Shipping company smashed windscreen on new classic.
Discussion
Ever since I was a young boy I wanted a lotus europa after seeing one that belonged to a neighbour across the road from my house. After almost 50 years I was in a position to buy and aftet a lenghy search found the right car. But it was located in the Netherlands so I decided to use a door to door shippers. I ended up chosing what I thought to be one of the best. They were also highly recommended by a well known Ferrari specialist.
The car duly arrived in the enclosed multi car transporter on a dark winter evening. At first I did not notice the cracked screen but did so when the loading was almost done. I do not know why but I did not tell the driver who soon went,but proceeded to go round the whole car photographing all the details. Then I emailed a couple of shots of the cracked screen to the shippers within 15 minutes of the driver leaving.
Now 4 weeks later all they have managed to do is ask me for my version of that evenings events.
Is this slow progress normal or what king of progress/timescale should I expect.
The car duly arrived in the enclosed multi car transporter on a dark winter evening. At first I did not notice the cracked screen but did so when the loading was almost done. I do not know why but I did not tell the driver who soon went,but proceeded to go round the whole car photographing all the details. Then I emailed a couple of shots of the cracked screen to the shippers within 15 minutes of the driver leaving.
Now 4 weeks later all they have managed to do is ask me for my version of that evenings events.
Is this slow progress normal or what king of progress/timescale should I expect.
You made a big mistake not informing the driver but you know that, mows the time to .talk to the shippers and see if you can come to some sort of agreement and claim off their insurance. Good luck hope you get it sorted, must be leaving a nasty taste after waiting so long for your dream car
My understanding is the insurance from the USA would be for shipping by container,but I stand corrected . The company I used has 6 sites across the world and has its own insurance. The literature supplied to me beforehand states to inform them of damage within 24hours,it did not say to inform the driver. I did this almost straight away and sent them photos.
Having owned several GRP cars my view is that screens are far more at risk to cracking than those in steel body cars. Firstly you get more flex when the car is on the move and secondly, and possibly what has happened with your car, if the car is pushed people tend to lean on the A pillar and the screen crack starts from the bottom corner.
You would expect the shipper to have done a condition report at the point they collected it, a screen crack is not the sort of thing that would be missed from such a report.
You would expect the shipper to have done a condition report at the point they collected it, a screen crack is not the sort of thing that would be missed from such a report.
In answer to some of the points above.
"Keep it stiff " as there were cars above mine on the transporter I believe the driver may have leant on my car to attend to the car above and this caused the screen to crack. I am not aware of a collection report being done at the time but more on this later.
"Glassman " in the terms and conditions it does not mention to report damage to the driver but it does say to report it to them within 24 hours.
"V8 bob" I did not get delivery note to accept condition from driver. I do hope this means they can't refuse liability.
"Wacky racer " the cheapest screen I can find is £285 +£240 chrome trim +vat= £630 + shipping + fitting =?
Now here's the kicker, The seller took a couple of very clear photos of the driver loading the car onto his transporter in the morning with a perfect windscreen. When the car was delivered to me it night and very dark. I did however manage to take a couple of photos of the car actually being unloaded. But this was at some distance and with an old mobile phone and with bad light,so unless I can find a way to enhance the images, it is not easy to detect the hairline crack on the screen. I will be furious if they try and avoid paying for the damage they caused.
"Keep it stiff " as there were cars above mine on the transporter I believe the driver may have leant on my car to attend to the car above and this caused the screen to crack. I am not aware of a collection report being done at the time but more on this later.
"Glassman " in the terms and conditions it does not mention to report damage to the driver but it does say to report it to them within 24 hours.
"V8 bob" I did not get delivery note to accept condition from driver. I do hope this means they can't refuse liability.
"Wacky racer " the cheapest screen I can find is £285 +£240 chrome trim +vat= £630 + shipping + fitting =?
Now here's the kicker, The seller took a couple of very clear photos of the driver loading the car onto his transporter in the morning with a perfect windscreen. When the car was delivered to me it night and very dark. I did however manage to take a couple of photos of the car actually being unloaded. But this was at some distance and with an old mobile phone and with bad light,so unless I can find a way to enhance the images, it is not easy to detect the hairline crack on the screen. I will be furious if they try and avoid paying for the damage they caused.
You'll get plenty of sympathy and understanding on here from like minded folk but we're not being asked to pay for it.
The man on the Clapham omnibus would surely ask why you didn't inform the driver as he was unloading. The shipper, transporter driver, insurer, whoever, they are all going to wonder the same I'm afraid. Reporting within 24 hours, fine, but to me that would be emailing my complaint with supporting evidence, eg "Windscreen cracked on delivery" writ large across the PoD and even better countersigned by the driver within 24 hours of delivery.
Evidence is always key in these situations. The photos on loading are helpful. The carrier will usually argue the damage could have been pre loading or post discharge. The photos you have taken will have a time and date and if that is very soon after delivery will be more persuasive because it reduces scope to argue the damage could have occurred post discharge.
I suggest you also find out whether the insurance referred to is cargo insurance or liability insurance as that is a fundamental point.
I suggest you also find out whether the insurance referred to is cargo insurance or liability insurance as that is a fundamental point.
Excess likely to be £100 or less.The easiest solution would be if I could improve the quality of the photos of the car being unloaded. For those of you with better eyesight than me the hairline crack goes from the middle of the wiper blade as seen on the right hand side of the image,and forks upwards towards the right hand edge of the rear view mirror but doesn't quite meet it,but carries on to the top of the screen. Then the second hairline crack goes from the just above the same wiper blade and forks on a very very slightly slope downwards, all the way to the side of the screen on the right of the image. 
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