Car damaged in carpark

[rhoads56]

I parked my car in a secluded car park to do the grocery shopping last night. As i was driving out, i heard a funny knocking sound every few seconds. I backed up, and parked again, and looked over the car.

There was a piece of metal hanging out the tyre, which looked like an old tent peg or something (4mm rod?), all bent and twisted. It had scratched the inner curve of the wheel arch, and a couple scratches on the face of the fender, about 3-4 inches high in an arch shape. Some will buff out, some wont.

The tyres are less than a month old. I managed to pull the piece of metal out, and the tyre didnt seem to deflate, so i drove home. I havent checked it this morning.

I think that carpark is council owned. Ive kept the piece of metal.

Do i have any sort of legal rights to get my car and tyre back to perfect, at their (carpark owners) expense? If so, whats the best way to go about it?

[youngstar]

Unfortunately I don't think you will have much of a leg to stand on - pretty sure all carparks will have a sign up "Park at your own risk - no liability taken. Take your valuables with you etc etc"

Otherwise they would go bankrupt with all the dodgy drivers out there !

Bad luck dude - I fell your pain. Already have a few dings from carparks on two of my doors on a two month old car !!! :flipoff:

[Neuron]

Just do what I do and park in the loading bays right in front of the shops (unless you take more than 15 mins) or bays right on the end so you only have one car next to you.

[TheRealMadMax]

Unfortunately I don't think you will have much of a leg to stand on - pretty sure all carparks will have a sign up "Park at your own risk - no liability taken. Take your valuables with you etc etc"

Otherwise they would go bankrupt with all the dodgy drivers out there !

Bad luck dude - I fell your pain. Already have a few dings from carparks on two of my doors on a two month old car !!! :flipoff:

Just having a sign up "park at your own risk, no liability taken" is not enough to reduce their liability to nill.

It's a bit like puting a sign on your car saying "don't come near me, or I will smash into you", which wouldn't reduce the liability. The owner/operator of the carpark has a 'duty of care' to ensure it is a safe environment, especially if it is open to the public.

There are many cases of people claiming from councils when they drive over storm water grates that catch the tyre. I can see no reason why you can't claim from them.

You have 2 options:

1. Lodge a claim with your insurer and have them pursue the matter
2. Send a letter of demand to the operator/owner (both) demanding they re-imburse you for the cost of repair to your vehicle, caused as a result of their negligence.

It may be hard to get their attention, however it is certainly your legal right to seek compensation in this case.

Good luck - let me know how you go.

[chrism697]

Just having a sign up "park at your own risk, no liability taken" is not enough to reduce their liability to nill.

It's a bit like puting a sign on your car saying "don't come near me, or I will smash into you", which wouldn't reduce the liability. The owner/operator of the carpark has a 'duty of care' to ensure it is a safe environment, especially if it is open to the public.

There are many cases of people claiming from councils when they drive over storm water grates that catch the tyre. I can see no reason why you can't claim from them.

You have 2 options:

1. Lodge a claim with your insurer and have them pursue the matter
2. Send a letter of demand to the operator/owner (both) demanding they re-imburse you for the cost of repair to your vehicle, caused as a result of their negligence.

It may be hard to get their attention, however it is certainly your legal right to seek compensation in this case.

Good luck - let me know how you go.
Whilst your right, the waiver doesn't completely cover the car park, it does have an affect.

but I think the guy has no hope on this one.....1st of all, he will have to prove that that bit of rod came from the car park, then also prove that they were in some way negligent!

personally I think its pretty unfair if they have to pay! they would need to clean their car park every day at very least. its not something I put there

councils are liable for potholes etc, because its their job to maintain them. but could you sue the council for damage to a car due to a rod on the road? no way!

look I feel for you mate, send them a letter and see how you go, but I doubt you'll have much luck! and if you tried to take them to court it would cost you a bundle in legal costs and my guess is you'd lose......it sucks but these things are part of life

but of course I have very little legal knowledge and I may be way off, and I guess the last place you should be getting legal advise is an internet forum haha

good luck

[TheRealMadMax]

Whilst your right, the waiver doesn't completely cover the car park, it does have an affect.

but I think the guy has no hope on this one.....1st of all, he will have to prove that that bit of rod came from the car park, then also prove that they were in some way negligent!

personally I think its pretty unfair if they have to pay! they would need to clean their car park every day at very least. its not something I put there

councils are liable for potholes etc, because its their job to maintain them. but could you sue the council for damage to a car due to a rod on the road? no way!

look I feel for you mate, send them a letter and see how you go, but I doubt you'll have much luck! and if you tried to take them to court it would cost you a bundle in legal costs and my guess is you'd lose......it sucks but these things are part of life

good luck


Yeah, I agree with the above also.

It all comes down to the steel rod that ended up in the tyre. Where did it come from? Is it a part of the carpark? E.g. a drain component, or re-inforcing? If it is a part of the carpark, then you may be able to return to the site and take a photo of the rod in situ, showing how this damage occured.

If it is a random item, could have come from anywhere, then you will have a harder time. The carpark owner/operator is still required to keep the place safe (duty of care), hence, you can still claim, although they will not want to know about it.

It's very similiar to a private property, whereby the owner has a 'duty of care' to ensure it is a safe environment. E.g. a visitor comes over, slips, trips, burns, electrocutes.. and hurts themselves. The visitor can now claim against the owners insurance and receive a payout (covering medical, loss of use/income, future loss, etc.) Very much the same for you.

In other words, you can claim/demand, however, they will not want to pay, therefore, it might be 'too hard'. Still worth an initial shot though.

[rhoads56]

Just had a thought. Whats the difference if this piece of metal damaged my car, or if someone else stood on it and it pierced their foot? Sure public liability covers it if you were to be injured, so should the same go for a car?

[chrism697]

Just had a thought. Whats the difference if this piece of metal damaged my car, or if someone else stood on it and it pierced their foot? Sure public liability covers it if you were to be injured, so should the same go for a car?
i dont think they would be liable unless it was part of the carpark like "the real mad max" suggested, if it were a permanent part of the structure.

but dont you think its a little unfair on them that piece of steel may have been dropped my someone 5 minutes before you ran over it?

if that was their fault, every car park would need to hire someone 24 hours a day just to make sure the floor is clean.



if you ran over a nail on the road and blew a tyre, would you sue the council?

or think about it the other way, if a council guy cam to check your metre and came back a few days later and said "I ran over a bit of steel on your driveway and it did $1000 damage" would you pay?

[rhoads56]

i dont think they would be liable unless it was part of the carpark like "the real mad max" suggested, if it were a permanent part of the structure.

but dont you think its a little unfair on them that piece of steel may have been dropped my someone 5 minutes before you ran over it?

if that was their fault, every car park would need to hire someone 24 hours a day just to make sure the floor is clean.



if you ran over a nail on the road and blew a tyre, would you sue the council?

or think about it the other way, if a council guy cam to check your metre and came back a few days later and said "I ran over a bit of steel on your driveway and it did $1000 damage" would you pay?

I pay thousands of dollars per year in public liability insurance to cover my carpark, inside my business premises, and the sign out the front. My home insurance also includes public liability.
The carpark is maintained and owned by the council, the main roads arent.

I think i'll fight this one.

[TheRealMadMax]

i dont think they would be liable unless it was part of the carpark like "the real mad max" suggested, if it were a permanent part of the structure.

but dont you think its a little unfair on them that piece of steel may have been dropped my someone 5 minutes before you ran over it?

if that was their fault, every car park would need to hire someone 24 hours a day just to make sure the floor is clean.



if you ran over a nail on the road and blew a tyre, would you sue the council?

or think about it the other way, if a council guy cam to check your metre and came back a few days later and said "I ran over a bit of steel on your driveway and it did $1000 damage" would you pay?


As much as it is possible to sue/claim/demand for the cost of repair in this case, it does seem like we are heading down the USA model of litigation over everything. Pretty soon, we will be sueing people for cutting us off in traffic and making us late for a job. I for one don't want to live in a country that operates this way.

I believe in a fair go, hence, if this incident is logically caused by someones failure to take an appropriate level of duty of care, then go for it. If it is just bad luck, then you may need to wear it. Still a pain in the arse. Check out the rod and the location, see if it is a part of the council property, if so, ask for them to help out.

[chrism697]

As much as it is possible to sue/claim/demand for the cost of repair in this case, it does seem like we are heading down the USA model of litigation over everything. Pretty soon, we will be sueing people for cutting us off in traffic and making us late for a job. I for one don't want to live in a country that operates this way.

I believe in a fair go, hence, if this incident is logically caused by someones failure to take an appropriate level of duty of care, then go for it. If it is just bad luck, then you may need to wear it. Still a pain in the arse. Check out the rod and the location, see if it is a part of the council property, if so, ask for them to help out.
couldnt agree more.....nothing worse than the way they operate in the states......the fact that you can sue for HUGE values for almost anything seems rediculous to me.
and thats why insurance costs so much these days!

in this instance i just dont really see how the council were negligant! i think its unfair for them to foot the bill,
infact i think the driver of the car was more negligant than the council in this case, i dont mean any offence to him, but he obviously drove straight over the rod and seen the condition of the car park before he entered and chose to proceed and unfortunantly some damage occured, but as i said earlier, these things happen.

if he does get a pay out, what stops me from going in with a scratched up car coming out and grabbing some rod and saying "look what happened! you need to re-spray my fender!"
i just dont hink its fair

the problem is, you have absolutely zero proof that the car park was negligent in a way that damaged your car, and you also have zero proof that it happened at the car park in the 1st place.......plus the court (and defense) will be asking a lot more questions than that


The carpark is maintained and owned by the council, the main roads arent.
so if you ran over a nail on the road and blew a tyre would you sue the perth equivalant of vic roads?

[BUILT]

On a similar note, I bent a rim and destroyed a tyre on a mean as a mongrel pothole on a main road that I had managed to avoid for a week or two. I managed to get a new rim/tyre out of the council, as they had filled the hole (which was smaller) a week or two previous and hadnt bothered to check to see if the repair was holding. I would generally in your position just pay for the tyre /minor damage myself, as much as it sux having to, theres just some bad luck to driving......

[VNV8]

just to add if you park in a loading bay or area other than designated passenger car parking, you generally wont be covered by insurance. so when a truck backs/drives into you, and drives off, you get nothing. not really worth the risk, i reckon.