Demolition of buildings, damaged car

[GreenSunrise]

Dear All,

Your guidance will be much appreciated.

Questions.
It is my wish to have my car in the state it was. This is not possible now.
I am a fair and reasonable person, trying to determine what is fair an reasonable to claim for if at all possible.
Thus.
1. Who best should I approach with this. {I plan to contact the council tomorrow to determine what company is carrying out the work}
2. What should I claim for from the responsible party?
a. The value of the repair, b. to replace the car, c. a rental car during this period to replace or repair the car?
3. What to do if the responsible party will not negotiate? {I plan to contact the local Citizens Advice by phone tomorrow morning}

Background.
My car was parked in a resident parking area on a public road.
The car was/is taxed with MOT, insurance and a valid council parking permit.

A few houses and old corner store were demolished by a huge excavator. During this, part of a building collapsed onto the pavement and public road parking area damaging my car. Damage caused: Near all panels on one side. Rear window was broken. Bonnet and windscreen were also significantly damaged.

There were no notice that the demolition would took place. {This and other cars were legally parked in the residential parking area on the public road on Friday +- 1400.
The houses and store and been boarded off for at least 1.5 years.

I first saw the damage to the car today.
A near neighbour filmed the event on camera clearly showing the building wall collapsing and falling against/on my car.
The neighbour reports, when the fire brigade turned up and asked if the wall collapsed against/ onto my car, the contracts denied they were responsible.

The car book value is not that much as it is a Volvo 2003 model.
Cost to repair is estimated at +- £5000.

I do not want to claim on my own insurance as I have +- 20 years no claims.

See still image from video attached as reference. {Forum does not allow me to upload the image}
Google image path is here if needed.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...cDJtBLe4zsIQ8g

Thank you very much.

[EnglandPi]

I appreciate your dilemma but life is not fair.

Im sure your car is worth more to you than £5000 but a car that age will be a total write-off which is the real reason you dont want to claim on your insurance.

First you need to establish who is responsible. I doubt you will be able to get the compensation you deserve.

Good luck to you

[Sam101]

I am very surprised that you would park any car so close to a site that was being pulled down, but that's not the point.

If damaged by others then it is their responsibility and your insurance company can claim on them. Having been with your insurance company for so long, let them do their job and claim if the developers dont own up and accept responsibility.

[ostell]

That video should be a great help in fighting this. Make sure you have a copy and a copy of the copy saved in a safe place.

If the council were controlling demolition then write to them threatening to claim off them.. They will soon tell you who was the contractor.

[DE DOGS]

Claim from Insurance they will soon sort it.

[echat11]

That video should be a great help in fighting this. Make sure you have a copy and a copy of the copy saved in a safe place.

If the council were controlling demolition then write to them threatening to claim off them.. They will soon tell you who was the contractor.

If it was the Council, they carry Public Liability Insurance. Regardless of who carried out the demolition, they would have to have insurance to cover injuries, damage etc. Unless it was a 'rouge' outfit, they would need closing down.

[GreenSunrise]

Thank you for all your replies.

Your further input will be much appreciated

An update.
Contacted the council. Got the company details.
Got two quotes to repair the car.

Dilemma, dealer value of car +- £1050. repair cost +- £4000- £5000.

I cant replace the car with the book value as this car worked perfect for many years, a replacement may not.

Thus the question, what would be a fair request to settle this?
The one repair company insisted I must ask for £2500. They done many repair jobs in past. {This is London}.

Seems contractors want to have "their people" repair it. This does not sound good at all to me at this time.

We meet tomorrow morning to make a decision.

=> The gentleman remarking why I park the car there.
There is limited parking in London. I already pay the council a yearly fee for a permit to have it parked in the very limited controlled parking zones.
This site had been walled of for at least 18 months with no work in there.
If there was a notice an excavator would turn up on Friday, naturally I would have moved the car.
Regardless of this, parking bays ought be be suspended if such work is to be carried out.

[echat11]

Thank you for all your replies.

Your further input will be much appreciated

An update.
Contacted the council. Got the company details.
Got two quotes to repair the car.

Dilemma, dealer value of car +- £1050. repair cost +- £4000- £5000.

I cant replace the car with the book value as this car worked perfect for many years, a replacement may not.

Thus the question, what would be a fair request to settle this?
The one repair company insisted I must ask for £2500. They done many repair jobs in past. {This is London}.

Seems contractors want to have "their people" repair it. This does not sound good at all to me at this time.

We meet tomorrow morning to make a decision.

=> The gentleman remarking why I park the car there.
There is limited parking in London. I already pay the council a yearly fee for a permit to have it parked in the very limited controlled parking zones.
This site had been walled of for at least 18 months with no work in there.
If there was a notice an excavator would turn up on Friday, naturally I would have moved the car.
Regardless of this, parking bays ought be be suspended if such work is to be carried out.

They should have forewarned, had signs everywhere, blocked off areas, cones everywhere etc.
All Health & Safety Regulations. I'd check to see if they have been breached.

https://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/...demolition.htm

https://press.hse.gov.uk/2021/12/20/...erious-injury/

Can't add anything regarding dilemma others can.

[des8]

So essentially your vehicle is a write off as it would cost more to repair than it is worth.

Do not let the contractors touch it, they are not car body work specialists.
They also seem to be poor demolition men lucky it was only a car and not people walking by

Search on line for vehicles similar in year and mileage to the one written off to get an idea of replacement cost.
Then add to that figure the costs of getting the vehicle,. the cost of changing insurance, loss of road tax , cost of changing parking permit.
Add into it the cost of any fares (bus/taxi/train/tube) you might have to meet while locating and purchasing a replacement (which could be up to a month after receiving a payment).
Also were any possessions left in the car damaged or now need cleaning?

When you have done all that add another £1000 because you will inevitably underestimated, and you need compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused to you.

If they pass the claim to their liability insurers to settle you might need to argue.

[GreenSunrise]

Did check and read your kind replies every day a few times without fail.

Will give final feedback once this saga has completed.

[GreenSunrise]

Dear All,

Thank you very much for your guidance and input.

Matter was settled, accepted £2000 for the vehicle. Thus, the car was "sold" to the party causing the damage.
The value was calculated based on a similar replacement vehicle on autotrader + additional costs to find, view, check and register this hypothetical replacement car.

Best regards.

[des8]

Thanks for update and pleased to see they settled without too much argument