Hail Damage - Who is responsible?

Chthonic on 22/01/2020 - 17:32

I know no one is technically responsible for hail damage to a vehicle but here is my question.

My housemate is an international student, he took his car in to get repaired/serviced. Left the keys with them and all that Jazz. Canberra hail hit hard, damaged his car as the repairer left it outside.

He has a merc, parks it in the garage whenever he’s home. The repairer is stating they’re not liable and he has to fork out the money for repairs.

I know hail damage is something no one can control, however the repair shop had liability and possession of the vehicle.

PS: if anyone is wondering, yes this is a post for my housemate. My near new WRX was written off.

Automotive

Comments

      • Emerald Owl on 23/01/2020 - 21:17
        -3

        Wouldn’t the money be better spent going to a charity and driving a Toyota, like really….

        • [Deactivated] on 24/01/2020 - 13:09
          +2

          Everyone is free to do as they please with their money.

          Someone somewhere would say the same about the average Australian. Shouldn't we live modestly and send our money to some desolate wasteland.

          • Emerald Owl on 24/01/2020 - 23:34
            -3

            @[Deactivated]: That's overdramatic mate. Driving a Mercedes is a pretentious and wasteful thing to do, especially as a young person. The average Australian would agree.

        • Chthonic on 24/01/2020 - 14:27

          Are you serious? What a stupid comment to make.

  • taker on 23/01/2020 - 07:09
    +5

    No such thing as absolute duty of care.

    The care provided by a service provider is limited by reasonable expectations, implied terms and then trumped by a contractual or agreed terms in place.

    There is always a possibility to sue, however if insurance does exist, the insurance company will first request all information pertaining to the agreement in place and the service providers terms. Eg a parking lot T&Cs.

    Even without those terms, the service providers insurance will still look at the level of neglegance and once realising it is reasonable to park a vehicle on the street, they will check to see if the vehicle owner has insurance. Next does the vehicles owner's insurance cover the incident. It is at this point the vehicle owner is stuck.

    The pressure will be on them to pay up, and if they don't the vehicle owners argument is with their own insurer. If no personal insurance, the vehicle owner is left with suing service provider's insurance and if none the the service provider.

    Good luck convincing a judge its the providers fault. I imagine fixing the hail at cost would be cheaper and quicker.

    And get real, imagine it starts to hail, so you pull into the nearest workshop, petrol station, parking lot, as some do and then sue for any damage you copped.

    Maybe you could sue the council for the debris and leaves that fall on the car whilst parked on street. Court is concerned with terms and what's reasonable. If damage occurred from an unrepaired pothole, reasonable. Act of God, there is a reasonable possibility this event could occur and would be out of the control of council. In this case out of control of service provider. Unless provider promised indoor storage, which would then put the onus of proof onto the customer.

    • pegaxs on 23/01/2020 - 13:35
      +1

      Unless provider promised indoor storage, which would then put the onus of proof onto the customer.

      amen! :D

      There would have to be some form of negligence on behalf of the storage yard or a breach of contract.

    • Roman Sandstorm on 23/01/2020 - 16:33

      @taker

      If damage occurred from an unrepaired pothole

      I'm glad you mentioned a pothole, as I wanted to being another (yes, yet another) analogy into this discussion.

      So… your precious Hyundai Accent is in the shop for a regular service. Towards the end of the afternoon the apprentice takes it for a test drive to make sure it's all running smoothly. Along the way a not-yet-collapsed pothole in the road collapses just as young Jimmy drives over it, and bang! Your darling Hyundai's flux capacitor is ruptured by the trauma.

      You turn up after work to collect, and see your pride and joy looking very forlorn indeed. And requiring $8000 repair to said flux capacitor.

      You are horrified, but the service centre manager says that it was an 'act of God', that they (the shop) were in no way negligent, that it was impossible to predict something so random could possibly occur.

      Ridiculous, of course.

      Clearly this would be covered under the service centre's insurance. Just as the OP's housemate should be in the real situation.

      He needs to be insist to own insurance company that he should not be out of pocket one cent. He delivered his car in a certain condition; regardless of what 'act of Dog' or anything else which may have occurred, the car was the responsibility of the shop while they had possession, and it should be returned to him in the same condition.

  • [Deactivated] on 23/01/2020 - 08:04

    There is such a thing as BOM. Surely the Panel Beater would be on top of when hail storm warnings are given, so they can mitigate damage to cars in their care.

    This isn't a flood, it's a hail storm.

    • spackbace on 23/01/2020 - 11:27
      +2

      This isn't a flood, it's a hail storm.

      It's a space station

  • FW190 on 23/01/2020 - 08:56

    damn, one drives a Merc and the other drives a new WRX, maybe I should go back to uni……….

  • Bob Svargis on 23/01/2020 - 09:10
    +1

    Your friend needs to put a claim in with his insurance company and provide the details. His insurance company will take all this into account and will manage the cross-claiming from the repairer on his behalf.

    It's not hard. That's why you pay for insurance.

  • OzzyOzbourne on 23/01/2020 - 09:30

    God, or our alien overlords

  • AbsX on 23/01/2020 - 10:59

    God is responsible

    Submit your court order at the gates of Saint Peter

  • godofpizza on 23/01/2020 - 11:17

    it's the same principal when you hire a car, if you left it parked outside during a hail storm your going to be liable.

    • gyrex on 23/01/2020 - 13:19
      +3

      *you're

  • MementoMori on 23/01/2020 - 11:19
    +3

    Yeah pretty sure this is on the repairer's insurance. It was in their possession/care (regardless of any disclaimers signed).

  • kaleidoscope on 23/01/2020 - 12:05
    +1

    Not ur friends problem mate. Vehicle was with service center. They’re responsible. Talk to his insurer and ask them for advice. There is a reason why someone would get comprehensive insurance.

    Good luck to your mate!

  • backpaqer on 23/01/2020 - 12:36

    Lodge claim with insurer and let them work out who is responsible. If it's the mechanic, then you won't be paying excess.

  • OzHunterNSW on 23/01/2020 - 13:46

    It would be the repairs responsibility.

  • techlead on 23/01/2020 - 14:35
    +4

    As a business in the auto industry, they should have insurance for this type of event. It's like if they had to drive your car off the lot and park it at another location and have an accident. Their business insurance should cover that kind of event. Same goes for hail or storm, you should be able to claim on the business' insurance.

    Sounds like they want to palm you off so they don't need to pay the excess and also increase their insurance premium.

  • Chthonic on 23/01/2020 - 16:43
    +5

    Thank you everyone for the replies. I told him to lodge a claim with his insurance, they basically told him it’s the repairers responsibility under their business insurance. I knew it was dodgy when he told me the story and I had a feeling they were trying to palm him off so they wouldn’t have to deal with it.

    Will provide an update once I hear more.

    • Make it so on 23/01/2020 - 19:24
      +2

      Even if it's the repairers responsibility, as a general rule when you have comprehensive insurance, the insurance should be handling everything, including getting the money of another insurer. Your friend should try to pursue that instead of dealing with the business insurance directly; when you go through your own insurance, you should get whatever you insured your car for, including benefits. If you bypass your own insurance, then you may not get the full benefits (such as temporary rental car, agreed value, etc.).

      • BartholemewH on 24/01/2020 - 00:16
        +1

        Exactly, including satisfaction guarantee on repair offered through your insurer.

  • justwii on 23/01/2020 - 21:25

    The manufacturer? Cars should have been build to withstand strong impact, mere hails should barely make a scratch.

    • techlead on 23/01/2020 - 22:41

      But a scratch is still damage lol. Cars need to be built like the cyber truck lol. Sledge hammer proof.

    • Make it so on 24/01/2020 - 01:59
      +2

      They used to build them like that. Then they realised that it helped cars survive accidents while the driver died as the car did not absorb the impact. So they started building cars that crumpled.

      • justwii on 24/01/2020 - 20:50
        -2

        The thing that absorbs impact is spelled air bags not car.

        • Chthonic on 25/01/2020 - 09:44
          +1

          Sounds like you don’t know s*** about cars mate lol.

  • RowanMc on 24/01/2020 - 07:29

    When you drop a car off to get serviced(Atleast at a dealership) you are asked to sign something. There is normally something in this that says they aren't liable for storm damage. If nothing like this was signed you may win the argument but if it goes to court you will also probably spend more money then the insurance excess in the process.

    • Oofy Doofy on 24/01/2020 - 17:10

      Those disclaimers are a nonsense and don't hold up.

  • H E B on 24/01/2020 - 11:25

    Imagine if you ran similar business.

    No way you could put all the cars under cover inbetween services.

    Unless you purposely took the car outside during the hailstorm or knowing the hailstorm was coming how would you expect all your customers to hold you liable? You'd be out of business in no time!

    IF on the other hand the business had insurance to cover this maybe you'd have some recourse but given it was an act of god the odds don't sound great!

    Since you have comprehensive insurance why worry? With something significant like this you don't want to hide previous damage from your insurer anyway!

  • andocom on 24/01/2020 - 13:50
    +1

    I have a friend who is a dealer principle at a new car dealership, he said first sign of hail all customer cars go inside and stock vehicles go outside to make room and oddly enough wasn't worried hail damage to the new cars. In fact he mentioned it actually worked out to be positive for them, not sure if its because the OEMs still technically own them at that point and they are easier to sell with the hail discount. Regardless I found it pretty surprising.

  • pantsparty on 24/01/2020 - 15:07

    Do two things. Call your insurance company and let them deal with it. And then ask this guy what happened to his car.

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/433832

  • asafasr on 24/01/2020 - 22:44
    +1

    I work for a dealership and recent hails damaged our customer cars parked outside, we're covering the cost under our insurance. Any business worth it’s salt would cover damage under the business insurance.

  • CalmLemons on 25/01/2020 - 00:57

    They're called acts of God and unlikely to get covered.

    Only incidence would be business insurance of mechanic where they have goods in possession and control cover - IF they have this and you will most likely/your insurance will have to fight them out for it.

    • Make it so on 27/01/2020 - 00:42

      My insurance calls it "storm damage"…

  • CoreJava on 25/01/2020 - 11:37
    +1

    Repairer has to claim on their business insurance. It is considered the repairer had the possession of the car. They have to repair it to the state when the car was left with them.

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