Vehicle damaged on motorway

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bob6600

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Wife's car, travelling down the M6 last week (J2-J3). Weather was temperamental and it started raining it hard reducing visibility. Now she is a sensible driver and slowed down keeping her distance from the vehicle in front.

She then hears a loud bang and feels something hitting the car. Worried, she pulls over and sees that something has struck the car and damaged the front wing and smashed the front of the side skirt. It seems like a large stone (must have been half-brick size or close) went up the wheel arch and dented the wing, breaking the paint. Side skirt needs replacing.

Can I claim this cost from anyone? Or am I wasting my time and just take it on the chin? It will cost me circa £400 for parts and paint and insurance is not going to be economical.
 
Well unless she this brick dropping from a lorry or something in front, got the registration number and had another witness in the vehicle, or the road itself was breaking up, you really just have to apply sods law.
 
Well unless she this brick dropping from a lorry or something in front, got the registration number and had another witness in the vehicle, or the road itself was breaking up, you really just have to apply sods law.

Yes, I think you're right. Although I don't think passengers traveling in the damaged vehicle are classed as independent and therefore don't count as witnesses.
 
Ah ha. First thankfully everybody is okay.

Second this happened to Mrs M as she drove up Detling Hill in Kent. As she crested the hill a Skip Lorry dropped several bricks one of which hit the "a Pillar" and smashed the windscreen. We had the registration and name of the company and a witness who was also hit by a brick from the same truck.

Result = Nothing. Police spoke to the company and driver involved both simply denied all knowledge. No further action. Cost of repair to "A Pillar" was around the £500 mark then a new Windscreen. We didn't claim as the excess was £350 and didn't want the inevitable premium price hike.
 
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You're just going to have to chalk it up as an experience. Unless you could conclusively prove it had fallen from a lorry with an insecure load, which from your post, I guess you can't.

I'd just be pleased the wife is unharmed and handled the situation well.

Edit: well there you go, even with names, regs and witnesses, you're still just going to have to sort it yourself.
 
Mrs' new car got damaged the other week on the motorway by a flicked up stone/bolt.
Made a hell of a bang and left 4 small stone chips in the paint :mad:
Ordered a Chipex kit to try and sort it out :(
 
Lorry driver probably wouldnt care or admit liability anyway, I followed a skip truck through Brighton a few weeks ago, was dropping glass out of the back that was smashing on the road got alongside him and politely told him he was dropping glass and shrugged his shoulders and when the lights went green shot off like a scalded cat...
 
There was no lorry at the time, I guess something that had fallen off previously and was sitting in lane 3. I take it the highways agency cannot be held responsible for keeping the road clear of debris?
 
I had a large bolt put a sizeable dent/gouge in the bonnet of my car on the M1 some years back. On the plus side:

1. it wasn't a Merc
2. the bonnet was aluminium so no rust issue
3. it didn't go through the windscreen instead

I was pretty p1ssed off at the time though.
 
One of the things you'll notice on a Police form is that they aren't interested if you cannot find an independent witness, which effectively means that if you are travelling in a car and spot something that needs reporting, you can't, unless you brake suddenly and pull over to find someone that witnessed the very same thing from a different location.

I think the Police have actually managed to create a system for reducing crime, because even if you do spot some errant behaviour, you cannot report it effectively.

'Officer, I've just spotted three blokes robbing a bank'. 'Do you have an independent witness to verify your story?'.

(I was driving down the road one day at the National Speed Limit when a Porsche shot passed me at well over 100mph. He also overtook the next vehicle, forcing the oncoming lorry to swerve dangerously. I rang the Police and told them that I had CCTV (Dashcam) footage. They asked if I had an independent witness, to which I replied not. They weren't interested. )
 
As said, chalk it up to experience and move on.

It goes without saying that you should pay for the repairs yourssrelf without getting the Insurance involved. It will be much cheaper in the long run.

Also, mention the cost is coming out of your own pocket to the Repair shop, they will often give you s discount for the "lack of aggeravation" factor, especially for cash.
 
A friend of mine has a fairly new X3 (don't judge him, I already have!)

Witnessed a van crash on the opposite carriageway and hitting the central barrier.

Flung a load of debris in front of his car which he had no choice but to drive through.

When he got home and looked almost every panel had paint taken off.

Cost to repair £6k as car needs a respray.
 
Witnessed a van crash on the opposite carriageway and hitting the central barrier.

Cost to repair £6k as car needs a respray.

Surely that'd have been much easier to resolve via the van's insurance. Just take the next exit, get back on in the other direction, get to hard shoulder along with the others who are involved, people who've stopped to help and/or police and add yourself into the list of vehicles damaged by the crash.
 
I can't remember the exact year but it's a while back, the government removed the obligation for county & local councils and the Highways Agency to keep the roads free of debris, I assume to stop drivers suing for damages and to save money in cleaning.

As an aside, the question that I posed that was never answered (and avoided at every turn) is when it comes road gritting, why are councils permitted to use grit that has pebbles in it?
 
Surely that'd have been much easier to resolve via the van's insurance. Just take the next exit, get back on in the other direction, get to hard shoulder along with the others who are involved, people who've stopped to help and/or police and add yourself into the list of vehicles damaged by the crash.


I don't think the extent of the damage was realised until he was gone.

Expected a but of peppering to the front bumper not chips out of the roof.
 
Lorry driver probably wouldnt care or admit liability anyway, I followed a skip truck through Brighton a few weeks ago, was dropping glass out of the back that was smashing on the road got alongside him and politely told him he was dropping glass and shrugged his shoulders and when the lights went green shot off like a scalded cat...

Couldn't you drop some explosives to blow his lorry up and then just shrug that off too? :dk::D:devil:
 
I remember a couple of people having windscreens being broken by stones from tippers from Conway etc. and if the correct road / time was given where the lorry was, they would pay for any damage. Obviously this strategy is subject to abuse because you just need to spot one.

That was back in the 90's though.
 
my friend had a Ford Galaxy and was doing around 70 mph on the motorway when all of a sudden someone decided to drop a Brick off a Bridge straight onto his Bonnet and missing his Windscreen by millimeters !
 

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