driveway damaged my car...

[thatsprettyshady]

Apologies if this is in the wrong section

Tonight I was reversing (carefully as car was cold) out of a friend's driveway, and a loose paving stone flicked up and got caught in the underside of my bumper, ripping it off. The stone wasn't obviously loose or sticking up and I'm guessing the weight of the car flicked it up, car is BMW m3 so quite close to the ground anyway.

Aside from usual moral dilemma of either sucking it up or pursuing a claim from the homeowner, wpho is technically liable? Is it me for not taking care (even though I was, but I can't check peoples driveways before I reverse out everytime) or is it them for not maintaining their driveway or having sufficient warning of a driveway in poor repair?

[11110111]

Possibly the council possibly the owner depending on how much of a mate he is

[Fastdruid]

Is the car lowered or standard height?
Where was the paving slab? On private property or on the 'pavement'?

[_Batty_]

Where theres a blame, theres a claim!

[thatsprettyshady]

11110111 said:

Possibly the council possibly the owner depending on how much of a mate he is

Its a private house in a private road and she has home insurance, if that helps

[hornetrider]

Yes.... claim off your friend.

[tbc]

if theres damage get a claim in with whoever

how much do m3 bumpers go for theses days?

about £10K

and say goodbye to your friend

[Urban Sports]

Sorry but I reckon that would be funny to see, in a Jeremey Beadle kind of way

[_Batty_]

Did you twist you neck as well?
whiplash is a painful injury!

[randlemarcus]

Out of interest, does your slightly slammed car have 100mm of clearance? If not, any insurer worht their salt will tell you to poke it, as that's the speedhump limit.

Surely, at low speed, it's repairable?

[Toilet Duck]

thatsprettyshady said:

Its a private house in a private road and she has home insurance, if that helps

You need to laywer up now. Make sure you get a real blood sucking one, and take your friend to the cleaners for every penny you can get. Is your neck hurting from the impact? I suggest you go to your doctors as you may have a whiplash from the impact of the paving slab.


edited as already beaten on the whiplash comment

[Mr MXT]

You're thinking about putting a claim in off your friend becuase you damaged your car reversing off his drive?

F*** off you c***.

[11110111]

thatsprettyshady said:

Its a private house in a private road and she has home insurance, if that helps

That's pretty shady

[11110111]

oxo?

[rallycross]

hora said:

Was the coffee she gave you whilst you were there too hot? That could be negligence there.

+ was there any other unusual behaviour that night that a blood leaching claims lawyer could find a way of extracting some extra cash from your (ex ?) friend's insurers?

[benzito]

I reckon the people who built the driveway 30 years ago are at fault, give them a bell and see what they say (assuming they're still around). You must promise to document the details of the (likely brief) conversation on this thread however.

[jason s4]

[soad]

Poor luck, sadly just one of those unforeseen things, chap.
Suck it up, I'd say. You do value your friendship, right?

[oldcynic]

Ask your friend to contact her insurers - there will probably be 3rd party liability cover as part of the package. We used this to pay for a damaged conservatory roof next door when one of our children stupidly threw a stone over his shoulder. Don't think it did anything to our premiums. (Neighbour subsequently had her conservatory replaced, possibly after seeing the damage caused by a tiny stone shattering the glass roof pane, and how far the glass was embedded into her sofa!)

[AdamVX]

Personally, the thought of claiming from a friend wouldn't even cross my mind.

Take it on the chin and move on..