Off Topic Another Accident

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Off Topic Another Accident

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Again i wasn't even in the car.

Had half hour to kill before i could drop grandson off at his house, so i went to a new B&M bargains store that has recently opened.

When i was in there an announcement came over tannoy saying driver of (my reg) car please go to checkout, so i go there they say go see another lady who then gets a man who then says sorry and explains that a big metal shelving thing full of plants had just blown over onto my car :mad::bang::cry: got various little scratches that should be easy fix for a body shop but looks like whole side of car will need spraying to blend it in.

the worse bit is on the bit above rear door its rippled an i cant see how that can be fixed properly very easily.

DSCF0414.JPG
 
I get a sinking feeling with these kind of claims.

It may seem obvious it's their fault, but once they hand it over to their insurers things could get tricky. Basically, they did not directly damage your car - the wind did. In order for them to be held responsible, you must prove that they were negligent - either that they knew that the shelves were not safe, or that any reasonable person could be expected to realise that they weren't.

My advice would be to get back there pronto and take lots of photos of these shelves, showing what is (or isn't) holding them in place. If they're not there any more then pictures of where they were, making it clear that there wasn't anything provided to anchor them to. Show how exposed the site is to wind too.

Fingers crossed, they may just pay out. But make sure you're fully armed if they start playing funny buggers.
 
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the buggers havent contacted me, ive drafted an email does this read ok?

Dear sir/madam

On the 03/03/10 I visited the new Colchester store, when I was in the store my registration number was read out over the tannoy, I went to find out why I was called and was shocked to discover one of your large shelving units outside displaying plants had fallen over onto my car causing damage in several areas, I was relived that it happened when i was in the store though and not when i was getting into or out of the car with my baby grandson, i hate to think what would have happened then.

A few members of staff apologised for what had happened and took my details and said head office would contact me, how ever no contact has been made. I have obtained a quote for the damage and hire car to use whilst my car is in for repair. please send a cheque to cover all costs so I can put my car back to the condition it was in before this incident. Note these are Estimated
Charges and my rise if more damage is found.

repair and car hire total £1046.2 to be paid with in 7 days please.



Please find details of estimated charged attached.



Failure to pay will result in me passing the claim over to a claims management company and may then also include admin and legal costs

Car Rental Estimated.JPG

Capture.JPG
 
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you just know the names or know them personaly?

is my email ok or should i add "and contact local press" to the last line?
I wouldn't add that in yet. I would save that for if you need it.
I know them in that I used to work very closely with them, a few years ago, so they know my name, but it didn't end in a way that means I can just pick up the phone and ask them to sort it out for you. If I could, I would.
I would suggest a phone call to the MD's P.A, explaining what has happened and that you have not heard anything from them yet, but you are sure they would want to sort it out for you. After all it could have been so much worse, with a person under it for example. Apart from being the MD he also has a legal background so he is usually keen to settle matters outside court.
 
Good luck getting any company to pay up in 7 days?

you need to rethink your letter completely.

You've not listed the time of the accident or the names of those you spoke to in store, were they sales assistance or was it the branch manager?

your letter would probably find its self in the bin because of lack of information and your demand for immediate cash

where are your pictures of the damage and some sort of picture or map as to where the car was parked and the shelving was stood ? your repair quote isn't on headed paper not VAT number etc, you could have made that up yourself? it also doesn't give a time frame for the repair to take place so how can you generate a cost for the rental car ?

As with most of these things you have to allow them at least 14 days to acknowledge your letter at which point they may want to take some time to investigate what happened with the branch and the likely extent of the damage caused.

they may want you to take the car to an appointed independent garage for a quote who may also be able to supply a car FOC while yours is repaired.

Sending that letter is not going to do you any favours, that you're not using your insurance company it also implies its all a bit of a scam so another reason to file your letter in the bin.

first letter should seek acknowledgement of the incident and highlight the seriousness of the incident, at the moment it just seems you want to line your pockets with their cash
 
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I would expect the company to refer this to their insurers. You might be able to negotiate with the insurance engineer for the old "cash in lieu of repairs", if this happened to mine I would not even bother with the repair, but would have funds for more important mechanicals.
 
I wouldn't send any quotes etc initially, or ask for money. Just ask them to confirm either that they'll settle your claim or send details of their insurers and confirm that this has been reported.

As said above, give date and time and who was there (if you know). If they're anything like honest they'll have already recorded the incident anyway (but you never know).

In fact I probably wouldn't write but would first phone the store or (better still) walk in and ask them who you should contact to deal with it. Then you can get the manager's name while you're there.

I wouldn't bother with the emotive stuff, just stick to the facts - i.e. damage was done to the car.
 
none of the people there wrote their name down, they gave me a bit of paper with the store managers name and store phone number
The store manager would likely as not try to get away with doing as little as possible so that the bigger bosses don't beat him up for it. But if you go nicely to the very top - he has to answer to nobody so it is easier for him (or his staff) to sort it out
 
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