The building manager checked the the CCTV system but unfortunately, there was a power supply failure to the system and a week of footage is missing. So there is no footage of who damaged the car.
What would you do?
Car Was Damaged in The Apartment's Visitor Parking Space. Building Management Says There's No Footage. What Would You Do?
dabs on 21/01/2022 - 08:48
Last edited 21/01/2022 - 11:20 by 1 other user
Last edited 21/01/2022 - 11:20 by 1 other user
Poll Options
- 7Go after building management/strata
- 244Move on and claim through insurance
Comments
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There's not cctv footage available as the system was down due to a power supply failure to the recording device.
well then sue management for knowing there was a prob and being slack or too tight to rectify it
Sue them for what? They arent responsible for the damage.
Management can say whatever they want - you can report to police who can confirm that there definitely was a power supply issue.
Not sure why management would bother lying about that unless it was the building manager who did the damage…
@sk3iron: There's one reason. Or their mate did it. Or someone they view favourably. Or they don't like you. Possibilities are endless. No need to guess though - just confirm it.
@[Deactivated]: Maybe but unlikely. But I'd be very surprised if the cops gave a crap. They'd tell you to take it up with insurance
How many hours had the car been parked in the visitors spot? Is it a legitimate visitor or a residents car or residents partners car that takes the space frequently?
That's irrelevant in terms of assigning fault to whoever damaged the car. It's 2 separate matters that legally don't cancel each other out.
e.g If you had parked 2.5 hrs in a 2hr zone on the street and a truck crashes into your car, they are still liable. You may get fined separately for the parking infringement.
hmmm - I 'wonder' if the CCTV operator 'knows' who crashed into your car - it could even be thems … ?
What would you do?
Ask in OzB. Oh yeah ✅, good job.
they will deny without proof. Even if the manager agrees it probably was as you say, their insurer will want proof.
Edit: was it vehicle to vehicle damage, vandalism or strata property falling on the car?
OP has no idea nor proof about anything
Not any any justification for parking there in the first place
Unless it's something they knowingly did (or a safety issue that they failed to remedy) that led to the accident, then no. Even in the case of neglect (ie something fell off the building and damaged your car) if they were unaware of the issue, they are probably not liable. If they had been informed that this was a danger and they failed to fix it in a timely manner, then they would be liable.
It's like if you car got hit while parked in the street. If there's footage or not, is it the councils fault that your car was hit?
no.
If you live there and parked in visitor, I think you could be liable for a fine instead.
Op hasn't admitted to anything nor justified thier reasons for parking there
May have parked there illegitimately…hohumm
i.e free loading
Bro you are thick as heck
Why where you parked there in the first place?
What legitimate business did you have parking there?How do you know the damage occurred whilst you car was parked there?
What undeniable evidence do you have to make such a claim?
Seems OP is hiding some rather important and relevant information
When I enter public car park I usually see park at your own risk sign. Although this is apartment carpark, I expect the same and even if the sign is not readily visible, I am sure strata and law would have something to cover that
There is insufficient information here and NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER of any wrong doing!
For example how much was the damage?
Is it noticeable or worth repairing?
Is it worth claiming through insurance and paying the excess, losing claim free status and higher premium next year?
Why was Op parked in the Visitors parking space?
Are they an owner or tenant or just a visitor? Or just parking there illegally????
The way OP is whinging its probably a tiny scratch and OP has absolutely NO EVIDENCE that it occurred in the car park
ALL OP CAN SAY IS THEY THEY NOTICED THE DAMAGE IN THE CAR PARK
It proves ABSOLUTELY nothing! It could have happened ANYWHERE!
Its just circumstantialFurthermore car parks are usually covered by this
"PARK HERE AT YOUR OWN RISK"
i.e Nobody takes responsibility for any damage to your car except you
I could also suggest that OP seems to accept no responsibility for their actions either. For example…..
Why didn't OP have a dash cam with battery backup and knock sensor if they so concerned and obsessed?
Why does OP expect other people to be responsible for this and without even paying them
Yet another self-entitled "free loader" if you ask meSorry OP but you are just a time waster
Wasting our time
Wasting the building managements time
Wasting everyone's time and not taking any responsibility for anythingAgree on most of this, but the "park here at your own risk" means nothing. It's just trying to remove the car park owners risk.
If someone crashes into your parked car (whether it's in a parking lot or the street) then it's the drivers fault, and if you can identify who it was then you have someone responsible.
If it's parked on someones property (private or council) and through willful damage or through their neglect something happens to your car or (maintenance worker damages it, a loose fitting falls on the car when they knew it was a danger), then the car park owner is responsible.If he parked in a golf parking lot that warned of golf balls and complained about golf balls hitting the car, that would be another thing
Why didn't OP have a dash cam with battery backup and knock sensor if they so concerned and obsessed
That's like saying "Oh you were mugged, why didn't you have a bodycam if you were so concerned".
dizzle
pls stick to the dialogueIts an apartment car park and OP parking in visitors spot.
No ifs, buts and maybes requiredThe car park owner is NOT RESPONSIBLE for such damage
its ALWAYS the driver of the offending vehicle my friend!And wrong about dash cam too
The poster is suggesting this responsibility falls on someone else totally unrelated
No they are not!
It you want the security of a dash cam then have one installed
ALWAYS the driver of the offending vehicle my friend!
Except if it is vandalism or some part of the building or tree fell on it. There are other possibilities that don’t ouncve a car hitting.
@HeWhoKnows: There are a number of reason why the car park owner is responsible, but as in your original post we still don't know what the damage was or what it was caused by. So we also can't assume there was another driver involved. It could have been a pedestrian, it could have been a loose skip bin hitting the side of the car, it could have been a lot of things.
As for the footage, we know cameras are there. It is an expectation that the cameras are there for the protection of the building and it's tenants. So realistically he could expect help with the footage.
And my camera point stands. If I was assaulted in McDonalds, I would expect them to be able to show camera footage (at least to the police). I would not expect to have someone demand I wear a bodycam to prevent assault.
i would see if anyone has dashcam footage
How many people have their cams hardwired to battery backup system though? I know I don't…
Unless the camera doesn't support it, there's no reason not to. I had someone reverse into me while parked around a week ago. They were upfront and owned up to it but if they hadn't and had just driven off the footage easily identified who it was.
On my old navarra my viofo I think it was actually draining my battery - so now just use cigarette lighter with my current car.
Coulda have just been the way the dodgy backyard installer I had do it installed it.
Coulda have just been the way the dodgy backyard installer
Possibly. If you hook up to the car battery you should insure there's a voltage cutoff set so the car can still be started.
@apsilon: As I know Viofo hardwire kit has a switch to select the min battery voltage, it will record until battery is depleted to that selected voltage
@bazingaa: Yeah, some do it via the hardwire kit, others have the function built into the camera. I'm sure there's some lower end cameras that don't have the functionality at all. It's worth having IMO.
@Jimothy Wongingtons: I wired up mine myself and it did the same thing. No idea what I did wrong, but disconnected it anyway. Stupid audi wiring
Check if there is a Tesla nearby. They four cameras on all the time (assuming sentry mode is turned on). It will save any footage of anything interesting (humans) that happens.
That is OPs responsibility
If I had a battery backup dash cam I would say "Tough luck mate":
Get your own one!The incident is none of anyone else's business even if they did capture it.
Why burden someone else with your own problems?Are you somehow involved in this? Your reaction is stronger than the"norm". Your level of anger and surity over the incident etc and what you're saying about the OP is a little odd, considering the small amount of information we've been given by the OP. Or are you an under valued building supervisor yourself?
Go through your insurance, if strata can be made to pay they are the best ones to accomplish that. If they can't do it there's no way you could.
Its a carpark, every car park has a sign up saying, all care but no responsibility. More so it was the visitors spot, meaning it is a public car park. Strata has no skin in this, it is why you have insurance.
Car Was Damaged in The Apartment's Visitor Parking Space.
It's not surprising that this happened.
Yep… Bet the OP forgot to share they had been parking there for weeks on end too!
single car spot apartment but has 2 cars, so uses a visitors spot instead
Most likely this. We've had a few of these at our building.
Car Was Damaged in The Apartment's Visitor Parking Space.
Are you one of those (profanity) tenants that takes up all the visitor spots because you have 3 cars in a single apartment, meaning there's no actual visitor spots for ACTUAL visitors?
If so, consider this the cost of parking there.
kaching, parking fee paid.
lets hope the lesson was also paid
This is exactly why I have always been against the addition of visitor spots where I live, tennants would just fill them up permanently, always count on humans being humans
Maybe someone else unhappy that a resident was parking in a visitor parking spot and damaged your car on purpose?
Even if there was CCTV footage if the person who hit your car didn't leave a note fat chance chasing them up for repair/excess costs.
I know some insurances waive your excess if you have a drivers details to give on who is 'at fault' but i dare say put in a claim pay the excess sometimes lifes a bit unfair.
Someone hit my car when i was at my gf place (pre-marriage) i parked on the street parking no note, no footage just 750 excess for me to deal with
Move on I say.
Such a coincidence that there is a power failure in the CCTV system.
I would like to thank the resident who unplugged the CCTV wire for that 1 minute 28 seconds.
Building Manager probably noticed it's the same f'ing car every day and isn't a visitor so thought he'd teach the owner a lesson!
I think the building manager just viewed OP as a trouble maker/time waster, just as many do here, and just made that up to get them off their back.
There is time and cost in retrieving and reviewing such footage.
And its not up to the building manager to foot this cost
Perhaps if OP offered to PAY for the service (100s of $$$) they might have got somewhere
And no guarantee of the quality and resolution of the security footage would have been sufficient to make out anything useful.My apartment block used to pull this one every time there was a storage cage heist (every six months). Spoke to the cops about it and the CCTV system consisted of some signs and a couple of fake cameras.
What would you do?
What miracle are you expecting to happen?
Hire a private investigator and spend more time and money and effort on "IT".
Not a strata issue, claim through your insurance.
Wow, it’s kind of (profanity) that people here seem to think that damaging peoples property is justification for them taking up a visitor spot. And that’s coming from someone who always parks in his own garage and who often sees other residents presumably parking their cars in visitor spots (because the cars are literally always there).
An older lady in my building often parks in the visitor car park because she can’t be bothered parking in her garage, would people here think that it would be ok to damage her car too?
Honestly this kind of thing will probably increase in the coming years as couples and families are priced out of the housing market and end up buying a unit instead, unless developers start building two car parks for each unit/apartment.
An older lady in my building often parks in the visitor car park because she can’t be bothered parking in her garage
Not sure what the age has to do with it unless it's to garner sympathy.
People who break strata bylaws are pricks. People like this "old lady" make the spot unusable for actual visitors.
nless developers start building two car parks for each unit/apartment.
Some apartments come with 2 car spots, but they're pricier.
They build for the assumption that one dwelling has a single car, which just isn't the case nowadays.
Not sure what the age has to do with it unless it's to garner sympathy.
Partly that but moreso that there could be people out there who actually live in the building who just can’t be arsed parking in their own garage (as opposed to owning multiple cars and taking up more spots than they own). Why not leave a note, or just report them instead of going to the length of damaging their car?
People like this "old lady" make the spot unusable for actual visitors.
I don’t disagree. But it’s not like there are no other spots anywhere else they can’t park in, like in another building or nearby on a street. There are times my partner comes over and has to park in another building or even occasionally the shops nearby (5 min walk) because there aren’t any spots. It requires a bit more walking but she accepts it and neither of us get so mad to damage someone else’s property like some bogan idiot.
They build for the assumption that one dwelling has a single car, which just isn't the case nowadays.
Just shows developers are clueless, and/or care more about profits. And as I said, it’s going to get worse with house prices increasing and as the population grows. It’s sad people will resort to damaging something others have paid a lot of money for and/or worked hard for because they were angry for a short moment.
Just shows developers are clueless, and/or care more about profits
Hardly a revelation and TBH everyone would do this. No-one is going to make an apartment with 2 spots. Think of a 100 apartment building, you'd need to literally DOUBLE the garage meaning you'd probably loose an entire floor of apartments just to satiate cars at the cost of millions. It would be ridiculous to satiate this desire.
It’s sad people will resort to damaging something others have paid a lot of money for and/or worked hard for because they were angry for a short moment.
People get pissed, and often at the wrong people.
Actually carpark numbers are generally limited by council or state gov in the push to pressure people to use public transport, ride share etc. And the green ratings etc that are part of planning overlays.
Apparently you all voted for this rubbish.
To be clear, I do not condone the wilful damage of property.
It is a waste of resources and even when claimed via insurance ultimately costs all premium payers.
However, when I see the OP's sense of entitlement, I can understand why it was done.
Fair enough. I can’t see many of the comments from the OP so can’t get a feel for how entitled they are yet.
Now I’m thinking I should start reporting cars I see sitting in my buildings visitor parking for longer than expected….
Was it you that caused the damage?
Play violin.mp3 and move on
Really sorry for the damage to your car. I think the suggestion to go through your insurance is best. I hope you have comprehensive cover.
Other than that, you may get better responses to such questions in places like whirlpool forums. Don't post such stuff here with the kind of folks who frequent these forums (majority are great folks and keep to the deals section). I hope most of the above trolling and negative responses already gave you that hint.
Wish you all the best and I hope you can recoup some of that cost.
Its actually kind of crazy how different the forums are to the deals section. I should spend more time looking at deals.
Definitely! Good folks here too but looks like most are out to vent their frustration at anyone seeking advice instead of trying to help or keeping quiet. Reminds one of the people who post laugh smiley reactions to tragic news on FB.
It seems like it would be worth it for the strata managers to invest in a reliable CCTV system watching and recording the visitor car spaces. That way they could issue a fine whenever residents used those car spaces, or other people did more often than would be justified by them calling themselves "visitors". Are there any cameras with the AI ability to do ANPR?
The other thing strata managers are going to have to start investing in soon is power points to charge EVs. You can't run a power cord down to streetside parking or your assigned car parking spot. And more and more people are getting EVs.
What kind of damage is it? Does it look "accidental" (for example a car reversing into it) or does it look more "malicious" (like a smashed window to footprints on the bonnet)?
Someones done a hit and run and unfortunately there's not evidence.
Only recourse is to go through your insurance.The only way you could go after strata is if they were negligent in any way.
As far as i can see there's no case for this.
What would you do?
Post on OzBargain.
here's the problem…
if i went to the expense of installing a CCTV system then i would use that to protect ME
if some numpty comes up and asks to use the system (that I paid for!) so they could use it against me well then I'd tell them there was a power failure too lol
OP has no avenue for recompense
There was a power outage for a week?? Bullcr.p …. I watch enough Korean crime dramas on Netflix to know that the camera is always "faulty" when the criminal has been to the security booth first…. or one of the security team did it themselves. By the final episode you will know who it was, it was someone there right from the start that you didn't suspect… but because you didn't suspect them you can work out the actual villain from the cast.
In seriousness if they don't have footage (or they say they don't) you have no recourse except your insurance.
the reality would be no one checks the system unless someone needs something from it, at that point you discover the "oh sh.. it isn't on" moment. Bet it wasn't on for a lot longer than a week, but saying a week sounds better than "we don't know how long it has been off for". It is like Backup systems in many enterprises, it is not uncommon for them to not be regularly tested and you only find out it hasn't been working when you actually need the damn thing.
yep. i've worked with a few places that go to the expense of having a nice hikvision setup but they dont want to pay no one to use it… or no one knows how to retreive stuff so if they desperately need footage off it (ie. some poor bastard got murdered) then they get their IT consultant to come in and invoice them @ $150 per hr etc.
So they aint doing that for anyone who walks off the street.
You have a warrant? strata have a BIG insurance excess to pay? fo' sure… otherwise
Any Tesla's around? Records through 4x cameras 24/7 while parked
What was the damage, any pics? May not be worth going through insurance and possibly losing any no claim bonus you have.
Do you always park in visitor spot? Business manager probably got sick of all the complaints
Sounds suspicious straight away…. possibly even the maintenance guy did it.
The only thing is the contact the insurer.
Maybe it was a message not to park in the visitor spot!
Doesn't sound suspicious to me. I doubt they even check the cameras more than once a month unless there is an incident. If they had a fault it wouldn't be picked up until the next check (which happened when the OP asked for footage).
Are you a visitor at this place?
Would be good to hear more details, not that it changes my mind on the matter.
What was the damage? Do you think another car did it? Or a person?
I’m curious too. I mean if it was a gutter from the car park roof that had fallen down into the car I’d be suspicious about the CCTV not being available lol… but yeah who knows
OP doesn't clarify if he/she lives in the building but still uses/abuses the visitor parking space constantly. I would be pissed off if I am the building manager. Guess what the building manager could/would do with the car and the building CCTV system? :D
I've always invested in a dashcam on the basis that having one is cheaper than paying the excess to repair my vehicle.
Didn't mention any details about how it was damaged so can't really give any advice.
Malicious Damage by persons, need proof and report to police to charge person
Damage by another car, need proof of other car damage and may claim via insurance without excess if fault is clear in evidence. Police report may be needed if owner doesn't own up.
Damage by property, Visitor parking is common area and is covered by an insurance policy by Strata. You'd need the Strata to make a claim with insurance and have owners corporation vote to agree to pay excess.
What was the damage to the car? That is quite unlucky if you were there to visit someone for say a few hours then went home. If that is a visitors space you have claimed for yourself then I guess you are SOL.
Can anybody recommend a good insurance company that promptly processes claims when my car is damaged when hogging limited visitors parking.
Chat about a similar issue with body corp. Apprantly most car parks are park at your own risk. Any damage unless you can catch who did it (which you can't) is on you.
There was a supercar stolen from an apartment carpark and no camera recorded the incident. The car owner who so happen to be living in the apartment tried to argue the strata/building manager is at fault and failure to secure his car. Don't know what happen in the end. But I am sure the strata commitee will fight it to the end.
From my understanding the only reason they would be held accountable would be if they neglected something in the security.
For example if they knew the gate was letting unauthorised people in and had done nothing to fix it. Probably hard to prove since guests can often be let in remotely (from peoples apartments) and they have little control over that.I'm on a strata committee - as owners, we volunteer our spare time to represent all the owners who can't be bothered
AFAIK we have no contractual obligation to ensure cars are not stolen from our carpark
that said, in the first week after installing our ?$7K CCTV system, police asked to look at the recordings, where newish Porsche and Mercedes were seen entering and leaving our secure carpark after midnight
I found some nice clear footage of the boss man swaggering into our garage to meet his underlings
and shortly after the police advised that they had arrested and stopped a major steal-new-cars-to-order international export ring - which had been exporting them in shipping containers.
so that was nice.
Gone in 60 Seconds
'The building manager checked the CCTV system but unfortunately, there was a power supply failure to the system and a week of footage is missing'
I would be rattling the cage about the failure of the building manager to monitor and maintain the CCTV system.
This should be a part of any building manager's job - and this kind of failure is good grounds to raise with the committee - WTF am I paying for this guy to fail to maintain the CCTV
apply the blowtorch - give them some heat !
if you rent then unfortunately your opinion doesnt matter
if you own and you pay strata fees then maybe you have a tiny leg to stand on but usually cctv issues are very very very low on the totem pole
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have you paid 350$ to obtain a copy?
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/665918