Car dinged by a trolley in supermarket car park – what options?

I guess we’ve all had the idiot dings – caused by prats with no spacial awareness opening their doors, the reason I park at the far end of the car park.

Tonight however, I used the parent and child spaces (yes I did have sprogs with me!). Just leaving, kids buckled up, start the engine and look in the rear view mirror (another rarity in these places) only to see a trolley collector (supermarket employee) lose hold of a single trolley while trying to collect others from the bay. It came hurtling down the hill and as much as I tried to get out and reach it in time, it banged into my car.

The guy’s first reaction was “it hardly touched it”! Then how come I have a dint and a series of scratches then mate!!! He offered to take me into the store to report it to management but I wanted to get the kids home. He went to get “management” from the store. This guy was about 12 and proffered the opening gambit of “I hear a trolley ‘may’ have hit your car sir”. There’s no pissing maybe about it mate – look at the bloody dint!

“Ah, don’t know what I can do for you sir, you can come inside and report it and I guess we’ll pay for a respray but I’m not sure”. I again pointed at the kids and he said he’d go and get a pen to record the incident. He came back and said “a senior manager has told me we’re not liable as there are signs saying its your own risk for parking here”.

Sensing I’m getting nowhere I ask his name – he gives it. I ask for the trolley pusher’s name and am given that as well. I then asked for the “senior manager’s” name and this bloke states that he “doesn’t want me to give his name”.

I’m now faced with the familiar choice of walk away or kill someone!

My question is “what are my options for pursuing this”?

I can understand that another customer dinging my car is between me and them rather than the supermarket but if one of its own employees causes the damage then surely the company should pay for the damage? Accidents happen but the “not our problem” attitude really boils my piss (as well as being legally incorrect I suspect).

Do I write to the store manager or straight to the CEO? Get the car sorted then present them with the bill or pursue first? I’m quite happy to use small claims if I have to.

Any advice?

I’m sure the signs say that “They are not responsible for loss or damage to vehicles parked here” or something along those lines but when it’s due to an error on the part of one of their employees then I’d say it’s their problem.

Go through your insurance.

Phone your insurance, let them chase it, and get on with your life, it’s not worth the heartache.

Putting up a sign can’t give you the freedom to damage other peoples property with impunity. Talk is cheap and easy ignored. Send them a letter with a quote from the garage, say if they don’t pay the next one will be from you solicitor. Your car Insurance company would probably have some good advice too.

insurance will up your premiums DONT

IMHO they know they will lose be it in court or from bad publicity if you publicise all this therefore I think they will pay if you moan enough and write etc.
I would also imagine at your risk does not allow them to be negligent which, I assume, this clearly is.

IANAL

Phone your insurance, let them chase it, and get on with your life, it’s not worth the heartache

Absolutely 100% DO NOT go with this approach. My missues had a sign fall on the car off a church and pursued it via the insurance. It was a **** nightmare trying to get insurance after that.

Any fault claims?
Any non fault claims?
Yes but not while driving, just parked and a sign….
Please give me all the details, outcome, price etc etc.

Be very wary of getting your insurance company involved.

Junkyard speaketh the truth verilly.

PS, you up for High Stree to Skiddaw this weekend? 😉

to be fair, thegeneralist, if even baby jesus hates you, …

Wow, it appears I’m the most wrong a person could ever be!

Well just hang fire, molgrips might have a contribution since cars are involved.

Unless you were caught speeding whilst overtaking I don’t think Molgrips will have much advice to offer…

Had an accident not your fault.
Call the manager ask him directly does he want to pay now to repair your property that his staff have already admitted damaging, or does he want you to get a lawyer?
Being realistic his problem can go away in days or months.

Since it was a member of their staff responsible I’d say this one is worth pursuing.

I’m surprised the guy wouldn’t give the senior managers name, unless he made up the bit about the senior manager saying they’re not liable! Certainly no reason not to pass this on so the senior manager can tell you themselves their position on this.

Stipulate you want the trolley pusher to write an apology….before he’s fired.

First thing you need to do is getting everything written down and photos with something to prove dates. Was there any CCTV that covered the area?

You need names of the staff involved too and it is a shame you couldnt go and report it there and then. I would do so ASAP tomorrow.

The sign does not apply in this case. It is there in case someone bumps into your car or a customer allows a trolley to hit your car (etc etc) so you can’t go after the supermarket. This is one of their employees who has lost control of a trolley and damaged your property and they are liable.

I too would not bother with insurance. It’s not a road accident and so at the moment treat it as a simple damage to property claim. Get it all logged with the supermarket tomorrow, ask for copies of all forms and get names. Also get details of the head office.

See if they have a preferred procedure to follow as it might make it easier but if not go get some quotes from reputable bodyshops and provide them to the supermarket along with details of your time taken to sort it out. Then if all else fails get a solicitors letter etc or simply go through money claim online and the small claims court.

Going on what the people I talk to say Twitter is the place to bring your plight into the public domain , large companies don’t like their failings brought to light for all to see.

If it was the one that posted dodgy profits? then what should of happened is at the customer service desk there is a online system they use to log incidents like this, and they give you a print out with a reference number then head to your insurers as the money will come from the supermarkets insurance dept, the stores have barely any money for paid outs and this sort of thing would go through the insurance.

The liability posters are in case another customer dings the cars or runs there trolley into your car, it doesn’t apply for the staff, did the trolley lad have a trolley strap as its a must do for one supermarket and the max amount of trollies is 8 iirc. I would request the CCTV footage is kept from the store and possibly another witness? just to cement the case.

I would call there customer care line and get the incident logged and add the poor customer service from the store at the time, take photo’s etc…

To all those saying don’t go through the insurance, what would be your answer when at renewal time they ask if you have suffered any loses in the previous year?

My wife had an incident in a sainburys car wash where our windscreen got cracked. They didn’t want to get involved with insurance companies and told her to get a quote and they’d send us a cheque. We got a quote and they paid up in full.

Speak to a proper manager, they will pay up.

Had this happen to my car at Asda, the train of trolleys whipped in the wind into the side of my car putting a crease in he rear 3/4 panel.

As it was one of their employees who was in charge of the trolleys they said I could bring my car back to them on a Saturday when there was a DentMagic guy in the car park. Did my shopping while he repaired it and they picked up the bill.

I had some paintwork damaged whilst in a leaky hotel car park. They paid £700 or so for it to be repaired, based on a letter and a quote.

Junkyard – lazarus

insurance will up your premiums DONT

and not reporting/ declaring an accident and resulting claim may invalidate your insurance

The sign does not apply in this case. It is there in case someone bumps into your car or a customer allows a trolley to hit your car (etc etc) so you can’t go after the supermarket. This is one of their employees who has lost control of a trolley and damaged your property and they are liable

you can go after the supermarket, it is why they have public liability insurance, they of course may “self insure” to an extent and just pay up

ok its a simple process at the store where every little helps. happens every day and many claims are made a significant percentage get paid out.

in your case return to store asap go to csd and report incident quote date time as accurately as possible and the names of the two individuals you spoke to and ensure that you note that one or more accepted responsibility

they ll acknowledge reciept of ‘claim’ from which you shoule hear from them fairly rapidly. if they accept liability they ll want to repair it..( not some lad from frozen food with a big hammer) usually a typical approved insurance repairer they ll probably come to you to repair or you ll have to have car delivered to them for larger repairs most trolly damage is done by dent remover guys out the back of a van.

no need to involve anyone else its a well practiced event. tesco arent insured for such incidents they just sort it out..

bizarrly ladbrokes were never insured for theft whilst i was there they just sucked it up if the men in balaclavas turned up.. as they did one bank holiday when we were closed and dug the floor safe up and removed it.. they must have been gutted.. it was empty..

Thanks all, worth pursuing then. Their attitude that really grates – I’m sure the guy never set out to damage my car but it happened. Certainly no intention to get my insurance involved.

I will ask for the cctv. I have a receipt from the store to prove timings etc. £250million of over estimated profits now a little tiny bit higher!

I suspect the situation wasn’t properly explained by the junior manager to the senior manager. Ask to see / talk to the senior manager and I’m sure it will be sorted. If not get onto your local rag to make a complaint.

Yeah, ask to go and see the store manager, nobody else.

If they try to say no, ask them to mention that it’s him/her or the local newspaper reporter.

I used to be one and we LOVED stories like this. I can almost picture your grumpy face in the photo pointing at your dented car now – supermarket sign floating top left of frame.

🙂

“and not reporting/ declaring an accident and resulting claim may invalidate your insurance”

if its all sorted out with cash and there is no crime number/record on the insurance database. – dont be silly.

Its like the folk suggesting you should be telling them about the time you reversed into your gate post and fixed it with a rattle can .

Personally I wouldn’t have driven off, I’d have got it sorted/fresh there and then. Forget everything else. A rush suddenly becomes secondary. Insurance? Erm it’d go through the store insurer and to the OP. It wouldn’t go through the stores automotive insurer so I don’t understand the relevance. Its also effectively on private land.

If a slate falls off the roof onto my car on the drive do I have to get my car insurance to liaise with my house insurer? No.

Does a slate or a trolley mean my car is more likely to be involved in a crash with another car now? No.

In the morning at the huge 24hour Tesco’s near us there are always a large amount of trolleys left all around the spaces/cars. Thats another form of negligence from a store.

I’d of taken photos of the damage, the employees etc put it on twitter and other sites with supermarket name. You d get a response in hours from the head office! I know asda have a team to manage there online appearance

Update – now reported in store. They were a bit shocked at the advice I had been given and readily accepted that an employee causing the damage was their problem. Details taken – all electronically and now off to head office for insurance to deal with. I’m hoping that it doesn’t affect my insurance – its not a motoring incident after all.

Seemed as though they dealt with these things quite regularly!

Does a slate or a trolley mean my car is more likely to be involved in a crash with another car now? No.

Well the trolley could do as it’s your choice to shop at a certain supermarket that may have a higher risk of damage due to the workforce or the fact they have trolleys. If you shopped at a supermarket with staff who give a crap or somewhere with no trolleys then risk could be lower. 🙂

Only time my car has been damaged (touch wood) by a trolley was in a Tescos car park. Lovely big crease in the front wing. I put that down to an ass-hat customer who couldnt be bothered to put their trolley in the trolley park so it blew into my car.

and now off to head office for insurance to deal with. I’m hoping that it doesn’t affect my insurance – its not a motoring incident after all.

You have not instructed your car insurer to deal with this have you?

Its very simple and straight forward for you to negate involving your car insurer.

Even when I was rear-ended with 100% blame from the other driver I went direct/other insurer and it was a quick/painless experience.

Please don’t go through your car insurer- the laziness really will bite you at renewal time.

“Even when I was rear-ended with 100% blame from the other driver I went direct”

that how ever will appear on the national insurance database and needs to be declared at quote time.