Motor Vehicle Property Damage Claims Lawyers

Was your car, bike, fence or some other property damaged during a car accident?

Types of motor vehicle accident insurance

There are 2 basic types of car insurance to cover an owner for motor vehicle property damage:

• Third party property, and
• Comprehensive

If you are at-fault in an accident, ‘third party property’ cover will only insure you for damage sustained by the other parties in the accident.

‘Comprehensive’ insurance, on the other hand, will cover the damage to your vehicle as well.

For example, if you fail to stop at a red light and hit a car that then hits a second car, your insurer will only cover your car if you hold a ‘comprehensive’ policy of insurance on your motor vehicle. If you only have ‘third party property’ cover, only damage to the other vehicles will be covered.  And if you have not taken out any insurance cover over your motor vehicle at all, you will not have any cover available, so will be liable to pay for any damage out of your own funds.

Negligence claims versus contractual claims

Unlike how a claim against the at-fault driver – as noted above – arises out of the laws of negligence, your insurance rights arise out of a contract of insurance (as agreed between you and your insurer).

Generally, any rights exercised against your insurer are, for that reason, contractual rights (although there is also legislation that covers this relationship).

Rights in negligence against the at-fault party

It’s important to note the word ‘negligence’ when referring to claims against the party who was at fault.  The reason that’s important is that you generally have no contractual arrangement with that person – who just happened to be another road user - so your rights aren’t restricted by any contractual arrangement and instead are governed by what you are entitled to recover under the laws of negligence.

Rights in contract under your own Comprehensive Insurance policy

Where you have a comprehensive contract of insurance, it is typically easiest to deal with your own insurer and let them take over the claim against the other driver.

In order to step in, you are for all practical purposes, favouring your contractual rights (what the insurer will pay you under our policy) over your negligence rights (what you are legally entitled to claim against the at-fault driver).  To do so the insurer will usually require you to release your rights against them.  In doing so they will pay you what you are entitled to claim under the policy of insurance they have with you (which may slightly differ from your legal entitlements against the other party), and then they will pursue the other driver for the amount that they have paid by stepping into your shoes legally.

This is a concept known as ‘subrogation’. The important thing to remember is to be sure that you are happy with the amount being offered by the insurer before agreeing to release them of any rights.

Beware the uninsured driver

You need to be cautious if a driver tells you that they are uninsured. The fact that a person is unable to pay for any type of motor vehicle insurance is often an indication that the person does not have sufficient means to pay you money for the damage that has been sustained.

Often where the at-fault driver has limited means, they will simply ignore any claim commenced against them. It can be challenging to then recover your losses.

What can I recover from the at-fault driver?

As the not-at-fault party you are entitled to claim all reasonable property-related costs incurred as a result of the accident. A good test of whether it is claimable is:

• ‘but for’ the accident would you have incurred the cost?
• have you taken reasonable steps to minimise the cost incurred; and
• were the costs otherwise reasonable in the circumstances.

Some of the types of damage you might claim as part of your claim for negligence resulting in property damage, subject to the tests above, might be:

• Panel beater costs for repairs
• Auto-electrician fees for repairs
• Road Safety to ensure that the car is back to a road safety standard
• Towing costs of your car
• Towing company or auto-wrecker’s storage fees
• Storage of your car while you investigate repairs
• Taxi or Uber costs
• Car hire
• Lost income
• Baby seat/baby capsule replacements/inspections (remembering that you may not be able to re-use these after an accident)
• Other items that were inside the car and damaged

Getting your car back on the road

If you are insured, the natural first step is to make a claim and pay the excess to invoke your policy.  While doing this talk to your insurer about their processes for getting the car back on the road. Some insurers have preferred repairers, others may request that you obtain and submit multiple quotes.

Once you establish that you were not the party at fault you are entitled to take early steps to get your motor vehicle back on the road. If your insurer can aid with this that that is excellent.

Also you should be mindful that the holding-yard where your vehicle was towed to will likely be charging storage costs each day. You should check with your insurer or the towing company or holding yard what those cost are and make arrangements to get the car out of their as quickly as you can.

Sometimes, there is no insurance and getting the car back on the road can become more complex than you might hope.  This can become the case where you get multiple quotes that wildly differ. Where this occurs, you might want to:

• Talk to the repairers and try and understand the difference between the quotes. Is one more likely to be reliable for some reason e.g. inspection as opposed to given based on photographs.  Does one quote have provisos, such as it’s subject to removing parts of the car to understand the full extent of the damage.
• Armed with the new knowledge you have gained from the first 2 quotes, obtain a third quote. If you can obtain a personal recommendation from someone you know vouching for the trustworthiness of the person that you are engaging for the 3^rd quote that can sometimes be helpful.

What to do next

Obtaining information at the Scene

If you don’t have this information you may wish to take steps to obtain it.

• Name/Address/Phone/Email of other driver/s
• Drivers’ license details
• Name of Insurer and policy number
• Date and time of accident
• Location
• Details of vehicles involved (Make/Model/Registration)
• Damage to vehicles
• Any road features that contributed to the accident
• Known injuries
• Witnesses
• Photos of vehicle locations, and surrounding areas (including registration plates, drivers’ licenses and street signs).