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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Damaged car due to neighbours property

46 replies

moogoom · 03/02/2022 19:15

During the storm last weekend, a rather heavy slate disc fell onto my car and has left a big dent in the body. I was stumped at first as to where it had come from until i realised that it had come from my neighbours chimney. Its a chimney cap that must have been up there for a near century but chose that day to ruin my car GrinConfused
I contacted my insurer to put in a claim but then thought: this is damage caused by my neighbours house, why should I jeopardise my ncd? I told my neighbour about it as I thought she would need to put in a claim for her chimney anyway. She contacted her home insurance and they said they wont pay out. She told me that it was an accident and will offer to pay half the cost to repair my car if I don't go through my insurance. AIBU to think she could sort this out through her home insurance as it was her property that caused the damage?

OP posts:
Lineofconcepcion · 03/02/2022 20:50

In order to recover against her insurance you need to show negligence on her part. So as previous poster said, you claim off your insurance and your insurance company will consider the question of liability and culpability.

HeddaGarbled · 03/02/2022 20:57

her pot did damage OP's car

I disagree. The storm damaged the OP’s car. And this is covered by the OP’s insurance policy, not the neighbour’s.

BluebellsGreenbells · 03/02/2022 21:14

If you have protected NCD you can claim and not lose your discount.

Singingalong · 03/02/2022 21:19

@Lineofconcepcion

In order to recover against her insurance you need to show negligence on her part. So as previous poster said, you claim off your insurance and your insurance company will consider the question of liability and culpability.
Wrong advise. The OP does not need to prove negligence. Home insurance covers property damage and bodily injury to third parties (under public liability section). You can claim under your car insurance or ask your neighbour to claim under their house insurance (your neighbour will have to bear the excess). Talk to your car insurance claims advisor, they will advise you. They probably settle the claim and might subrogate with your neighbours insurer but you'll never know and it will affect your claims record regardless
BluebellsGreenbells · 03/02/2022 21:44

You aren’t penalized for non fault claims.

PearPickingPorky · 03/02/2022 21:51

Wrong advise. The OP does not need to prove negligence. Home insurance covers property damage and bodily injury to third parties (under public liability section).

Public liability covers your liability to third parties, but you're only liable if you've been negligent.

OP's neighbour wasn't negligent.

HiJenny35 · 03/02/2022 21:52

So many wrong answers. In the UK... Morals and what is actually enforced are two very different things. Something that blows off a house in wind is classed as an act of God, she isn't considered liable, her insurance will not pay, she is being generous offering to give you half. You have to claim from your car insurance assuming you have insurance that will cover it, they will not claim back off her that's not how it works. It will go down on your insurance as a non fault claim this should not raise your premiums in theory however in reality it often does a bit but not substantially. It's a difficult situation and sad for you but that's legally where you are.

PearPickingPorky · 03/02/2022 21:55

@HiJenny35

So many wrong answers. In the UK... Morals and what is actually enforced are two very different things. Something that blows off a house in wind is classed as an act of God, she isn't considered liable, her insurance will not pay, she is being generous offering to give you half. You have to claim from your car insurance assuming you have insurance that will cover it, they will not claim back off her that's not how it works. It will go down on your insurance as a non fault claim this should not raise your premiums in theory however in reality it often does a bit but not substantially. It's a difficult situation and sad for you but that's legally where you are.
This is correct.

OP, hard luck, but your neighbour isn't liable for this so it's tour own insurance, or take your neighbour's offer of paying 50/50.

Runninggirl2 · 03/02/2022 22:17

HiJenny35 is spot-on. This exact thing happened to me about 12 years ago and I had to claim on my own car insurance. It really surprised me but my insurers were very clear that you have to be able to prove their negligence - really poor roof condition and evidence of refusal to pay for repairs for example. It's surprising, but I ended up just relieved that no one was killed. It was a giant stone roof tile that hit my parked car and would have killed someone if it hadn't caved in my rear car door. I was just so thankful the children weren't in it at the time!

PrtScn · 03/02/2022 22:19

Act of God. Legally neighbour not obligated to pay OP. This is what insurance is for. Neighbour very generous offering to pay 50/50. Take this offer or go through your car insurance.

FurbleSocks · 03/02/2022 22:22

I claimed £40k of damage to my house and within 3 years they were back to normal and only went up by £100 then £70 then £50 then as was before the claim. Also she doesn't actually get to decide. People have home insurance for this reason. If their house causes damage to anyone or anything as well as the householder experiencing damage.

spudjulia · 03/02/2022 22:24

I don't know, but my own roof fell onto my own car during a storm and my insurance paid for the repair to the roof and the car. They said that in winds over a certain speed (which I can't remember, but the insurance company were able to look up the wind speed at the time of the incident in my area) then they can pay out for storm damage.

SoItWas · 03/02/2022 22:37

This is a tricky one, what a shitty day for both of you.

Lou98 · 03/02/2022 22:42

@BluebellsGreenbells

You aren’t penalized for non fault claims.

This isn't true. I used to work for a big insurance company in the UK and a claim is a claim. Statistically, if you've been in an accident (obviously not the case in the OP but it's just logged as a non fault claim) regardless of fault, you're more likely to be in another and so your premiums do tend to go up slightly

A claim is also only logged as non fault if your insurance company can claim the money back from the 'at fault' insurer. As @HiJenny35 said, in this instance the OP's neighbour isn't liable due to storm damage being an "act of God" - therefore, there is nobody to claim the money back from. Every insurance company is different - some have the option to log a claim as "no fault" but the company I worked for (that own many companies and were all the same) didn't have that option, it was either fault or non fault and if they couldn't claim money back, it was logged as fault.

Sorry OP but this is what your insurance is for - it's shit but it isn't your neighbours fault, it could just as easily have been something else that hit your car due to the storm. Unless her roof was damaged prior to the storm (and she knew) then I don't think she's morally wrong either and is being generous offering to pay half when she doesn't actually have to

Fedupofballs · 03/02/2022 22:47

In 1987 my parent’s shed roof landed on next door’s car, I was only a child but can remember our neighbour arguing that the roof wasn’t fitted correctly (my dad found him in the garden measuring where it had been attached) rather than an act of God so our insurance would have to pay out. I can’t remember the outcome… There was then the dispute of the leylandi roots under our porch, think their insurance paid on that one.

What is completely up mumsnet is despite all these disputes we continued to socialise as kids, helped out with childcare, and were part of many happy childhood memories.

Mooloolabababy · 03/02/2022 22:55

Would her home insurance definitely pay out though? A Couple of years ago, a bad storm blew my garden wall down and landed on my car bonnet (not a huge amount of damage considering!). I could successfully claim on my buildings insurance for the damage to my wall, but they said I had to claim on my car insurance for the car damage as the buildings insurance wouldn't pay out for it.

NeedAHoliday2021 · 03/02/2022 22:57

It’s an “act of god” so you have to go through your car insurance. My parents had this when a fence panel hit a neighbour’s car. They felt bad and offered to pay the excess but legally they didn’t have to do that.

BasiliskStare · 03/02/2022 23:06

Maybe I am naive I would just ring my insurance company with the details of neighbour's insurance company & let them sort it out. What will be will be.

Original poster
moogoom · 03/02/2022 23:25

Thanks everyone- i am really glad to have all your experiences and perspectives. I went with car ins first and then thought about it. I just want to make sure I am not taking on liability unnecessarily as I always get the shitty end if the stick 😂.
Will ask the car ins how much its going to affect my premium as I was told it would rise. I will update them to say my neighbours chimney caused the damage and see what they say regarding liability but to be honest it all sounds like a pain in the arse and wont do anyone any favours. I think you can tell I am an indecisive person hence calling on your opinion!

OP posts:
PearPickingPorky · 04/02/2022 08:17

@moogoom

Thanks everyone- i am really glad to have all your experiences and perspectives. I went with car ins first and then thought about it. I just want to make sure I am not taking on liability unnecessarily as I always get the shitty end if the stick 😂. Will ask the car ins how much its going to affect my premium as I was told it would rise. I will update them to say my neighbours chimney caused the damage and see what they say regarding liability but to be honest it all sounds like a pain in the arse and wont do anyone any favours. I think you can tell I am an indecisive person hence calling on your opinion!
You're not "taking on liability unnecessarily", you're using your own insurance to pay for damage to your own car. It's not your neighbour's liability because she didn't cause the damage through her negligence, it was caused by a storm.

Your insurer won't be able to tell you the increase it will cause at renewal as it depends on various factors, but if you want an idea then go and run a quote on comparethemarket or similar and put this in as a non-fault claim with the £1,500 (or whatever the damage amount is) and see what you get back. If your No Claims Bonus is protected, then you'll just lose one "life" of it but won't actually lose it.

PearPickingPorky · 04/02/2022 08:24

Also she doesn't actually get to decide. People have home insurance for this reason. If their house causes damage to anyone or anything as well as the householder experiencing damage.

This is not correct, can people please stop saying it.

The neighbour is only liable if she negligently caused the damage, and she didn't. Her her home insurance will only pay if she is legally liable, and she is not.

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