What to do if an icicle, a tree or a piece of roof falls on your car?
If you have comprehensive insurance, you should call the insurance commissioner. If there is no airframe, we act like this.
Procedure
1. We immediately call the police. The police officer must register the incident. This is usually done by the community police officer. Before restoring what happened, in no case should you leave the scene of the incident. If a tree fell on the car, call a dendrologist to get an opinion on the state of the tree trunk (as a rule, rotten trees fall, which the management company must cut down in advance).
2. We get a decision from the district police officer that he investigated the case of causing property damage and found no corpus delicti in it (that is, none of the officials of the management company had intent). It takes up to 10 days to receive a refusal to start a criminal case.
3. We have an independent assessment of the damage to the car carried out by an expert, who must be included in the register of expert organisations. Before the investigation, you must first send an invitation to the management company by telegram for investigation, and then put a note in the mail that the telegram has been delivered with an acknowledgment of receipt.
4. We transfer a written claim to the home owner or management company prior to litigation, after receiving a mark of acceptance of the claim on the copy of the document (or, if you send it by post, then a mark on the mail about delivery).
5. We then expect a response to the claim within 7 days. If the answer is negative or not at all, we will go to court. You can now file a tax return online. It is best to have a lawyer assist you at this stage.
Will they pay?
A few years ago, an icicle or a fallen tree falling on a car was a punishment for the wallet: you had to repair it at your own expense. The hole in the bag can amount to hundreds of thousands of rubles.
But thanks to the years of work of some members of the Blue Buckets automotive community, everything has changed. Now, in 99% of cases, if your car is damaged, the management company will fully reimburse you for it.
The story did not end there – now it is possible to recover a fine from the management company in accordance with the Consumer Protection Act.
In this part, motorists should be grateful to Dmitry Chestnov from Volgograd, whose Lexus was damaged by a fallen fragment of the roof of a multi-storey building. The stone was so large that it caused damage to Chestnov’s car for 1.5 million rubles.
Chestnov had to go through all the courts to prove his case, go through three investigations and finally reach the Supreme Court! The victim spent quite a bit of time: on September 11, 2019, a stone fell on a car, and it reached the RF forces only at the end of 2022. For three years, a man fought in court – and as a result, he helped all motorists in the country.
The decision of the court
In its judgment, the Supreme Court points out the points that are of great importance for the consideration of such cases.
First, The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has extended the scope of Article 14(2) of the Consumer Protection Law to such situations. That is, now it is possible to recover not only damage, but also a consumer fine from the management company!
Second, now it is not required that you have an agreement with this CC. In other words, you do not have to be a resident of this area – you are a consumer, regardless of the existence of a contractual relationship between you and the management company of this house.
Penalty kick in our favour
The Supreme Court ruling changes everything fundamentally. The consumer fine is a maximum of 50% of the damage amount. That is, Dmitry Chestnov is now entitled not only to compensation of 1.5 million rubles, but also to a consumer fine of up to 750 thousand rubles! And the management company will have to pay this penalty.
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