks they already had.

I said they should have called their home insurer and pursued it as the reason given for not paying out by the TP insurer was absolute BS

[alscar]

GasEngineer said:

I'm in a similar position. Never thought of my house insurance.

Would notifying or claiming from your own house insurance cause any issues down the line with increased premiums having had a non fault incident recorded?

Or is that only with car insurance?

House insurance works differently.
A small claim is unlikely to cause you much issue especially after the excess is taken into account and will also depend on your premium level and how long you have been a customer.
But impossible really to predict.
However shouldn’t stop you claiming this way.

[donkmeister]

Nothing to add on the insurance side. However have a very good look at the house itself too and anything else within flying debris range. It's easy to miss the smaller damage when you are concentrating on the more obvious stuff. Photos, measurements, log it all.

I witnessed a drunk tt smacking a car through a neighbour's wall (happy note: he was arrested at the scene. A few of us surrounded him and kept him in one place until the police arrived). When I saw the home owner a few days later there was damage that he simply had not spotted the morning after. Flying bricks had broken a couple of windows (not fully smashed through hence missing these ones Vs the properly smashed ones), taken a chunk out of the house wall in a couple of places, that sort of thing.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

andburg said:

I said they should have called their home insurer and pursued it as the reason given for not paying out by the TP insurer was absolute BS

In order to claim anything of a third party who you believe was responsible, you have to prove they were negligent. There could be many scenarios where someone crashes into your property, but haven't actually done anything wrong. So it may not have been BS. Probably was, but might not have been.

[andburg]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

andburg said:

I said they should have called their home insurer and pursued it as the reason given for not paying out by the TP insurer was absolute BS

In order to claim anything of a third party who you believe was responsible, you have to prove they were negligent. There could be many scenarios where someone crashes into your property, but haven't actually done anything wrong. So it may not have been BS. Probably was, but might not have been.

I get that but estimated speed by police being double the limit to me at least is negligent

[rhamnousia5]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

andburg said:

I said they should have called their home insurer and pursued it as the reason given for not paying out by the TP insurer was absolute BS

In order to claim anything of a third party who you believe was responsible, you have to prove they were negligent. There could be many scenarios where someone crashes into your property, but haven't actually done anything wrong. So it may not have been BS. Probably was, but might not have been.

So literally everybody on here who has an accident should just say “I swerved to avoid someone” and that’s it?

[PorkInsider]

rhamnousia5 said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

andburg said:

I said they should have called their home insurer and pursued it as the reason given for not paying out by the TP insurer was absolute BS

In order to claim anything of a third party who you believe was responsible, you have to prove they were negligent. There could be many scenarios where someone crashes into your property, but haven't actually done anything wrong. So it may not have been BS. Probably was, but might not have been.

So literally everybody on here who has an accident should just say I swerved to avoid someone and that s it?

It's not unique to people "on here".

Similar scenario if your neighbour's house catches fire and damages yours. Whether their insurance will cover damage to your property depends on the cause of the fire and whether the neighbour was negligent.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

rhamnousia5 said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

andburg said:

I said they should have called their home insurer and pursued it as the reason given for not paying out by the TP insurer was absolute BS

In order to claim anything of a third party who you believe was responsible, you have to prove they were negligent. There could be many scenarios where someone crashes into your property, but haven't actually done anything wrong. So it may not have been BS. Probably was, but might not have been.

So literally everybody on here who has an accident should just say I swerved to avoid someone and that s it?

It's not quite that simple. Lots of people swerve to avoid accidents without getting into a different accident, so there may still be a level of negligence. But, suppose you genuinely had to take action to miss a child who'd run into the road, and ended up hitting a wall, that actually being the only choice you had, then yes, you did the right thing and aren't responsible for the damage to the wall.