Hypothetical Question

[indy4x]

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

The driver was the owner of the Disco and trailer

Don't know if his insurance will cover the trailer, lots don't, just checked my policies and they specifically state while I can tow a trailer the trailer is not covered under the vehicle insurr

 

[brightspark]

The driver was the owner of the Disco and trailer

Don't know if his insurance will cover the trailer, lots don't, just checked my policies and they specifically state while I can tow a trailer the trailer is not covered under the vehicle insurr

will be 3d party only

 

[indy4x]

what happened in the accident? was the driver at fault?

The guy who asked the favour was a passenger in the Disco and he readily admits it was not driver error.

They were approaching the highest point of the Heads of the Valleys road and a huge side wind caught them and sent the trailer snaking and despite the drivers best efforts he lost it.

On the trailer was a Mercedes G Wagon so not the most aerodynamic of vehicles,

Personally I think there was not enough nose weight which compounded the situation, mentioned this while loading but they were both happy with the load

 

[indy4x]

will be 3d party only

Yes, should have clarified that, they won't pay out on the trailer but will cover 3rd party losses

 

[indy4x]

For what it's worth if it were me who asked the favour I would suck it up and accept the loss of the vehicle on the trailer

Same if I was the driver, would accept that I'd lost the trailer and would need to replace it myself

I have helped mates out towing all sorts of stuff around the UK but in future will make sure that we are both clear where responsibility lies if all goes Pete Tong

 

[indy4x]

It might seem strange but I quite enjoy towing big stuff around the country, last one was a favour for Swansea Scout group, towed a bouldering wall from Cwmbran to their camp in the Gower, it was a bit big and heavy

 

[normspanners]

had to google bouldering wall
didnt the scouts fall off while you were driving ?

 

[Jim Davey]

had to google bouldering wall
didnt the scouts fall off while you were driving ?

No, they were Prepared for it...

 

[Bill Edwards]

It's very simple on this where it's just one of those unfortunate accidents and not caused by the driver doing anything silly, and with both parties in agreement that it was loaded correctly.

The towing man has lost his gear - which is something you risk every time you use your own equipment for anything other than work (employment) where they may be some kind of agreement in place should anything happen.
The owner of the car has lost his vehicle, it's just one of those things that can happen in life.

It's ridiculous for either person to think the other should cough up for all the losses.

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..

What a turd of a person. Nothing unusual, there are plenty about but it's never any less bad when you hear about these things. Anybody with morals would be putting matters right themselves for causing the damage even if you hadn't gone out of your way to do them a favour. Turd.

 

[normspanners]

this is where the accident took place this is my view approaching the turn

this was my view after I had done a180 deg turn on this bridge with a transit van on the A frame on back, as you can see the fence leaves a lot to be desired in the strength factor, and not a lot of room to maneuver at 25mph I missed the fence well I clipped his door mirror on the steel work and missed all the vehicles but hit the kerb on the left

 

[Bill Edwards]

I once towed a horsebox with an A frame. Idiot mother insisted on sitting in it to go down a hill right at the destination with some crazy idea that the tow car wouldn't be able to safely stop it. Get to turn a corner and there's a sick noise, get out to see the frame bent to heck.
It 'wasn't turning' so she 'had to' turn the wheel herself despite it being made clear that it was not to be touched under any circumstances.

 

[normspanners]

Up until this I had had no problem with them and have literally done thousands of miles with the A bar and still do when needed it is a cracking bit of kit much better than towing with a rope or straight bar, that incident was a bit scary though looking down on the railway as I was fighting for control!
then to be blamed and having to pay for it was like rubbing bleach in a cut.

 

[rcx132]

I'm very surprised and concerned by how many of you would expect a friend to pay up for damage if he was doing you a favour. Concerned for myself really because I constantly do these kind of favours for people.

Also curious what the law would say. I'm currently suing an ex friend for something. But in my case the ex friend had intentionally caused me losses. I've taken basic advise and been told that I can sue because he is a professional. Ie the favour he did for me was also his job so he has a professional duty of care and I can sue even though he did it for free.

 

[Keith 66]

The pair of them should just thank their lucky stars nobody got badly hurt or killed.
If you were paying someone to do it fair enough but a favour gone wrong? shake hands & go & get drunk.

 

[Can'tWeld]

And this is why I try to avoid doing that sort of favour for people unless it's a very close friend or family.

Things go wrong. Things break. Accidents happen. That's why professionals have liability insurance to cover the risks. Unless you're on good enough terms with the other person to chalk any such losses up to "that's life" and move on, don't get them to do it, and likewise, don't agree to do it if you're the one doing the favour.

I recently did a timing belt job on a family member's car, turned into a nightmare, took days and I had to go and buy tools that I'd never needed before. Lesson learned, and that's without anything actually going wrong; these kind of things are often more trouble than they're worth, unfortunately

 

[rikrobson]

The trailer owner cant expet his mate to cough up. It was his responsiblity as the driver to ensure the load was safe while driving and was in control at the time. The g wagon owner cant really blame his mate either. He was trying to save a few quid by not using a fully insured service.

Its Tiough but sometimes life just kicks you in the nuts fot the fun of it. Acutaully quite alot.

 

[julianf]

If i went round a friends house, with my screwdriver, to tighten something up for them, and my screwdriver broke whilst i was doing it, it wouldnt even enter my head that they should pay for the screwdriver....

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

If i went round a friends house, with my screwdriver, to tighten something up for them, and my screwdriver broke whilst i was doing it, it wouldnt even enter my head that they should pay for the screwdriver....

Agreed but if you lent your mate a cordless hammer drill and he accidently knocked it out of a 1st floor window would you feel the same. If I knocked it out while borrowing I'd repair or replace. No questions.

 

[julianf]

Agreed but if you lent your mate a cordless hammer drill and he accidently knocked it out of a 1st floor window would you feel the same. If I knocked it out while borrowing I'd repair or replace. No questions.

Im having trouble seeing what your point is? Your example, and my example are different, but you *seem* to be trying to counter my comment with yours?

I would agree in both your example, and my own - i dont see that they contradict one another!

 

[octo0072000]

at the end of the day the owner of disco and trailer should have made sure his insurance covered the trailer and contents in case of accident not just 3 party cover