We don't get many large vehicles down our road.
I heard something lorry like moving about outside and glanced out.
Over our 7 foot hedge. I saw it was a drain cleaner and didn't think anymore of it.
When I went to the car later the passenger wing mirror was smashed and all of the panels scraped. There are no dents but the paint has gone through to the primer.
As far as I know there are no witnesses.
I had been home for 30 mins to 1 hour when I saw the drain cleaner. It was still on the road when the Mrs came home 1 to 1 1/2 hours later after that.
I calmly phoned the council, who said they would investigate and call me back.
10-15 mins later they phoned me back and said I would need to contact my insurance company.
I asked if it was them that had done it.
They hadn't spoken to the drivers yet but any claim would need to come from my insurance company.
My insurance won't do anything unless I put in a claim and pay the excess.
My excess is around £300. The car is a X reg Primera worth around £1500.
I am really annoyed by the lack of help from the Council and cannot see it is worth me paying the excess unless I am going to win the claim.
Can anyone offer any advice? If not, some sympathy!
Cheers
Primera 00
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When I went to the car later the passenger wing mirror was smashed and all of the panels scraped. There are no dents but the paint has gone through to the primer.
Sorry to be picky but did you mean driver's door, or were you parked on the other side of the road?
If so the driver may genuinely not have noticed you, some of the gulley cleaning vehicles are LHD, he would have been concentating on the nearside drain, and the noise of the equipment would have drowned any scraping noises.
This is no practical help, but might help you feel less angry if you feel it was not 'deliberate' carelessness.
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One mans junk is another mans treasure
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From experiance the first line of defense from any local authority is nothing to do with us, even after a claim from an insurance company their attitude will be denial.You will have difficulty getting anywhere unless you have witnesses. A solicitors letter will provoke a little activity but may well be a waste of money.
Unfortunately the only chance is keep on pushing for a result,but you may give up before they do.Let us know how you get on.
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rustbucket (the original)
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Hang on, you don't actually know it was the council vehicle that did the damage! You need a bit of evidence. Is their any paint transfer to your car - if so then what colour. You need to have a word with the depot manager and maybe go to the depot and see if you can find a vehicle with damage/paint transfer that would provide some evidence that it had damaged your car.
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They hadn't spoken to the drivers yet but any claim would need to come from my insurance company.
If you have any evidence that their vehicle caused the damage ("I saw your drain cleaning vehicle....") they will take notice. That's what their insurance, pay'd by us, is for. If you have no evidence, and did not see what caused this, well - you could ask them about it - but you are not likely to the result you want.
As for "any claim would have to come from your insurance company" - this is not the case IME. I had a door mirror knocked off by a dropside lorry overtaking my car when it was parked. No problem. If you intend fixing the damage whatever the council's response, contact your insurer anyway, and get them to call the council.
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Sorry to be pessimistic, but unless you've evidence and/or witness you'll struggle. There is, however, probably one witness - the driver who damaged your car. Moot point you might say, well yes. If it was the council driver perhaps he/she will have a conscience (or a yard supervisor who's interested in the newly acquired 'go-faster' stripes on their 9-ton drain dredger..) & report the minor collision.
The reason for my optimistic view is that, no personal injury was involved (so little real chance of bad consequences for putative offender) & consequently, the driver may 'fess up.
I had a similar experience many years ago when I drove a medium sized 'Community Transport' bus. When 3-point turning, I misjudged & side-swiped a parked (empty) vehicle - it was a fairly old car, but obviously well cared for by its owner. There were no witnesses, but I reported it to my manager, who simply filled out the standard form with little fuss & was positively nonchalant after hearing no casualties were invloved. I heard no more about it for a few weeks, until, an effusive letter of thanks arrived from the damaged car owner, thanking us mightlily for our prompt & honest actions - he probably got a write-off offer, so result for him & no NCD loss.
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I was parked with the drivers side against the kerb. I think the drain cleaner was going the opposite way.
Our road is wide enough for 3 vehicles.
The only 'evidence' I have is that the drain cleaning vehicle was in our road when the damage occured and that I heard a noise, looked out and it was stationary or moving slowly past my car.
As pointed out, these things are quite noisy, so I wouldn't have heard any impact/scraping.
Where my car was parked, the kerb drains are around 30 feet in front and 30 feet behind.
There are none in the middle of the road.
On the other side of the road there is one opposite the front one and one around 20 feet behind the car.
The is no paint transfer, there is a single scratch on the front wing, scrapes on the both doors 2 or 3 inches below the handles, a scrape on the rear wheel arch and the bumper.
There is also an impact mark and scrapes on the back of the side mirror and smashed mirror glass.
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The only 'evidence' I have is that the drain cleaning vehicle was in our road when the damage occured and that I heard a noise looked out and it was stationary or moving slowly past my car.
"Over our 7 foot hedge. I saw it was a drain cleaner and didn't think anymore of it."
Given that your 7 foot hedge would have hidden from your view any other vehicle but the lorry, it could have been anything or anyone before or after he came along. All you've got to go on is seeing a lorry - rather than what you didn't see.
Your word against theirs. No witnesses. As previously mentioned, unless you can find some paint from the vehicle on yours, or vice versa, you're gonna have a hell of a job proving anything.
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Your word against theirs. No witnesses.
It's quite possible that they will just pay anyway. The number plate of the drain lorry would be useful, but just saying "Your drain lorry did this at X o'clock" may do the trick (yes, I know that whether it really was the vehicle that did the deed is a moot point). It's no skin off their nose, so they won't be too interested.
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>>It's quite possible that they will just pay anyway.
I dont think so some how. If they were foolish enough just to pay up it would open the flood gates for every one with a scratch to jump on the band wagon.All local authorities are strapped for money for this and denial is always the first -second and third defense.You will only get somewhere if positive witnessing of the event and you keep pushing for a result.But they rely on you giving up before they do.
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rustbucket (the original)
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>>It's quite possible that they will just pay anyway. I dont think so some how.
When the council lorry side-swiped my car, I jotted down the number, called the council, and that was that. No problems. No pushing needed, no evasion. Maybe not always the case, but...
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After a closer inspection of the car today, there is a scrape and a muddy mark on the front bumper. The headlight is also scratched.
The car had just been washed.
My guess is that they didn't 'park' the cleaning tube when moving between the drain in front of my car and the one behind it.
Proving it will be very difficult of course.
I have just spoken to the council again. They are phoning me back on Monday.
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No chance of them just admitting it and paying up i'm afraid! few years ago local council were ripping up the pavement flags and replacing them with tarmac, roller driver knocked down our garden wall, i confronted him whilst he was still extricating his machine! still he stood there in front of me and his work mates and denied it! - said it just collapsed onto his machine as he was passing!. This was the councils defence right the way through to court, luckily the judge saw sense and realised that it was dubious that a wall that had stood firm for 80 years should suddenly decide to leap onto his machine as it passed, and awarded me the win. This took 7 months to sort, would have been cheaper for them to just send one of thier gangs around to rebuild it!.
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"would have been cheaper for them to just send one of thier gangs around to rebuild it!. "
Yeah using council tax payer's money. They should take the Best Value approach to things like this - some o their in-house solicitors are in the dark ages.....(not being specific to any LA)
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It will boil down to you proving it was the drain cleaner that did the damage. Unless you can the council will fend you off with ease but you have my sympathy.
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