Insurance Question - Need Help Asap!

[lbrown24]

If you crash in a supermarket car park with no other parties involved and damage only to your own car is this claimable? I am not sure as I've heard loads of stories about car park claims! Please help!

[sddsddean]

If no other parties are involved, I assume you have driven into something. If so, how can it be anyones fault but your own! Therefore, who do you claim against?

[sue11]

If you have fully comprehensive insurance and damage your car then you certainly can claim as I have just recently had to do whilst scraping my car door on a concrete pillor as I was driving out of my car parking spot in Tesco.
I am certain the bloody pillor deliberately moved just as I started to drive forward and I am never using Tesco again!

[lbrown24]

I mean claim off my fully comp insurance for accidental damage, I just wondered if it made any difference being on a private car park instead of on a public road.

[sue11]

yes you can!

[lbrown24]

Thanks for the advice you've left so far

[sddsddean]

Ah sorry, misunderstood. I thought you were trying to get out of paying for it yourself or through your own insurance. Yep, just claim and they will bang up your premium next year, unless you have got protective no claims.

[muppeteer]

hello- you certainly can claim, but you are liable for the policy excess & it will affect your ncb.
did you damage any of the supermarkets bollards or property etc- if you did then this will also be covered under your policy (& wontcost you a penny more if you are claiming anyway).
most importanly- dont worry about it.....these things happen!

[JudgeJ]

The question of the status of �private� car parks arises quite frequently in these columns and it may help you understand the law. It came up a few days ago in another motoring question so I have reproduced part of the answer I offered then.

The various Road Traffic Acts (and, in some cases, the restrictions on cover provided by insurers) makes reference to �public� roads.

The definition of �public� is wide and has been tested many times in court. Essentially if the public has unfettered access to the area (even if that access is restricted at certain times because, say, the establishment it serves is closed) then it is considered a public road. This means that car parks serving shops and pubs, as well as municipal car parks operated by or on behalf of local councils are all public roads for the purposes of motoring law. It makes no difference who paid for their construction or who pays to maintain them. Beyond the law (or possibly arguably beyond the law) are private car parks such as those serving office blocks, to which only selected drivers have access.