Lucky I finish early on a Friday otherwise I wouldn't have witnessed this, but a large van obviously missed the 'no through road' signs on my street and when he realised he couldn't get through, reversed in to the passageway beside my house to turn around and get out again. I spotted him reversing and decided to watch as he appeared to be getting very close to my car, was at the wrong angle to get in to the passageway and was going fairly fast. Heard a scraping noise so dashed to get a pen to note down his number as I thought he'd hit the car. He'd driven off by the time I got outside, but I did get the registration. Turns out he managed to miss the car, but scraped the corner of the house, chipping a few of the bricks quite badly.
My query is, who on earth do I claim through? Can't be my motor insurer as it's not related to my car, unlikely to be my home insurer as it's damage by a vehicle. Any suggestions? And would any claim be likely to reflect on any future renewal premiums?
TIA!
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Steve
Not wishing to steal Mark's thunder on this one, but I'd have said claim through your house structure insurance, who would try to recover their costs from the truckers. I'd say also call the police - insurance companies like crime numbers quoted at them! They'll also be able to trace the lorry.
Increased premium depends on your house policy and whether they are able to reclaim their costs. I doubt they would though.
Terry
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As you have the registration then report the matter to the police, they will give you a crime number. I would wait until Monday though in case he reappears apologetically either later today or over the weekend. The easiest thing is to write to the dvla and find who the lorry belongs to then sue them in the small claims court for cost of repairs via their insurance. If you go through household insurance (even though the damage was caused by a vehicle) it could double your premium for a couple of years and you will have to pay an excess on the claim. If you fail to find the lorry owner then get an estimate for the work before deciding whether it is worth claiming on your household insurance.
teabelly
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Steve
Does you house come under the following definition?
" property constructed on, fixed to, growing in or otherwise forming part of land on which a road is situated or land adjacent to such land"
I would suspect so in which case boyyo has failed to stop after an accident (damage to property) and no doubt will fail to report in 24 hours to Police.
Report this matter to Plod forthwith and as an offence has been committed they should follow up.
At the end of the day there will no doubt be a fight between his Insurance and your house Insurance as to who has to pay. Make sure it isn't you.
DVD
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I would wait until Monday though in case he reappears apologetically either later today or over the weekend.
Yeah, right! You're far too trusting Teabelly.
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Sorry, Teabelly, I have to agree with DD here. I don't know if he spotted me coming out, but he certainly exited the street rather quickly, so I suspect he did.
DVD - good point, I will report this and see what happens. My main concern is not losing out myself on this. The damage is cosmetic, so I'd patch it myself if I was going to lose out, but if I can get it repaired professionally then I'd rather do that.
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Make sure that you are clear that he should have known the accident had happened, i.e. noise, impact, behaviour of driver afterwards. My car was badly damaged by a laundry van reversing in a hotel car park. It was dark and only the presence of a witness secured a successful claim. The company initially maintained that, due to the size of tne vehicle, the driver was unaware that he had hit anything.Worth considering.
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