Car paintwork damaged with cement from building site – what do I do?

Wasn't quite sure which forum to put this in, but...


A couple of months ago I parked my car in an overflow car park in my work, which is right next to a building site of a very large well known construction company. One day when washing my car I found that the bonnet and side panels were covered with small raindrop sized bits of cement. At first I did not know where it happened until I parked there again and saw that there was splashes of cement all over the ground where my car was parked. I didn’t really know what to do at the time and so left it a while, until I found out that someone else in the company had the same thing happen, but much worse, and I had a look at all the cars that parl there every day and many of them had a few small spots but none as bad as mine.

I got a quote for the repair – it needs a partial respray which will cost €1200. I took photos of the damage, and sent them with the quote for repair and a letter to the company. That was over a month ago and I have not heard anything back. I assume that with large construction companies little accidents like this happen all the time – they do not want to put it through the insurance and so will just pay for it to be repaired. I am not sure exactly what to do now.

I know I could call them and talk to someone but I’m worried they will just try to deny it etc. I really regret the fact that I did not just march down to the site when I say the damage at first and demanded they pay for it then and there. I'm told if they try to mess me about I can always settle this in the small claims court - or approach their insurance company directly, but I hope it does not come to that.

Can anyone please give me some advise as how best to go about this?
Thanks
Colly

The first thing I would do is take photographs with your car in the same parked position, so as to include where the cement came from. Take it from various angles etc.. Speak to the other people who have had the same problem. Then find out if any warning signs were placed to warn people of the danger. If you can prove that the cement came from the site, and there were no warning signs up, then you should have no problem getting them to pay up. Afriend had a similar experience with spray paint on his car. The company paid up immediately.

The longer you leave it the hard it is to get money for this. I give bodywork quotes every day, I know one lady it took two years to get €1500 out of a building company and she complained that very day. I know dis coz I had to go to court and verify the estimate for the work. She didnt even get her court costs back. Also the longer you leave this on your car the worse damage the lime does to your paint work, Have you gone to a motor factors and got a treatment for the paint work you might save yourself. It will be almost impossible to prove that the cement came from that site at this stage, They will try and say that it could have traveled in the air or happened somewhere else. They wont just pay up.

Go legal.

OK. How should I do this? I have a friend who is a solicitor, shall I get her to write me a letter or something?