Advice/What would you do if your car was crushed?

BZRLevin

Hi all,

Ok so this is a messy story. Basically what happened is that I was building a rally car over the course of a few years. Car was almost fully finished. A lot of hours and money spent. Engine was just replaced and I was getting a friend to help me finish the wiring. I had the car parked at his house and I just came up to him when I had time and did a bit of work with his help and advice.
Anyway this lad and the landlord had a row and the tenant moved out of the house over it. He had a scrap car laying at the house and he rang a scrap ward to have it removed and disposed. While the scrap ward came to scrap the car, the landlord instructed the driver to remove and dispose of my car too. This meant the scrap man had to come back and remove my car too. I found all of this out after the car had been crushed.
Now this seems ridiculous that I have to fight to get compensated a car that cost me a lot of money and time. No one wants to take responsibility. Now I already have taken legal proceedings in suing the landlord as he apparently is the one who ordered it lifted and therefore guilty. He has lodged 3500 in court(which is an admission of guilty if you ask me) but my understanding is that the judge will not be aware of this until after the verdict.
Now I have receipts for 13000 that I can prove. That doesn't even cover the time and other money that cant be proven. I guess my main concern is the judge finding I have inadequate proof or a value less than 3500 which would leave me liable to the landlords legal fees. Anyone here know what way the legal system is going to take this? I dont want to be down another 5k.

Kind Regards,

coylemj

You can realistically only expect to get whatever was the market value of the car on the day it was crushed regardless of how much you spent buying bits for it or how many hours you spent working on it. I know this might seem unfair but it's what happens people every day of the week when their precious car gets written off and the insurance company gives them way less than what they think the car was worth.

BZRLevin

Yea I kinda presumed that I wouldn't get the full 13000 but I think that you are looking at it the wrong way. With an insurance company you get paid of what the market value is. This isn't the same as its a rally car. No market value figures exist for rally cars as it depends on the car and the quality of the build. I'll have receipts, an accessors report and a letter from a rally workshop. Sure the god the court wont turn around and give me the road car value of the time the car was crushed? Thanks for your opinion.

blueythebear

BZRLevin wrote: »

Yea I kinda presumed that I wouldn't get the full 13000 but I think that you are looking at it the wrong way. With an insurance company you get paid of what the market value is. This isn't the same as its a rally car. No market value figures exist for rally cars as it depends on the car and the quality of the build. I'll have receipts, an accessors report and a letter from a rally workshop. Sure the god the court wont turn around and give me the road car value of the time the car was crushed? Thanks for your opinion.

I would have thought that the solicitor you hired to take this case to the Circuit Court for you would be in the best position to answer this. there is an assessor's report on this so I'd go with that presuming the assessor took account of the receipts you have. That said, I wonder how much of an accurate assessment could be carried out on a crushed cube that once was a car...

Del2005

Have you reported the landlord for the theft of your car?

Are you sure that the cube of metal you saw, if you've seen it, was your actual car? If the recovery man was willing to take a car for destruction without getting the VLC he's not legal.

As for how much money you'll get back, it all depends who hires the better solicitor.

coylemj

BZRLevin wrote: »

Yea I kinda presumed that I wouldn't get the full 13000 but I think that you are looking at it the wrong way. With an insurance company you get paid of what the market value is. This isn't the same as its a rally car.

I'm sorry but the market value is the only game in town when it comes to putting a price on something in a court case, it doesn't matter if it's a perpetual motion machine, eggcup or rally car. You can't go into court, even with a bunch of fellow enthusiasts and claim that the car was worth 'x' if the actual price you'd get in the morning if you went to sell it was 'y', the law does not allow you inflate the value of something because of sentimental value or it's perceived worth to you.

Everything has a value and on any given day that is the price you would expect to get if it was sold on the open market.

Fey!

Going on the value, what type of car was it and what was the spec standard (was it a group N or something else)?

If it was, how much would it cost you to replace it with the same type to same spec, with the seats, belts, etc replaced to be in date (Rally cars have to have seats, belt, and other equipment replaced every couple of years in order to pass scrutiny (the safety inspection before a race), so the OP would have to have had all new safety equipment in his car. This is expensive to do.).

Surely that would be the easiest way to put an actual value on the car.

As for liability, would it not be the scrap guy for not ensuring that proper permission was given to scrap the car?

As devils advocate, what timeframe was there between your friend leaving and the car being scrapped, and why didn't your friend and you have it moved?

Ev84

First off, to the OP. That f**king sucks man, Down 13K? And a hell of a lot of time, work, planning, waiting for parts and anticipation to see how it drives all gone to waist.

Who the F**K orders for a car to be crushed without knowing who owns it? I mean, WTF? Who does this landlord think he is? Legally though, I'm not sure if it is his fault or the scrap mans fault for not asking for the Registration Cert?

I wrote off my VTEC Civic coupe a few years back, long story short, brakelines were air-locked and you don't need to know the rest. I got the car towed back to my flat, mangled as it was to salvage any expensive modifications i had put on over time. I lost a lot of money that day.

The reason i'm telling you this is the council came along and put a sticker on my window that read the owner of this car has two weeks to move it or its getting crushed. Basically they gave me an ultimatum but at least i knew i had two weeks. you got NOTHING.

I've had 2 cars crushed since and both times the Scrap guy asked for my VRC/logbook whatever they call it these days... I hope you get every cent back man i really do.

Reloc8

You clearly have a solicitor and probably a barrister involved in the case.

They will have advised you on the quantum of your claim and how to present your loss in the most accurate way beneficial to you.

They have presumably also told you how they think the case will run in court ?