Find out who Engineering Company's Insurers are?

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delgirl

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My son parked his car in an NCPS car park in Dublin at 7am and during the day building work commenced on a site next door, which was separated from the car park by a fence.

When he returned from work at 7pm, the side of the car was damaged and there were stones on the ground beside the car. There was a dumper truck parked right next to the fence and it was obvious that a layer of stone chippings / gravel had been spread on the site next door.

As the site was closed, my son took photos of the damage, the dumper truck, the stones on the ground and a skip with the company's name on it (a large well-known Dublin engineering firm).

He went to the company's premises the following day with the car and photographs of the location in which the car was parked and all other relevant information.

He was asked to send an email to the company with copies of the photos, which he did that day, mid October.

Since then, he has made numerous calls to the company only to be told that someone would call back, they never do.

Finally, he sent a registered letter to the MD at the company premises in Dublin and another letter to the Company's registered address, asking for a response within 10 days.

That was 4 weeks ago and to date there has been no response.

When he went to the company's premises, he asked for their insurance details, but the staff member told him they couldn't divulge them.

The dumper truck is still there, but has no discs on it and there are no signs on the site to indicate who the engineering company is working for, as they should have a copy of their public liability insurance details.

Does anyone know how you can get a company's insurance or public liability insurance details to make a claim against them if they are not willing to tell you?

If we can't get the insurance details, would this be a Small Claims Court case? The estimate to repair the damage is €750.

Thanks
 
Did he call the police at the time ? He probably should report the matter at least.
 
elcato said:
Did he call the police at the time ? He probably should report the matter at least.
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Hi Elcato, no he didn't as it happened on private property. Maybe he should go to the local station with his evidence and report it.
 
T McGibney said:
Did he notify the original incident to NCPS car park management?
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They have the usual sign up that they are not liable for any loss or damage which may take place in their car park and have unfortunately no CCTV cameras in that one, so no he didn't.
 
He still probably should have. Most of those signs aren't worth the plastic they're printed on, but regardless of any question of liability on their part, I'd imagine it would have been an essential customer service issue for them to address with their neighbours.
 
Firstly report the matter to the car park owner, using the email you sent the engineering company as back up. Then contact your son's car insurance, they will get to the bottom of the matter, if you don't want to do that, small claims court I guess is the next best option.

If it is a planning requirement that they have 'discs' up or a sign about their insurers, a registered letter to Dublin CC is in order.

And another letter to the companies office complaining that the company does not repond to you. That's if you've the energy for that. But I see poster Kimmagegirl on another thread was tenacious on a matter (thanks to AAM apparently) and got some kind of result. It's the only way us consumers will ever get anywhere if you ask me.

And we will all be interested to see how you get on. Already I've now learnt not to park near a fence for a building site ! I already knew fencing can blow down, as happened on my brother's building sight much to his consternation.

That reminds me, complain to the 'health and safety' people too. Others on here should know who these relevant people are.
 
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Bronte said:
And another letter to the companies office complaining that the company does not repond to you.
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The Companies Office don't entertain correspondence of that sort, under any circumstances. It is merely a document filing agency.
 
I don't know, there isn't any government body to monitor and control how long businesses take to respond to random complaints, and thank heavens for that.
 
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Is he saying the dumper hit the car or the dumper hit the fence which then hit the car ?
If so, is there a paint colour match from the dumper to the damage on the car ? otherwise there is no real evidence they caused the damage. Judge Judy might accept it but not a real court.

It seems their better nature is not going to get him a result.
Solicitor letter may work but will incur expense that he may not recover. At least then they will have to report it to their insurance and it will be out of their hands as to what happens.
 
Thanks to everyone for the responses.

Hi Joe, he's not saying the dumper truck hit his car - it was working on the site next to the car park which was fenced off - when he arrived back in the evening, a layer of rough stones had been spread on the site next door and the dumper bearing the company name was parked next to the fence.

The site wasn't in use up until the day of this incident, otherwise he wouldn't have parked near the fence. There were no site notices warning of construction / building work due to commence.

There were no eyewitnesses to the actual damage caused, it's all circumstantial, however he has photos of the dumper parked next to the car park fence inside the site and photos of the stones on the ground next to the car, which are all dated and timed on that evening at 7pm.

He also spoke to 3 people the following day who work in that area who all said that they saw the dumper truck and workmen working right up next to that fence spreading stones on that particular day.

Will try a Small Claims Court claim online and see how that goes.
 
As this is not a consumer contract type of issue I doubt that the Small Claims Court would have jurisdiction over it. It looks like a District Court case.

The car park is probably not a public place within the Road Traffic Act so there is likely no obligation to identify the insurers of the vehicle. However, you might try asking the Gardaí as they should be able to access that information. They will probably refuse to give it to you but there is always a chance that it might slip out.;)

If the car has comprehensive insurance that might cover the repairs, less any excess. The insurers might then recover outlays from the contractors.

This is coming across to me as a classical case where the contractors are just going to ignore the claimant continuously in the hope that he will go away.

BTW how much is the damage ?
 
DirectDevil said:
If the car has comprehensive insurance that might cover the repairs, less any excess. The insurers might then recover outlays from the contractors.

BTW how much is the damage ?
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€750 according to the opening post. Insane to claim that sort of money through comprehensive insurance, because of the knock-on effect on no-claims bonus. Far better to get a number of competitive repair quotes and pay the eventual cost himself.
 
DirectDevil said:
As this is not a consumer contract type of issue I doubt that the Small Claims Court would have jurisdiction over it. It looks like a District Court case.
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That's what I thought too but seems not. What is "minor damage"

The type of claims dealt with:
(a) a claim for goods or services bought for private use from someone selling them in the course of a business (consumer claims) (for example, claims for faulty goods or bad workmanship)

(b) a claim for goods or services bought for business use from someone selling them in the course of a business (business claims)

(c) a claim for minor damage to property (but excluding personal injuries)

(d) a claim for the non-return of a rent deposit for certain kinds of rented properties.

Would be great if OP comes back and lets us know result from the SCC.
 
potentially this is a "he said/she said" type of case and it'll be difficult to prove the company did damage the car. However I suggest that he writes back to the company expressing his grave concerns at their delays in responding and feeling that he has no choice but to report the potential lack of public liability insurance and motor insurance to the site owners and to the authorities in an effort to seek resolution and also that he has no qualms around taking legal action over the damage.


To be honest though, if they brazen it out, he may have no choice but to walk away.
 
I have not come across the claim for minor damage provision set out at (c) above.

I am wondering if this can be read in isolation or does it refer to property damage arising from the context of a consumer contract type of situation e.g a retailer sells you a defective toaster which goes on fire and damages part of the kitchen.

I am reading from the Courts website. link [broken link removed]

BTW €750 is a lot of money and I would not give up easily on this matter. In my experience a number of these monster size outfits just keep ignoring you in the hope that you will go away.
 
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