Neighbour roof and new car

[Advicespls19]

Advice please I’m really stressing. Due to the bad weather last night the neighbours roof fell down and debris fell on our new car! Less than one month old car on PCP for 4 years. There is no real damage apart from a tiny dent in the passenger door. It’s very small and only can see up close.

what do I do? I spoke to neighbour and he said I don’t claim through him I claim on my home insurance or I should take it to a car garage that specialise in car dents. He’s a really lovely guy and I don’t want to fall out over this with him so I’m looking for advice on what to do. Can this be easily fixed? The dent is tiny probably half the size of a 5p coin

DH had a car on PCP and they were horrendous when the car was inspected to return. He had to get every single stone chip/flaw to the paintwork sorted before they would give the full value of the car, cost him nearly £600.

It’s not as bad as you think, don’t worry. We had someone reverse into us and cause a large dent and some paintwork chipped off. The other driver paid for a company to come to our house and fix it on our drive. Took a few hours and cost about £300 if I remember rightly. It’s annoying but it is an easy fix.

He was very unlucky. We’ve had several PCP cars, they’ve barely glanced at them on return and never cost us a penny.

I think @rwalker meant their insurance won't cover it.

As for your insurance, I imagine the repair job would be so cheap you'd get nothing back from your insurers after their usual deductions.

More sensible to enjoy your ever-so-slightly dented car for now, and a month or so before you hand it back, see what other scratches it may have and decide whether it's worth going for repairs then.

Lots of people on this thread don't know the difference between a lease and PCP deal. You say it's a PCP but that you "have" to give the car back in 4 years - are you sure it's not a lease car? PCP cars don't have to be given back, you can make a final payment to own the car outright. And if you do want to part-exchange it for something else, all they will do is check the condition of the car and adjust its value if they don't think it's worth what it should have been by the end of the contract, which will impact on what you have to pay for your next car. Penalties for wear and tear are for lease cars.

But irrespective of any of that, firstly I wouldn't badger the neighbour about fixing a tiny invisible dent in your car - sure, it's annoying because it's new, but what would you do if it was caused by a stone flying up off the road? Demand the local council or the Highways Agency pay to fix it for you? Stuff happens, cars incur minor damage through everyday use (so did your last one, believe it or not - it's not possible to drive a car for several years and it still be in "like new" condition). Be glad it wasn't your roof that fell down and all you've got is a small dent in your new car.

Secondly, your husband sounds absolutely dreadful. It's just a car, and if he gets that abusive over something so patently unimportant, I dread to think what he would be like over something that was genuinely worth getting upset over. So never mind agonising over whether to ask your neighbour to sort your car out - you should be spending the time and energy re-evaluating your marriage.

The neighbour should still offer to pay 🤷‍♀️

It is a bit of a shame. I’d probably get it fixed myself if you can find someone to do it for a reasonable price.

Think ‘lightening strike’ is classed as ‘Act of God’, therefore (justabout?)nobody can claim anything… can’t argue with God?!
Best way is to say at least it was only tiny… & possibly take pix of roof debris for actual proof if needed in 4 yrs time.

Insurance quite often does not cover ‘acts of god’ so this would have been a direct result of that. Will it not affect the value if you later send the car back to the dealership for another one? Incidents also have to be legally declared to your motor insurer as well even if no claim is made so I would read your policy docs

Why?

Why? It's not his fault his house was struck by lightning 😂

Neither is it the OPs, it would be the neighbourly thing to do 🙄

Because it would be the neighbourly thing to do?

His bloody roof’s just fallen in, ffs.

And their car has been damaged, ffs 🤦‍♀️

Which would you prefer? Because I’ll tell you for nothing I’d take a tiny dent in my car over my house collapsing. And if my home was down round my ears I wouldn’t give the tiniest of fucks about a 5p size dent in my neighbour’s car. Nor, I suggest, would you.

But it’s not yours or my problem is it? It obviously is worrying the OP, hence the post asking for advice and opinions. Try respecting other people’s points of view, or better still, go and have a cold shower 🙄

Try a bit of empathy for the poor bugger whose house has collapsed.

Would it be the neighbourly thing for OP to pay to repair his roof?

No, because debris from his property didn’t cause the damage, obviously 🤷‍♀️

Would it? Why?

Try reading my other responses🙄

I've read them, I still don't get why it would be neighbourly for him to pay when it wasn't his fault the damage occurred.

Through no fault of their own their car has been damaged by debris falling from their neighbours’s home. Anyone with any moral compass would pay for the damage, OP has said it’s minor, so won’t cost a fortune.
I do hope that’s clear enough for you 🙄

It's clear, it just makes no sense to me. It's not the neighbours fault - they didn't have a dodgy roof job or drop something off a ladder - their roof was struck by lightning and OP's car sustained an absolutely minute dent that even she admits can barely be seen.

In terms of "morals", I think anyone who asks for payment in that scenario is not a nice person, frankly.