car damaged in school car park

[kathyseldon]

I am a visiting teacher to several schools.
Obviously, I park my car in the school car parks.
Today, in the wind, some roof tiles fell onto my car roof and caused damage. not huge amount of damage tbh, but damage non the less.
The school were all, "bad luck", "glad it was your car and not you" ," could have been worse" etc etc.
But now, thinking about it, should I be able to claim off the school insurance?

Has anyone ever been in this sort of situation? What did you do?

Years ago it happened to my Mum at the supermarket where she worked. Supermarket insurers refused to pay out as it was 'an act of God' Hope you have better success

Its normal to claim off their insurance in a case like this.

It's unlikely to be covered as it's an act of god. I would go through your insurance to go after them/their insurers

I would think you need to claim off your own insurance for it, as unless they were negligent (bits were hanging off due to poor maintenance) it’s not the school insurers fault there was a storm with flying debris and now a claim - the new hole in the school roof would be a storm damage claim from school insurers to the school, but not where the debris landed.
Unless it injured someone (but that’s a PI claim then which is a different kettle of fish.)

You should be able to claim off the schools public liability policy.

If you are a member of a union the union will compensate

If you are a member of a union, they have insurance that will cover it.

@LaBelleSausage

It's unlikely to be covered as it's an act of god. I would go through your insurance to go after them/their insurers

Act of God

An event that is not the fault of any individual, such as a natural disaster.

Most insurance policies do not contain an exclusion for acts of God. The policy will set out what is insured and what the main exclusions are. If loss occurs from an event covered, then the insurer will pay out, in accordance with the policy terms and conditions.

www.abi.org.uk/data-and-resources/tools-and-resources/glossary/act-of-god/

The exact same thing happened to me (well technically it was a branch not a tile). School had a similar attitude but I was able to claim on my insurance for an 'act of god' and it didn't affect my NCB or premiums going forward.

Something similar happened to a fellow teacher at the school I taught at. She claimed from the school’s insurance.

It’s an “act of god” so you claim on your car insurance. My parents had similar with a fence panel hitting a neighbour’s car. They offered to pay the excess because they felt it was morally right to do that but weren’t legally required to. Neighbour decided she didn’t want to claim through insurance and instead tried taking my parents to court. Judge ruled against her and she had to pay my parent’s costs and was told she was lucky my dad wasn’t asking for out of pocket expenses considering he was self employed and lost a day’s work to attend a nonsense court case.

As others have said you will not be able to claim off the school, it doesn't work like that. You need to claim off your car insurance as its an act of god and not negligence.

@kathyseldon

I am a visiting teacher to several schools. Obviously, I park my car in the school car parks. Today, in the wind, some roof tiles fell onto my car roof and caused damage. not huge amount of damage tbh, but damage non the less. The school were all, "bad luck", "glad it was your car and not you" ," could have been worse" etc etc. But now, thinking about it, should I be able to claim off the school insurance? Has anyone ever been in this sort of situation? What did you do?

I recently had my car damaged on a faulty automatic gate that closed suddenly on me as I was leaving the car park. I sent an email with photos of the damage to the bursar, asking for details of how to submit a claim for damages. The school insurers paid up.

@HiJenny35 I beg to differ ! My work colleague definitely claimed off the school’s insurance!

I worked in a school many moons ago. Parked my car next to the garage which had outward opening doors. The caretaker opened the garage doors , the wind crashed a door into my car. Claimed off school insurance no problem.

You would have to show that the school were negligent in some way. As there was an extreme storm today it's highly unlikely and would just be an unforeseeable accident. (I work in public liability insurance claims and deal with this type of claim daily). If you can show that the roof was poorly maintained you might have a chance.

Thanks all.
I might ask the school, just in case then.