Storm Damage - trampoline - advice / thoughts please
Discussion
Hi all
typing this mail with pure anger seething through my veins but looking for any thoughts on precedence, any legal people on here etc.
this morning i woke up to find a 13 foot trampoline on my immaculate 996 turbo. the metal legs had managed to dent, scrape and grind their way through all panels (and damage three glass panels) bar the two doors, and one rear panel...the rest have damage.
i realised that the trampoline had to make its past my immaculate 06 plate mr2 roadster....guess what, same thing. i then went to the road to find that our BMW 125d has two bashes on the panel where there weren't beforehand.
Having had a brief scan on the internet and i find that there are conflicting views on where stand legally. Some say that i claim of my insurance and they claim back from my neighbours and i will be n the clear, others say that i will have to pay my own excess and suffer from increased premiums until the claim comes off thru time. this is likely to be a fair bit.
Any thoughts?
Peter
typing this mail with pure anger seething through my veins but looking for any thoughts on precedence, any legal people on here etc.
this morning i woke up to find a 13 foot trampoline on my immaculate 996 turbo. the metal legs had managed to dent, scrape and grind their way through all panels (and damage three glass panels) bar the two doors, and one rear panel...the rest have damage.
i realised that the trampoline had to make its past my immaculate 06 plate mr2 roadster....guess what, same thing. i then went to the road to find that our BMW 125d has two bashes on the panel where there weren't beforehand.
Having had a brief scan on the internet and i find that there are conflicting views on where stand legally. Some say that i claim of my insurance and they claim back from my neighbours and i will be n the clear, others say that i will have to pay my own excess and suffer from increased premiums until the claim comes off thru time. this is likely to be a fair bit.
Any thoughts?
Peter
I would say it is probably unlikely that your neighbour's home insurance policy is going to cover a runaway trampoline.
I imagine the wording covers accidental damage to items within the home and that any cover extending outside of the home is for those items only (ie the trampoline would be repaired but not your cars).
I'm no legal expert but imagine it will be something like that.
Really feel for you though it's a massive kick in the balls, especially when it isn't your fault
I imagine the wording covers accidental damage to items within the home and that any cover extending outside of the home is for those items only (ie the trampoline would be repaired but not your cars).
I'm no legal expert but imagine it will be something like that.
Really feel for you though it's a massive kick in the balls, especially when it isn't your fault
Yeah, I must admit I am firmly of the belief that his house insurance pays. Spoke to my car insurance and they have advised me to get details of the house insurance and progress that route. Interestingly, one of them said get the details, give them those details and they will handle it. The other however suggest I only go back to then when I have exhausted all possibilities myself. Pi55ed off and on top of that I haven't heard back from him yet!!!!
Spoken to a solicitor?
You don't really need to speak to your insurers at all.
The homeowner should speak to theirs, and if there is no coverage, write out a cheque to you.
The principle is really that simple, but of course the reality may be different.
Have you got some form of proof, some record of the damage that is evidently a result of the wayward trampoline, have you got any proof as to where it came from? That's what should concern you at the moment.
You don't really need to speak to your insurers at all.
The homeowner should speak to theirs, and if there is no coverage, write out a cheque to you.
The principle is really that simple, but of course the reality may be different.
Have you got some form of proof, some record of the damage that is evidently a result of the wayward trampoline, have you got any proof as to where it came from? That's what should concern you at the moment.
Most house insurance policies have hefty personal liability cover included - would have thought your neighbour would be able to claim and pay out on that. Some years ago my son (very young at the time) rode his push bike into a neighbours stationery car - I gave the details of my house insurance policy to the neighbour and my ins coy paid out direct for the repairs
Most home insurance policies include automatically, Property Owners Liability cover POL.. You can claim from your neighbours home insurance directly, or via your car insurance, who will in turn claim back from the home insurer for their outlay. This is likely to be the quicker route. Caveat being if your neighbour doesn't have insurance, and as someone correctly stated before you would then have to sue them personally. Hope this helps....
So how well do you get on with your neighbour? I think this will matter as much as insurance etc as to how well/quickly this gets resolved. I'd like to think with our neighbours this sort of thing would get resolved fairly easily but hopefully will never have to find out. Hope you get it resolved.
OP, I have every sympathy with you, but unfortunately the proximate cause of this damage is the storm.
Your neighbour's home insurance will cover damage to your property for which he is legally responsible. You have not given us the full circumstances here, but I'm assuming his trampoline blew over a hedge or fence into your property. In view of the ferocity of the recent storms it's hard to see how your neighbour has been negligent. If the case went to court, on the basis of the limited information given, I feel it most unlikely that he would be held responsible.
The proper course of action would be to claim via your motor insurance.
Your neighbour's home insurance will cover damage to your property for which he is legally responsible. You have not given us the full circumstances here, but I'm assuming his trampoline blew over a hedge or fence into your property. In view of the ferocity of the recent storms it's hard to see how your neighbour has been negligent. If the case went to court, on the basis of the limited information given, I feel it most unlikely that he would be held responsible.
The proper course of action would be to claim via your motor insurance.
It is foreseeable that wind would move the trampoline. It should be tied down or stowed in bad weather. The instructions which came with my daughter's state this. I would have thought it is negligent not to take precautions. Was the trampoline out the front, unenclosed?
This thread may be better in a legal forum or GG for a lawyer's point of view.
This thread may be better in a legal forum or GG for a lawyer's point of view.
I was on the other side of this a few years ago when one of my roof tiles went through the next door neighbours roof during a storm. My insurance company said that as I had no knowledge of weaknesses in my 5 year old house, that as an act of God I was not liable.
However, as previously stated, the last storm was predicted well in advance and unless your neighbours have been out of the country for the last week or so, they had plenty of opportunity to store or secure the trampolene. Hence it could be claimed as negligence.
Good luck.
However, as previously stated, the last storm was predicted well in advance and unless your neighbours have been out of the country for the last week or so, they had plenty of opportunity to store or secure the trampolene. Hence it could be claimed as negligence.
Good luck.
Definitely a trampoline should be tied down. We've had a 12ft one in the garden for about 10 years (not the same one) and it's never moved an inch through all weathers because it's staked and St trapped to the ground. Otherwise they are bloody great sails just waiting to catch the wind. A friends leapt next doors fence so it was just obvious really.
Thanks all. I now have their insurance details so going to pass onto my insurance as (one of them) said they would do the legwork for me. He has asked them and of course they have said no. There are instances out there for house insurance paying out but thee are also instances out there where they will not.
Between the three cars there is circa £2k worth of excess which is bad, but the main concern for me is the ongoing impact of effectively having three claims. The likely impact for me is that I would shed my first world problem of having three cars and just sell to one. To be honest - as someone mentioned earlier - that makes me feel sick when it is something completely out of my control.
I may actually seek out a legal / insurance issues forum to see what other reading is out there.
Finally, again as has been mentioned, this guy is a neighbour. I'm not all that close to him but he seems like a good guy. I don't want any bad feeling going on.
Thanks again folks.
Peter
Between the three cars there is circa £2k worth of excess which is bad, but the main concern for me is the ongoing impact of effectively having three claims. The likely impact for me is that I would shed my first world problem of having three cars and just sell to one. To be honest - as someone mentioned earlier - that makes me feel sick when it is something completely out of my control.
I may actually seek out a legal / insurance issues forum to see what other reading is out there.
Finally, again as has been mentioned, this guy is a neighbour. I'm not all that close to him but he seems like a good guy. I don't want any bad feeling going on.
Thanks again folks.
Peter
I'm not claiming any legal knowledge (I'm not sure I even know any lawyers) but...
You may have Legal Expenses extensions to one or more of your 3 Motor policies or on your own Home policy.
These sometimes include free legal advice helplines which may provide an opinion (or 3 or 4!) on all of this and about whether there's any grounds or mechanism for recovering your excesses from your neighbour's Property Owner's Liability cover under their Household insurance policy.
But it feels like whoever is ultimately financially liable the 3 Motor insurers are more likely to be able to manage repairing your cars to an acceptable standard than would a Household insurer
Common sense suggests that you take as many photographs as possible of the cars and their positions etc.
Hope it all works out
You may have Legal Expenses extensions to one or more of your 3 Motor policies or on your own Home policy.
These sometimes include free legal advice helplines which may provide an opinion (or 3 or 4!) on all of this and about whether there's any grounds or mechanism for recovering your excesses from your neighbour's Property Owner's Liability cover under their Household insurance policy.
But it feels like whoever is ultimately financially liable the 3 Motor insurers are more likely to be able to manage repairing your cars to an acceptable standard than would a Household insurer
Common sense suggests that you take as many photographs as possible of the cars and their positions etc.
Hope it all works out
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