Car Was Damaged Whilst I Am Overseas, What to Do?

JoeBogan on 22/07/2023 - 23:53
Last edited 23/07/2023 - 12:59 by 1 other user

Hi all, boy do I have a good one for you guys lol.

I’m currently overseas in Japan and I found out today that my cars front windscreen was cracked, driver side rear view mirror and boot door was dented and damaged following a fight between 5-6 people in the parking lot of our townhouse.

About 6 neighbours ended up calling the police and I’m assuming they have given statements to the police officers as I’ve also been told that 6 units had to respond to the scene due to a punch being thrown at the first responders in addition to all the other stuff that happened. I’ve also been notified that there is a significant amount of blood on my car. There have been 5-6 people charged and one is in prison at the moment currently.

I have comprehensive insurance luckily but no windscreen cover. It is my understanding that I would still have to pay my excess initially and once the police report is officially out, the insurance and the police will chase the guilty party for the money and I would be reimbursed.

I have two questions.

1) I don’t want this incident to affect my future premium, is there anything I could do to prevent this from occurring?

2) I won’t be back in Australia till the 10th of August and I was wondering if I could give power of attorney over this matter to my father in law to sort out with the insurance company in my stead. Is there anything else I should be doing ?

I will be calling my insurance company tomorrow. Have I missed anything?

TIA!

Automotive Car Insurance Insurance

Comments

  • miwahni on 23/07/2023 - 00:07
    +4

    If the police are able to find which of the people involved in the fracas is the one that damaged your car, then they should be able to provide that information to you. You can then pass it on to your insurance company who should refund any excess you have paid. A no-fault claim shouldn't affect your premium if the offender's name and address are provided. However the police aren't going to chase the offender for the money, it will be up to the insurance company.
    Not sure about the power of attorney - when I did mine, I was in Australia, as was the person I was giving POA to, so it was pretty simple. You'd need access to the Australian form (I'm guessing it would be online somewhere) and you'd also need to get it witnessed by an eligible person. Probably best to take it to the nearest Australian consulate?

    • mbck on 23/07/2023 - 14:19
      +1

      The police won't give you their information due to privacy laws.

      You can pass the report number to the insurer. They will need to get in contact with the police.

      In the meantime,you'll be liable for the excess, until the insurance have done the above. After which, you may be reimbursed.

      • brandt on 25/07/2023 - 19:34
        +1

        And as soon as you pay the excess insurer will lose all interest in chasing down the guilty party or police report.

        • kerfuffle on 25/07/2023 - 19:50

          Not true. Mine paid back my excess after five months in a T-Bone where fault was disputed

        • Euphemistic on 26/07/2023 - 07:59
          +1

          You think they won’t try to get back the money they spent on doing the repairs? If they can get it back from an at fault party, they are obliged to return your excess.

          • try2bhelpful on 26/07/2023 - 08:05

            @Euphemistic: https://financialrights.org.au/factsheet/paying-insurance-ex…

            It depends on the policy. It also depends on if they can be arsed pursuing it after they have your excess.

            • Euphemistic on 26/07/2023 - 08:52
              +2

              @try2bhelpful: They aren’t likely to do much chasing of a group of people causing damage during a fight. While we can’t see the damage caused it’s unlikely to be structural and therefore not overly expensive. If the excess covers most of it, they’ll write off the rest. Different story when the damages are expensive and there is a single person ‘of means’ to chase.

  • [Deactivated] on 23/07/2023 - 01:29
    +16

    I’d be looking at moving houses to be honest.

    • coffeeinmyveins on 23/07/2023 - 08:54
      +3

      Why is this so upvoted?

      Just move houses, such a simple thing to do that'll solve all your problems!

      • capslock janitor on 28/07/2023 - 12:56
        +1

        possibly a hint of exaggeration in there

    • JIMB0 on 23/07/2023 - 09:43
      +4

      What if at the new house the neighbours kid throws stuff over the fence and damages the car.

      • Protractor on 23/07/2023 - 09:54
        +1

        or lizards

        • try2bhelpful on 23/07/2023 - 10:02
          +1

          Especially if it the neighbour is the guy from Jurassic Park. To be fair the bigger lizards will just step over the fence onto the car.

          • altomic on 23/07/2023 - 10:37
            +2

            @try2bhelpful: i'd be more afraid of the subterranean sewer people than the lizards, if I were you

            • Protractor on 23/07/2023 - 10:44
              +1

              @altomic: and hopefully none of the violent interlopers did a B & E on OPs penthouse, , used the dunny, and broke the bowl.

    • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 23/07/2023 - 14:53
      +1

      Moving houses is a real pain. Trucks, tradies, permits, not to mention you need a block of vacant land to move the house to.

      Recommend moving the occupants instead.

  • bobbified on 23/07/2023 - 01:44
    +1

    parking lot of our townhouse.

    Which area of Melbourne is this?

    …following a fight between 5-6 people…

    The problem is going to be… which one of those 5-6 people damaged your vehicle?
    Unless the police report points to a particular individual for the damage, who are you going to attribute 'fault' to in your insurance claim? Without a witness to say who it was, they can easily say it was 'someone else' and your claim will become "unrecoverable" (meaning the claim excess will apply).

    • JoeBogan on 23/07/2023 - 02:37
      +1

      This was in Albion. That gives me a bit more information to go on, I’m honestly quite annoyed about the whole situation but I’m hoping there will a specific person we can attribute to the damage.

  • Downvoter on 23/07/2023 - 07:45
    +2

    What do? Lol

  • thatonethere on 23/07/2023 - 08:11
    +2

    Police wont chase anyone for money for this. If you were onsite you could try to have financial reimbursement as part of the sentence by writing an impact statement.

  • onetwothreefour on 23/07/2023 - 08:16
    +2

    I hope your rent is cheap, if not it's time to negotiate.

  • try2bhelpful on 23/07/2023 - 09:21
    +2

    Don’t suppose the parking lot has cameras? Sounds like time to move out when you get back. You are unlikely to get the money back in the windscreen however, at least you weren’t there to end up in the brawl. WTF is wrong with some people?

    • payless69 on 23/07/2023 - 10:11

      Lol, they will say: Rich guy has money for Japan, bleed him out!

  • payless69 on 23/07/2023 - 10:12

    Username checks out.
    Maybe brawlers hate trollers?

  • HardQuiz on 23/07/2023 - 10:52

    Did the damage extend to other cars or properties?

  • RockyRaccoon on 23/07/2023 - 11:05
    +1

    If the windscreen was damaged in the same incident, it might be covered. Eg car crashes into another, screen is broken at same time. Windscreen damaged on own, no.

    If insurance gets narky the might say it was two different attacks, vs one incident. Guess thats up to you to fight if they do that.

  • akyeeeahdude on 23/07/2023 - 11:16

    To be honest, you'd have a very hard time proving who damaged your car - you'd really need either footage or an admission from the person. The insurance company wouldn't pursue any recovery without this. Unfortunate but I'd just let the insurance company know what happened and see what they say (which will be likely pay the excess).

  • oscargamer on 23/07/2023 - 17:18
    +2

    I don't care.

  • Euphemistic on 23/07/2023 - 18:15
    +1

    Claim on insurance, it’ll be the quickest way of getting the car fixed. You should be able to start the claim process online or by phone, but you’ll likely need someone to take the car for assessing. Most insurers don’t need anything more than you making a claim and seeing the car (and an excess payment).

    Make sure the crime scene is cleared and you are able to move the car.

    It may or may not affect your premiums. Ie if your area is already a crime hotspot it’s unlikely to make a change, otherwise the area will get a black mark against it and every policy with that postcode will get a price hike.

    Is the victims of crime compensation thing still real? You may be able to claim something on that against the excess?

  • billy72 on 25/07/2023 - 12:00

    From my experience, just claim with your insurance and pay the excess. Police will do nothing except give you a report number.
    It's not worth your time to follow up with the police and the insurance company.

  • quog on 25/07/2023 - 12:28

    You could just submit a claim when you return to Australia, or do it from japan and get xxy to drive car to assessment centre or however your insurer does it.

    your premiums will be affected in any case due to claim/s and this incident at that address, even if your vehicle was not damaged.

    • munecito on 25/07/2023 - 20:05
      +1

      Does it have to be specifically someone with Klinefelter syndrome?

      • quog on 25/07/2023 - 21:15

        Yes

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