# Landscaping Company Damaged Car



## BTS (Jul 22, 2013)

Hello all,

Thoughts on this - we live on a new build estate that has lots of grassed areas which we all pay to have kept by a company.

They have been to cut the grass today opposite my house and I have come home to my car that has been on the drive all day with a smashed rear tail light.

The light has an impact mark with grass inside. My mum who lives at the bottom of my street, has seen the van with trailer use my drive to turn around. I believe they have either hit it with something on their trailer or they have flicked up a stone whilst cutting the grass.

I have put the above to them but they are refusing to pay. What are your thoughts on my next steps?

A new tail light is £192 from Mini! 

Thanks,

Ben









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## TonyHill (Jul 28, 2015)

I also live on an ongoing new build estate, and virtually all my neighbours have cctv covering their drives, front doors etc, but also pick up neighbours property aswell.. Might be worth checking if your neighbours also have cctv which may have recorded the damage. :thumb:


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## fatdazza (Dec 29, 2010)

Unless you have a witness or proof they caused the damage (e.g. CCTV), I think you have no chance of success.


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## DLGWRX02 (Apr 6, 2010)

Times like this I would have said that you have a witness who saw the van reverse in the drive OR who saw the guy/s go up and inspect the damage before walking off. I know it may be slightly dishonest but it’s even more dishonest to have completely denied any involvement when the evidence is there in front of you.


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## Andyblue (Jun 20, 2017)

I think unfortunately, unless you have proof / a witness that saw it, you're going to struggle - and to be fair to the company, if you have no proof / evidence, then it could have happened any time and someone just uses their worker as a way of getting it repaired free (not suggesting this by any means), but you can understand their point of view, no matter how frustrating / wrong it is... All it takes is a bit of honesty and sorry mate, i've just caught your tail light... 

I think the idea of seeing if anyone has any cctv is a good idea :thumb:

Have you tried any local breakers, they may have an accident damaged one in and you might be able to get a replacement unit / lens cap from them ? 

Hope you get it sorted. :thumb:


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## wish wash (Aug 25, 2011)

Just another example of the selfish society were turning into. Surely there liability insurance would cover such events. Like DWGWRZ02 said, without proof it's hard. We've had cctv on the house for years. Payed itself 10x over. From a pilkington van hitting a neighbour to Range Rover and horse box crunching the front of a Clio. Neither stopped but couldn't argue with plain evidence.


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## BTS (Jul 22, 2013)

Thanks everyone. Did a house to house last night and next door has CCTV so waiting for him to download it for me. He has text me some stills showing the van outside my house.

I know 100% it happened yesterday as funnily enough I removed some bird poo off the tail light in the morning before I went to work! 

The worst thing is that I'm having CCTV installed next week!! Talk about bad timing. 

Thanks again for everyone's input. 

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## muzzer (Feb 13, 2011)

That hole is perfectly circular, call me Mr Silly but if a stone got flicked up i would have thought the damage would not be perfectly circular.
That almost looks like something round and very hot was pressed against it. 
Certainly something round has impacted it but there is no signs of spider leg cracks that i can see, very strange hole indeed.


Hopefully the cctv will show what happened


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## wayne451 (Aug 15, 2016)

While I'd be a little p'd off I'd soon realise that you've been fortunate.

A simple 10 minute bolt on/off fix and I'm sure you'll get a second hand replacement for about £20-30.

It could've been far worse, at least it's not damage to a panel and a body shop visit or the like. 

Think of it as an opportunity to improve. You could get a replacement lens, wet sand any raised numbers/lettering off to remove them (part numbers etc). 

Or you could fit Lexus clusters or after-burner lights...:lol:


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## BTS (Jul 22, 2013)

So I have viewed the CCTV. 

One camera shows that the van does back onto the drive but it does not hit it. 

But the other camera, which has sound, you can clearly hear the mower flick up a stone as it passes in front of our drive. I'm 100% certain that it is a stone that has caused it. I have dash cam footage from the morning showing the car without any damage. 

Unfortunately I cannot get a cheap replacement. Our car has the LED lights and most of them on eBay are the normal ones. £156 is the cheapest I can get one for. You're right I'm lucky it hasn't hit the bodywork but I dont feel lucky having to fork out for a new light! 

Will see what they say as this is public liability surely?! 

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## GP Punto (May 29, 2007)

My sympathies on this one, I have had a similar problem when the people next door installed a fence, the vibration of the machines caused my ceiling to crack, contractors refused to pay and would not involve their insurers. Cost of repair was £110.

The issue on stone flying up, the damage certainly looks like a stone, the insurers may argue that the contractor is not liable as they have not been negligent.


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## BTS (Jul 22, 2013)

More photos!

In regards to negligence - I have been reading about this as there was a lady who had her window smashed with a similar thing and the council did not pay as they said they had checked the grass for stones before mowing.

I have CCTV showing them just roll up and start. When looking today there are numerous stones and small rocks in the grass outside my home.























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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Trouble is, you have no firm evidence the contractors caused the damage. 

However, if this was an insurance claim, there’s a good chance the contractor’s insurers would just pay and be done with it. From a claims underwriter’s point of view it’s £200 vs a potential £200 + hundreds of pounds solicitors/court costs. 

The contractor is likely to have a £250 or £500 damage excess so his insurers won’t get involved anyway, so forget about them having public liability insurance. If you want your money back you need to claim directly against the contractor. If they won’t entertain it, then you need to look at a small claims court proceedings. 

In Civil Law there is a requirement of “burden of proof” by means of a “preponderance of evidence”. Whether they will class Occams Razor as burden of proof is something I’m not sure on.

There’s usually plenty of grounds for negligence, in the ladies case with the council, the council still caused the damage. It could be argued that their checks weren’t good enough or that their stone guards weren’t sufficient. If that had been a child who had lost their eye, without doubt the council would be negligent as they had failed to protect the public from harm.


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## BTS (Jul 22, 2013)

Shiny said:


> Trouble is, you have no firm evidence the contractors caused the damage.
> 
> However, if this was an insurance claim, there's a good chance the contractor's insurers would just pay and be done with it. From a claims underwriter's point of view it's £200 vs a potential £200 + hundreds of pounds solicitors/court costs.
> 
> ...


Thank you. That is really helpful. I have put everything to them so awaiting their response.

Thanks to everyone for their replies. I will update with the outcome.

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