Hypothetical Question

[indy4x]

Forget legal stuff, insurance, liabilities etc.

You have a couple of mates and you are always helping each other out with all sorts of stuff.

You have a vehicle that needs shifting but don't have the means to do it but one of your mates has a Disco and big Ivor Williams trailer so you ask him if he could shift it for you which he agrees.

On the agreed day you turn up, load up said vehicle onto the trailer, strap it down correctly and your fairly confident the nose weight is right etc etc

On the return journey your mate has a crash, completely freak accident with no other vehicles involved and writes off his Disco, the trailer and the vehicle he collected for you.

VOSA get involved, check the Disco and trailer and it's not overweight, vehicle on the trailer is correctly strapped down and find no mechanical fault with either the towing vehicle or trailer

Insurance company won't pay out on the trailer or vehicle strapped to it

This is where the fun begins

You want your mate to reimburse you as he has killed your vehicle but your mate who was doing you the favour wants you to pay for a new trailer

Opinions please, oh and by the way it wasn't me who was driving or requesting the favour, I merely sold my mate the vehicle that was being collected

 

[indy4x]

And for the sensitive amongst you, no one was hurt including the dog sat in the back surrounded by car spares

 

[Gwil]

My five eggs? You man up and accept the loss!

 

[rtbcomp]

The driver had the accident, it's his responsibility to sort it all out.

 

[Arclikeharrypotter]

Accept it and move on, sad to say these things happen. If you'd of paid a tow company you'd be able to get back cost of the car, but you asked your friend for a favour instead.

 

[Brummie]

I don’t think there is a solution to this question, I suspect it will result in a lost friendship..

 

[Gwil]

I don’t think there is a solution to this question, I suspect it will result in a lost friendship..

But it doesn't have to...

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

His vehicle, his trailer, his responsibility. Favour or not your vehicle was left in his care.
It is however your choice to Chase the money via legal means (sounds like that would be the only option) or decide to chalk it up to experience and take a loss. Suppose the values involved would make a difference too.

 

[p0689109]

Drivers accepted the responsibility in agreeing to use his gear to move your car. Down to him as he was driving it.

 

[cumbriasteve]

If he was driving and had the accident I can't see how he can justify asking another to pay for the trailer, regarding who if anyone has to pay for the vehicle would depend on what a 'freak' accident actually was, not many accidents are without fault of someone or something.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

what happened in the accident? was the driver at fault? in which case id say its down to him to sort the car out as hes created the issue. if,say, he had swerved to avoid a kid in the road and rolled the rig then thats life really, no one at fault and it would take a special kind of tool to have a go at a mate under those sort of circumstances.

i dont see a scenario where the owner of the car being transported owes anyone for a trailer

 

[Pete.]

If I asked someone for a favour like that and it all went wrong I'd have to just suck it up unless it was a deliberate thing they did. Similarly, I've picked up literally dozens of broken-down bikes on the side of the road over the years (one last week in fact) and I ALWAYS tell them if their bike gets damaged in the back of my van it's their fault for breaking down not mine for having it in the van.

As for getting reimbursed or the trailer he damaged himself - he'd get told where to get off and don't come back. Honestly the logic of some people beggars belief.

 

[normspanners]

Well i had a similar thing a mate that has a gearbox repair place had done a repair on a van and it broke down, he rang me and asked if I could have a look at it and the gear selector had broken in the gearbox and could not select any gears as I was already out to save time and inconvenience for the customer as I had my A frame with me, I put it on the A bar, now the guy whose vehicle it was asked me if I could I drop him off at home to save him from having to get back 18mls from the mates garage, OK it was about 8mile detour for me but hey ho.
So we travel to his place, just as we pull up my mate rings to find what time I should get to his garage, the guy jumps out of my car and says he will start off loading tools from the van (news to me) so I get out after the phone call and help him off load his gear in the absolute peeing rain, ok job done I set off travelled about 1.5 miles of the trip back which was all slight left hand bends until I get too a bridge over the railway that has a90 deg right hand bend on to the bridge and a 25 ft drop to the railway as I took the bend the rig suddenly went into a uncontrollable skid I had a massive job to clear the other vehicles and not go down onto the railway ended up doing a sort of handbrake turn on the bridge with the towed vehicle rammed into the rear of my car.
I get out to find the ign keys of the towed vehicle on the seat !! he had taken the keys out out to unlock the side door and just thrown them on the seat , the steering lock had not come on on the left bends but came on on the severe righthander and locked the steering. now this was the guys fault because he had messed with the vehicle and admitted as such, he said he forgot because of the rain----- but bnecause I was in control, I had to suck up the repair costs. I wouldnt mind but we went through how the A bar steers the towed vehicle and the fact the keys had to be in the ignition on the way back to his house he couldnt believe how well it towed and was asking questions etc BUT IT WAS STILL MY FAULT BECAUSE I WAS DRIVING, and should of checked but didnt thionk I needed to because I had just done 10miles perfectly fine and didnt know he had even been in the drivers cab , it was an absolute accident.
Unfortunatly the guy turned a right **** and insisted on an insurance payout loss of earnings etc etc etc etc. Even though I had agreed to sort the job for him that he really caused because of me doing him a favour..

 

[julianf]

I think the driver looses the trailer &
the other chap looses their car.

In my head its pretty clear cut.


Driver cant pursue the other party for loss of trailer, as its their trailer, coupled to their car, and they were driving, albeit, at a friends request. Most would probably try to make an offer of some sort, but more as a gesture than covering the entire cost.

Load owner cant pursue the driver for cost, as it was a favor. Might be different if they were drunk and smashed it up, but probably not - in that case, it would probably more likely still be the load owners problem for poor judgement as to who they asked favors from.

 

[brightspark]

a mate once towed my speedboat up to lock Lomond he was reluctant at 1st in case of accident. all I said was just tow it if he knacked it its hard luck and il take the loss

 

[rikrobson]

Who was driving?
Whos disco is it?
Whos trailer is it?
What was the insurance cover?
why did the insurance not pay out?

 

[julianf]

A very brief google shows that trailers are not insured on all policies.

 

[brightspark]

A very brief google shows that trailers are not insured on all policies.

I asked my insurance company if I was covered for my home made trailer and they said yes . just third party accident providing tires lighting ect were legal

 

[wookie]

I think the driver looses the trailer &
the other chap looses their car.

That's my view on it as well. No claims either way.

If I agree to use my vehicle + trailer and I drive it for a mate it's my fault if everything gets written off, just like it would be if the load was mine as well, so I have no claim against the owner of the load. Also both sides should be happy the load is secure before setting off to avoid potential arguments later.

The owner of the load should just suck-it-up unless the driver was at fault, if he wanted it moving with no risks he should have paid the experts because they have insurance that pays out in such a situation but he chose to be a tight git so he should man-up and admit he has no claim against the driver.

 

[indy4x]

But it doesn't have to...

It doesn't have to however things are very tense at the moment and as they live within spitting distance of each other it's difficult to get the space needed to chill