Insurance/Legal/Pet Damage advice please....

[Hoochie]

Ok, Friday the day of the Royal wedding our cat(Bob) went missing, Now i know cats wander off and come home etc, not this one, he is a proper home cat, he never wanders too far from home ever, anyway night comes and we walk the streets till after midnight, our neighbour is out till after 2am and again at 5am shouting for him.
Nothing......we go to bed and after a night of not much sleep Sturge goes along the street to knock on doors belonging to those with sheds and garages to see if Bob is locked in as he tends to be rather nosy,
Upon knocking at house 2 doors down Sturge notices a "tail" in the back of the car through the slightly tinted windows, asks if there is meant to be a cat in her car, she goes to fetch the keys and sure enough its Bob.
Sturge tells her to look and see if there is any mess and let us know and we'll come clean it up.
Fast forward to this morning, and the supposed disabled wife(whose disability car it is) from 2 doors along comes to our house to say that the cat has damaged the car!!
I sent Sturge along and he returned to let me know yes the drivers door panel has been shredded on the upper section, some damage to roof lining(which is doubtful but not impossible was the cat). The car is a renault scenic 11 plate.
Are we liable for the repairs or them, as they did lock him into their car for 24 hours ( and have since changed their story).
I'm guessing it's not going to be cheap to have this done at the dealers, he is happy for Sturge to change the panel but not the roof lining.

Any advice is welcome.....

Thanks in advance guys :)

[Royston]

If they locked the cat in the car, and it was there 24 hrs, I'm not supprised the car is damaged, their liability as far I can see, they are not saying any one else did it maliciously?.


If it is on disability i.e. lease for 3 yrs, they'll be worried about the damage as they will be liable for it

Was ther weather hot on your side Friday? I'd be threatening them with the RSPCAlol

Doing any repairs could be seen as acceptance of liability!!!! so I wouldn't.

[Jack]

I would guess you'd be liable, as the cat is yours and its looking likely that it caused the damage. Not sure if your pet insurance would cover it, best to contact the insurance provider and ask.

What/how did they change their story?

[Hoochie]

I would guess you'd be liable, as the cat is yours and its looking likely that it caused the damage. Not sure if your pet insurance would cover it, best to contact the insurance provider and ask.

What/how did they change their story?
It would seem as though the house insurance will cover it, only problem is it'll be 10 years ncb down the toilet!

The change in the story is when they reckon they were last in the car, the wife reckons her husband took his golf clubs out on Friday afternoon, whereas he was saying he was sorting them out on Saturday (the day Bob was found). This could just be a bit of confusion due to the extra long weekend I guess

[Royston]

They locked it in,......even inadvertently, still their actions that trapped the cat.

We have 6 cats and they will jump in the cars if the doors are open.........to date I have never locked one in, and if it happened to me I would see it as my fault, not the cats!

I think they are liable for the damage to their car by their own actions, I'm sure they didn't intend to cause stress to your cat and they are sorry for doing it.

[blue_peg_16v]

a cat is classed as a roaming animal so legaly your not responsible for its actions if it was a dog you would be, thats why petinsurance dosent offer liability insurance for cats, so legaly you dont have to pay a penny.

i also worked on pet insurance for a bit so know they cant claim off you for it

[Spudly]

As Rich said they cant claim from you as cats are not accountable as theyre not licenced animals, you are not therefore legally bound to account for its actions.

Youre going to be looking at hundreds for a replacement rooflining and thats without fitting and labour charges!

It depends how well you get on with these neighbours and how well you wish to get along with them in the future?

You could offer a goodwill payment to help smooth the situation but you must stress to them you are not in any way accepting or admitting liability for this situation.

You could also say you have had to have Bob checked over at your local vets due to possible dehydration as he was stuck in a hot car for so long, its to be expected he wouldve been trying to claw his way out anyway he could the poor thing!

[Hoochie]

This is all good to know, and until this happened we'd never even known who lives at that house and we been here 8 months, so remaining friendly is not a problem.
I'm going to ring the house insurance this morning and see what they say. Also thinking about ringing the motability to see what they say, rather than getting into a slanging match in the street...lol

On another note the car alarm going off was a bit of a giveaway but wasn't looked into. :)

[Hoochie]

Well just come off the phone to the insurance, and nope we are not covered, but not liable either, they told me that they have to claim off their car insurance, they may ask for ours to dispute the claim but won't really win anything, it's down to them to get the car sorted.

Phew!!...i feel relieved but a bit sorry for them at the same time..

[Royston]

Pleased to hear your in the clear, thought you would be;)

Ultimately it was their action that resulted in the damage, hope the moggy is OK, have they bought it some cat food and cream as a sorry for the distress they caused it, I think they shouldlol

Nice to be right....for once;)