Advice on airport car park claim

[carreauchompeur]

After a bit of advice about reasonable costs in claim.

Recently went away for a lovely fortnight in the sun. Parked in official airport parking. When we came back my partner, who thankfully is very fastidious about his car, checked it and found a ding in front bumper. Dashcam showed that, whilst being moved to another location, a parking operative (third party company contracted by airport) accidentally reversed a large SUV into it giving it a hefty whack.

Thankfully airport have accepted liability immediately… they had no choice really given the footage. Very annoying though as if we hadn’t had it we would be facing a large uninsured bill. Have asked for him to get three quotes. These are suitably hefty as it’s a new bumper job since the brackets are all broken.

However, they have refused to pay anything towards his time sorting it/chasing quotes etc. This is quite considerable since we’re in a rural area and approved body shops are few and far between.

We’re not after COMPO!!1! for the sake of it but I feel some form of additional payment would be reasonable, he loves the car and has been fretting about this for weeks now, spending ages chasing various parties etc.

Is there any kind of precedent or set formula for such a payment?

[joropug]

carreauchompeur said:

After a bit of advice about reasonable costs in claim.

Recently went away for a lovely fortnight in the sun. Parked in official airport parking. When we came back my partner, who thankfully is very fastidious about his car, checked it and found a ding in front bumper. Dashcam showed that, whilst being moved to another location, a parking operative (third party company contracted by airport) accidentally reversed a large SUV into it giving it a hefty whack.

Thankfully airport have accepted liability immediately… they had no choice really given the footage. Very annoying though as if we hadn’t had it we would be facing a large uninsured bill. Have asked for him to get three quotes. These are suitably hefty as it’s a new bumper job since the brackets are all broken.

However, they have refused to pay anything towards his time sorting it/chasing quotes etc. This is quite considerable since we’re in a rural area and approved body shops are few and far between.

We’re not after COMPO!!1! for the sake of it but I feel some form of additional payment would be reasonable, he loves the car and has been fretting about this for weeks now, spending ages chasing various parties etc.

Is there any kind of precedent or set formula for such a payment?

Simply put, your insurance company would do this normally. Well, they wouldn’t, the other side would just accept their quote provided it was a proper garage.

The moment a third party starts dicking around is the moment I’d use my insurer, it’ll probably cost them more.

[stevemcs]

If you claimed on your insurance wouldn't you need to drive to a garage to get a quote anyway ? I'd just want it fixed, ring 3 companies, see if they will quote using pictures.

[KungFuPanda]

You normally can’t recover miscellaneous costs like that. It’s just one of those things.

[joropug]

stevemcs said:

If you claimed on your insurance wouldn't you need to drive to a garage to get a quote anyway ? I'd just want it fixed, ring 3 companies, see if they will quote using pictures.

Yeah once and you’d leave the car there I expect and get put in their loan car. The insurance co would have already decided who is repairing it you’re just getting it to them

[TwigtheWonderkid]

carreauchompeur said:

Thankfully airport have accepted liability immediately… they had no choice really given the footage. Very annoying though as if we hadn’t had it we would be facing a large uninsured bill.

Why, don't you have comp cover?

[martinbiz]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

carreauchompeur said:

Thankfully airport have accepted liability immediately… they had no choice really given the footage. Very annoying though as if we hadn’t had it we would be facing a large uninsured bill.

Why, don't you have comp cover?

I was thinking this, unless the OP means they have large excess so it becomes an uninsured loss

[vikingaero]

carreauchompeur said:

Is there any kind of precedent or set formula for such a payment?

There is a formula called Google Reviews/Trustpilot/Etc... In this case the car park operator throughly deserve any negative comments as their employee was negligent and in keeping quiet the employee and therefore the employer tried to defraud you/your partner.

But generally it doesn't matter if you are on minimum wage or charge £x00 an hour, it's one of those costs in terms of time and some fuel in which you absorb, much like stone chips and supermarket dings - it's a fact of life. I've heard of a few cases where people have been paid ex-gratia payments, but certainly not a formula or precedent.

I would press the quoting bodyshops that you want a perfect repair and that the airport will be paying (It sounds like the airport may not be using their insurers).

[QuickQuack]

And don't forget that you'll need an equivalent loan car while yours is being repaired, not a 10 year old, base spec, 1.0L Kia Picanto to replace big family wagon/M5/Range Rover/whatever.

[carreauchompeur]

Thanks all. Insurance company were informed but advised that it wouldn’t be covered since car was being driven by third party.

Guess we’ll suck up the costs then. And go back to my dodgy bloke on the farm nearby who hasn’t ever managed to ding my car and try to hide it!

[TwigtheWonderkid]

carreauchompeur said:

Thanks all. Insurance company were informed but advised that it wouldn’t be covered since car was being driven by third party.

But if you hadn't had the dashcam, you wouldn't have known that. You would just have known you car was damaged whilst parked, and your insurers would've paid.

So when you said "Thankfully airport have accepted liability immediately… they had no choice really given the footage. Very annoying though as if we hadn’t had it we would be facing a large uninsured bill", in fact you would have been insured.

[carreauchompeur]

Yes.

[VSKeith]

carreauchompeur said:

Thanks all. Insurance company were informed but advised that it wouldn’t be covered since car was being driven by third party.

Guess we’ll suck up the costs then. And go back to my dodgy bloke on the farm nearby who hasn’t ever managed to ding my car and try to hide it!

Am I missing something here OP?

Car park operative employee drives your car to move it to another location. SUV, driven by another car park operative employee, reverses into your car causing significant damage.

When challenged with video evidence, operative accepts liability.

Your insurers deny claim as no one on the policy was driving the car at the time.

Surely the airport/parking operative are liable, as they have admitted, and will either pay out to you directly or pass you on to their insurers, who cover the employees to move cars.

So there are no costs for you to suck up?

[98elise]

KungFuPanda said:

You normally can’t recover miscellaneous costs like that. It’s just one of those things.

This.

It's a pain when it's not your fault, but nobody gets their time paid for in a simple insurance claim.

[98elise]

VSKeith said:

carreauchompeur said:

Thanks all. Insurance company were informed but advised that it wouldn’t be covered since car was being driven by third party.

Guess we’ll suck up the costs then. And go back to my dodgy bloke on the farm nearby who hasn’t ever managed to ding my car and try to hide it!

Am I missing something here OP?

Car park operative employee drives your car to move it to another location. SUV, driven by another car park operative employee, reverses into your car causing significant damage.

When challenged with video evidence, operative accepts liability.

Your insurers deny claim as no one on the policy was driving the car at the time.

Surely the airport/parking operative are liable, as they have admitted, and will either pay out to you directly or pass you on to their insurers, who cover the employees to move cars.

So there are no costs for you to suck up?

The OP wants to be paid/compensated for their time and effort getting quotes.

[ResQ1]

Yes, you are entitled to claim for loss of use and inconvenience in pursuing the claim, but the amount involved is a token amount of something like £25 for everything.

It was a common item of claim when people dealt with a claim themselves rather than running straight to a Credit Hire company.

[carreauchompeur]

ResQ1 said:

Yes, you are entitled to claim for loss of use and inconvenience in pursuing the claim, but the amount involved is a token amount of something like £25 for everything.

It was a common item of claim when people dealt with a claim themselves rather than running straight to a Credit Hire company.

Fair shout. I guess I’m just asking as the circumstances are so much more annoying than a standard insurance claim and OH is worrying about it a lot.

The airport have hinted we may get the £70 parking refunded, which in itself would be a good result.

[Ham_and_Jam]

OP, Is it likely that the owner of the SUV that was driven into yours is another customers?

They may well be in a similar position to you but without the benefit of your dashcam footage.

Did you get the VRN of the SUV?

[carreauchompeur]

Good shout. To be honest dashcam is great quality and it doesn’t look like any damage was caused to the other vehicle, but once claim is finalised I’ll get him to chase it up.