Who is responsible for the damage on my car when in for service

[burpworm]

My car was recently damaged while in for a service at a main dealer, it was not damaged by the garage themselves but theives who jumped over the fence and tried to break into it and damaged the doors ect.
The garage has told me that they are not responsible as it was left in there car park at my own risk and was not them who damaged it ? surely they are responsible for my car from the moment they take the keys til the moment i get them back ??

[Buenchico]

The garage certainly has a 'duty of care' in respect of your vehicle but, in order to successfully sue them for compensation for damage to your car, you'd have to show that they breached that duty of care through their negligence. If the car had been stolen because they'd left the keys in the ignition, they'd be responsible because you suffered loss through their negligence. However, there's nothing in your post to suggest that they've been negligent, so there's no reason why they can be made to pay compensation.

Try looking at an analogy. Let's suppose that your boss asked you take a large amount of cash to the bank for him. You'd obviously have a duty of care not to flash the money about in the street, or to leave it on a bus, but do you think it would be reasonable for your boss to expect you to repay the money if, having taken all reasonable precautions, you were mugged on the way to the bank? You wouldn't be responsible for the loss, so there's no reason why you should pay compensation. The garage wasn't responsible for the damage to your car, so there's no reason for them to pay you.

Chris

[Ice.Maiden]

Yes Chris, but might there not be a slightly different hypothetical case there? The car goes into a garage to have work done on it, and although it's not their fault if thieves damage left vehicles, they're surely insured against damage occuring to cars left within their care?

[Buenchico]

I take your point, Ice Maiden, but this is a question about legal obligations. The garage isn't legally obliged to take out any form of insurance (except, of course, employer's liability insurance and 3rd party cover for driving the vehicles in their care). They'd be well advised to take out public liability insurance (which covers situations where they can be shown to be negligent but not damage by vandals) and, obviously, it would be better for them to have 'comprehensive' cover on the vehicles they look after, but these aren't legal requirements.

It's possible that the garage might be able to get reduced premiums by insuring the vehicles while they're driving them but not while they're stored overnight. Even if their insurance does cover damage to vehicles on their car park, there's still no legal obligation on them to claim on that insurance. They might prefer not to risk a big increase in their premiums. So they're still entitled to say "Sorry, it's nothing to do with us. If you've got comprehensive cover, claim on your own insurance. Otherwise, tough luck mate".

Chris

[Buenchico]

Burpworm: Just a thought -

Is the garage a member of any trade association? If so, it might be worth checking the website of that association to see if members are obliged to adhere to a code of conduct. If that's the case, the code of conduct (rather than the law) might oblige the garage to take out comprehensive, 'all risks' insurance, and to claim on it when a customer's car is damaged. Further, the trade association might have a complaints procedure to enable you to get the garage to comply with the code of conduct that they've signed up to.

Chris

[dzug]

mm yes the garage might have insurance and claim on it. Their insurers might then say the risk was already insured by your insurance and either decline to pay or put a claim in on you.

All mights - but feasible.

[tufty7]

This is a true story , we had a brand new vehicle in our workshop in November having some warranty work done , It was locked in the workshop, keys were in the safe and the vehicle was locked, we had a break in and the safe was smashed open and the car was stolen along with all the tools from the workshop , It was later found burnt out , now this is a "big name" garage and we did everything responsible to look after the customers vehicle , although
We did end up paying the �19,000 bill for the car ourselves along with the courtesy car cost's , mainly because our excess is �250,000 that said the moral of the story is it does pay to deal with someone who has the means to sort out any problems that may arise be it through negligence or otherwise........