Neighbour smashed his car through my car, my wall and next doors house. Looking for advice on his CF insurance company.

[Havingasmashingtime]

I’m looking for advice or a ‘what would you do’ type response.

Summer 2022 I paid quite a lot of money (for me) for a resin driveway and a new fancy wall to make the front of my house look nice.

November 2023 I buy a new car

December 2023 my neighbour reversed his car into his drive but his slipper slipped of his foot and he ended up smashing his car at speed through my car (which bounced off my partners van) through my new wall (sob) and into my other neighbours bay window.

(FYI- he’s never once said the word sorry but hey ho)

so- his car insurance paid out for my car (eventually and after offering a low amount)

they have just this month agreed to pay the cost to rebuild the wall (again after a lot of faff)

but my reisin driveway they are refusing. Basically his car has dragged mine from one end of it to the other but also the avalanche of bricks also caused damage to it.
hes also chipped the bricks of the door steps.

anyway- I got 3 quotes from resin driveway people and all are basically £10k due to the fact they can’t ’repair Patch’ a resin driveway. They have to put a layer over the top of it.

his insurance company are saying they are not liable to replace old for new and they offer £1000 to clean the driveway.
i have given proof that that won’t make it look how it was but they are not budging.

they tell me I cannot take this to the ombudsman as they are not MY insurance company.

can anyone help me with what to do?
all I want is for my driveway to look how it did before the accident.
I (probably stupidly) spent a lot on the driveway but with the view it would looo good and last a very long time.
now I’m left with a scratched driveway with a few bits missing and a door step with a chunk out of it.

the situation is beginning to stress me out.

thank you in advance for any help or advice.

Speak to your home insurance company and get them to battle it out.

Yes, speak to your home insurers. Claiming via them will make your premiums go up though but not necessarily astronomically.

Am I too late to contact my home insurance? It happened in December.

Home insurance or take your neighbour court? To get him to pay for the damage the insurance won't cover.

Also- if I have to pay an excess can I claim it back?
my other neighbour claimed through her insurance for the damage to her bay window and is having a right fight trying to get the excess amount back .

Technically he should pay your excess but I assume it’s less than the £10k to repair the drive.

You can be fined £5k for not wearing appropriate footwear to drive, according to the Highway Code and driving standards agency.

Yes you CAN take the insurance cunts to the Ombudsman.

They cant stop you.

Do it. Challenge it all the way.

Take your neighbour to court, he in turn should then refer it to his insuramnce company who will take the case over.

You may have legal expenses cover in your hoime insurance/union membership etc

You need to go through your own house insurance. They will then claim back from your neighbour's insurance company.

The general rule is that if it's on your property, you go through your insurance, regardless of who caused the damage.

Another who doesn’t understand why you didn’t/don’t claim through your own home insurance who then cross claims from your neighbours insurers. They are professionals, do it for a living and are used to other insurers acting like CF’s (because they themselves do) and how to stomp on it. This is why you have home insurance, so you don’t have to deal with this issues and encounter stress.

ive had home insurance for 20 years and never needed to use it.
I was under the impression I would only use my own if it was my fault.
but also I’d need to pay a few hundred in excess and then have bigger premiums so I thought it all went through his.
I am going to call them and hope that this gets sorted.

thank you everyone.

Get your own insurers involved, they will do this for you.

You may have issues claiming through your home insurance if this happened seven months ago - you often only have six months from the date of the incident in order to make a claim.

If you have legal cover through your insurance they will help you!
Yes, your premiums will go up but only for 1 year, it'll be worth it as you deserve to be fully recompensed.
Speak to the ombudsmans off record for advice of if you can/can't - I would not believe them if I were you!

No

Havingasmashingtime · 11/07/2024 18:16
Am I too late to contact my home insurance? It happened in December.

According to a post yesterday, you have 6 years to claim.

It's the mandate of insurers to deny whatever liability they can as a first step, every time. They have had to admit liability for what they have - but they should be pushed to restore you to the place you were prior to the accident. That's not new for old, that's just reinstating your position.

Get your own insurance company involved and ask them to act for you - be prepared to make a nuisance of yourself if you have to. This is definitely 'squeaky gate gets the oil' time.

Not totally the same but a couple of years ago i managed to pour a coke over my new expensive hi spec laptop and killed it. i talked to my insurers who replaced it. i did have to pay an excess but my premiums did not go up. I agree about squeaky wheel, don't attempt to deal with it yourself, go to your home insurance company.

As others have said, your home insurer should be dealing with this not you. They will also claim your excess amount from the other company.

At the very least ring and speak to your insurance company, explain you didn't contact them initially because you thought it was all being dealt with by the other party however they're now being obstructive and refusing to pay for the damage incurred.

Worked in insurance for 9 years... the insurance company are trying it on! The insurance company have to put you back in to the same position you were in prior to the accident happening, so for instance if you have a 2004 car they will give you the value of that back, anything higher is called betterment and then they would be putting you back into a better position than what you were in before the accident.
Works the same way as your driveway, they wont do a whole new one as you have used it over the years however they should be putting you in the same position as you were before so replacing anything that's broken etc.
Hope that helps.

I would try your own home insurance. You may have legal cover expenses included in it.
Otherwise you could take the neighbour/ his insurer to small claims court. I believe the maximum you can claim is £10k

We had someone speeding go through our hedge, they ruined a pair of gates and some fencing, their insurance were an absolute nightmare to deal with
(Hasting Direct).

We just gave it to our insurance in the end, we gave them all details, a summary, evidence etc., it still took them a long time to get it settled.

Keep going OP, don't let them off paying for your drive, it was damaged because of your neighbour.

Crikey don't be so uptight.

Your first sentence says everything about you!!