Hi all,

Please could someone offer some advice as to what to do in the situation that has just happened.

My neighbours large gazebo has come flying over my garage and landed on the roof of my coupe, denting it badly in the process.

The legs of the gazebo also managed to wedge themselves under the front bumper causing some minor scrapes but there are also scrapes along the bonnet that I have found too.

Do I try to claim through his house insurance for this?

No idea what to do right now so any advice would be really appreciated.

I've taken loads of pictures so I'll upload some as soon as I can to show the damage etc.

I assume the neighbour is well aware of the incident? (I guess he came round and said "please can I have my gazebo back?..."

A roof repair will be quite expesive - has it broken through the paint to the metal? If not, a good paintless dent repai man might be able to pull the dents

Personally, I'd instigate a claim on his household insurance (assuming he has it) - there should be third-party liability cover on the policy which would cover something like this

Thanks Nigel,

Yes it has broken through the paint to the metal unfortunately.
My neighbour has been round to get the gazebo but not said much to be honest. He thinks he has insurance to cover it but needs to check.

There could be more scrapes etc but so hard to see because of the rain.

I'm struggling to upload my images from photobucket. I'm copying the direct link but then its not working on the image popper. Am I missing something?

Sorry to hear that Jen! How annoying!

I can't offer any advice in this instance, although Nigel has pretty much covered that

I hope you get it all sorted out with little hassle!

Thanks Danny, hopefully all will get sorted.

Any advice on the photobucket images?! Trying to get them to upload is proving stressful!!

Jen, copy the links on here and we can correct them and see where it's going wrong.

Oh no, Jen after all the effort you've put into this, what a scunner

Hope it can all pull out successfully and your neighbour shows he's a good'un.

I have a feeling that it comes down to whether you can prove that the neighbour was negligent. If he has erected the gazebo in accordance with the instructions, pegged/weighted it down, etc, then it may come down to an act of god and your only recourse then would be to claim from your own insurance. However, if he can be shown to be negligent then you might have a claim. The damage looks like it won't be something he will want to fund out of his own pocket, so you would probably have to have the argument with his house insurer (if he's insured).

I believe that if, say, a roof tile comes off and hits a neighbour's car, then if your roof was/is maintained in good condition, you're not negligent and they have to get it sorted themselves.

I have a largish gazebo and the instructions definitely said something about not using it in high-wind conditions; there has been bad weather today in lots of places so that might be your best angle to take if he or the insurer challenge it?

All the above said, I'm not a lawyer or an insurer!

You need to make a claim on your neighbours home insurance as said above.
Similar thing happened to me yesterday with a large parasol from next door.
Put a nice 10" dent/scratch on the missus car.

The weather forecasts were for strong winds - anyone using a gazebo without strong ropes or heavy weights was asking for it TBH - you shouldn't have too much difficulty with the claim IMHO

makes a person wonder what sort of person actually uses these things in high wind.... maybe its just me, but common sense says you wouldn't do it or if you had to it would be weighted down / tied down in excess.

Hit his insurance policy. It's there to cover his actions, and to protect your losses. The discussion about whether he's covered or not is between him and them.

an idiot !

Thanks everyone for the comments. My neighbour has agreed to look into his home insurance policy. However bad news on the cost of the repair. I took it to 3 different body shops today. Two said I will need glass taking out ie rear window, sunroof and side window...really??
I also have a dent on the bonnet near the headlight which I didn't see in the rain yesterday. I am told this will need a full bonnet respray. Total quote from one body shop £1341!!

Here's a picture of how the dent looked this morning after I dried off the car.

Could anyone recommend an excellent body shop in the North West area? I'm in Stockport but would travel to ensure a really good job was done. Thanks

Ouch - that looks worse than the original piccies

You need to be very careful that they don't write it off - a £1300+ repair on a Coupe is often enough to be classed as uneconomical

Have you got an agreed value policy Jen? Might be worth thinking about next time round if you haven't, especially after the work that's gone in to it. Speak to Sarah at Glynwood Insurance.

I've had 2 further quotes for around the £900 mark but none of these places I know or have been recommended so I'm trying to find somewhere that has a good reputation. I would prefer the glass not to be taken out if at all possible as I'm worried about breakages and things not going back as they did before.
I was planning on getting an agreed valuation next year Simon. Like you say I've invested a lot of money into the car this year and feel that it would be sensible to do that. Then this happens!
Do home insurance companies have the power to write off a car as well? My neighbours have said that if the insurance doesn't cover it then they will cover the cost of the repair but I don't expect they will have any idea that it's going to cost so much!!

We have a couple of bodyshops to recommend - PMS in Birmingham (they do all of Motormech's body repairs) and EuroEast in Lichfield - have done several high-quality jobs on Coupes, including my own

OMG I would be in tears if this happened to my Coupe! Really hope you can get it sorted, that your neighbour will pay up.

You might want to put the most expensive quote forward to the insurance company, but first asking their insight. When they say it'll be a write-off ask them if you can shop around for prices and what the max cost can be. Then offer up the cheaper quote.

... but still, say the 'know to be reliable' one asks 1300 and you have a quote for 900, I'd ask the money from the insurance company and still go to the most expensive one.

Don't forget - they pay for the DAMAGE (or loss of value), not the repair, so you can still decide to do whatever you want with the money you get. Even it you keep it and sell the car on.

For Manchester car bodywork repairs then the only place I'd trust is here: Gratt Motors

I've used them to fix some non-fault damage to my RS4 and the job and service was perfect. The Mercedes Benz Club use them for a lot of their classic car restorations which is high praise indeed when you see the standard of the finished work.

Well it appears I'm in a sticky situation with this. Although my neighbours have verbally admitted liability their insurance provider has told them that I must claim from my own car insurance policy for this.
My car insurance company have advised me to avoid claiming through them as it is likely that the home insurance company will not admit liability which will cause me to lose a number of years from my no claims bonus as well as affecting my premiums for next 5 years!
I assume it is still negligent to have had a gazebo up in such adverse weather conditions.

I also consulted an independent accident management company to see if they could pursue the claim for me to avoid involving my insurance but they have contacted the home insurance who have said they are not liable and it was an "act of god"!

I really don't know what to do now.

legal advice through your car cover?

Ask them to prove god exists. If they can't, then it can't have been an act of.

Your neighbour is responsible, not you, not your insurers. Rudi's idea is worth investigating.

The wind was an act of god not the Gazebo hitting the car!

If a house was poorly built and was blown over in strong wind do think it would be taken so lightly! may be worth summoning his insurance company to the small claims court but try to get the boss or somebody as high up as possible as it may cause them a big enough head ache to just settle rather than face the cost of somebody going to court!

Or as Barnacle says get them to prove god exists!

Why not take God to court!
There is a really good film with Billy Connolly in it, titled
"The Man that Sued God" may work if you got enough publicity!

Best of luck!

I'm not a legal expert, but surely your neighbours property has damaged yours. Your claim is with the neighbour. It's then their problem if they're insured or not.

Your neighbour's insurers are trying it on, but your claim is direct to your neighbour.

As suggested by Ruddi, do you have any legal cover as part of your car insurance? If so use that to pursue the claim. If not check your home insurance. You may have cover there for pursuing a claim.

If not consult a solicitor. The first 1/2 hour should be free.
You can agree a max fee limit for their services. Basically you need a letter from them to your neighbour stating that you will take the matter to court to recover your loss plus expenses.

If you're not happy with that approach, write to your neighbour's and tell them you will take out an action in the small claims court. I think you should only be dealing direct with your neighbour. Its their fault so whether their insurance pays or not is their problem.

Good luck.