Tree damage to roof

[Lordie]

Soooo long story short, a tree fell on my car the other week in the high winds. It's a highways owned tree but I doubt they will pay a penny as it's like trying to get water from a stone and takes them 3 months just to investigate. Then when they reply to you with a letter the don't provide any contact details so you can't reply or argue back (had the same issue with pothole damage).

Took it to a couple of places and it doesn't seem like it's an easy fix. It's not possible to do a smart dent repair and massage it out so it seems like it's going to have to be a full roof panel replacement though my insurance. The quote I got was between £2-£3,000 in total. 20 hours of labour and around a week to do.

If anyone has any tips or advice on the situation then it would be much appreciated. I'm currently going around in circles trying to find the best place to take it, or if I should just let me insurance pick and use their recommended repair place

[Watts]

Sorry to see that, what a mess. Insurance? Also do some research on smart repairers and get some additional opinions, that has to be a better option than a new roof.

[Gnasher]

Ouch - I'd keep up with the claim against the highways agency.

As a way to get proper evidence to support your claim, put in a freedom of information request on when the trees on that stretch of road were last inspected and the schedule of inspections. I hope you have photos of the offending tree and branch etc. too. I doubt they inspect them regularly which will really help your case.

It's slightly different from a pothole case but at the end of the day, their tree has damaged your car. I personally would make sure I'm not out of pocket for something that wasn't your fault. If it was (for instance) a neighbour and their roof tiles came off and landed on your car, they would be liable, so I don't see why the highways agency shouldn't be. Stick at it and I'm sure you'll get it sorted.

If you need someone to email high up, try here... https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/highways-england

[Lordie]

do some research on smart repairers and get some additional opinions, that has to be a better option than a new roof.

3 out of 3 have said it's too bad to be repaired with the smart dent repair methods. Was a a right pain to hear that as I was initially relived when I saw the damage as I didn't think it was too bad and would be easier to repair than replacing the roof panel

Apparently the roof panel is spot welded into place, that gets taken out and replaced with a new panel. Obviously all the headlining with all the lights and anything else in the way needs to be removed

put in a freedom of information request on when the trees on that stretch of road were last inspected and the schedule of inspections. I hope you have photos of the offending tree and branch etc. too. I doubt they inspect them regularly which will really help your case.

I personally would make sure I'm not out of pocket for something that wasn't your fault. If it was (for instance) a neighbour and their roof tiles came off and landed on your car, they would be liable, so I don't see why the highways agency shouldn't be. Stick at it and I'm sure you'll get it sorted.

If you need someone to email high up, try here... https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/highways-england

I have a camera so caught it falling on video

I emailed the council and highways england. The council initially confirmed it was their tree and refereed me to their legal department. Then I got an email from them which said I was misinformed and the fault lies on Highways England. Great shout on the freedom of information request though. Bet that will take months to get a reply but collecting as much evidence as possible is vital. Exactly! If it was a neighbours tree they will be liable. But because it's the council/Highways I imagine them doing the same as they did with the pothole claim. They will just say 'it was never reported so as we didn't know we aren't at fault and no chance to stop it". If the tree was shorter it wouldn't have happened, but they pretty much never trim trees unless large branches look dangerous.

If I get it repaired through insurance they're likely to just say as it has been repaired it counts as the problem being solved. But I lose 4 years off my no claims and my price will go up a little. I heard this (but not sure if it's true), apparently if the total the insurance paid for the repairs is payed back to them they wipe the claim and you get your no claims back. No idea how true that is but I can't imagine getting anywhere near £3k from the Highways

[Rob_benton]

I’ve seen some amazing dent removed from roofs.
Maybe worth joining a couple of detailing Facebook pages and seeing what they think. There might be some smart repairs specialist on there.

Also join detailing world forum. Some of the best detailers in the country are on there and will have contacts.

[Lordie]

I’ve seen some amazing dent removed from roofs.
Maybe worth joining a couple of detailing Facebook pages and seeing what they think. There might be some smart repairs specialist on there.
Also join detailing world forum. Some of the best detailers in the country are on there and will have contacts.

Thanks, anything is worth a try at this point as I'm running out of ideas.

I'm unsure how it could get fixed back to the standard it was prior without a replacement. The dents too deep to fill, filling a dent that deep risks it cracking if a stone hits it etc

Also, isn't detailing just car cleaning? or does it include repairs too? I have no idea myself

Ha ok, so to sign up on Detailing World there's a security question to stop bots signing up. The question it "What does DW stand for?". Stand for Detailing World, right?. Apparently it's wrong every time I enter that. So confused

[Lordie]

Oops, somehow posted 3 replies

[Lordie]

Oops, somehow posted 3 replies

[Rob_benton]

I’ve seen some amazing dent removed from roofs.
Maybe worth joining a couple of detailing Facebook pages and seeing what they think. There might be some smart repairs specialist on there.
Also join detailing world forum. Some of the best detailers in the country are on there and will have contacts.

Thanks, anything is worth a try at this point as I'm running out of ideas.

I'm unsure how it could get fixed back to the standard it was prior without a replacement. The dents too deep to fill, filling a dent that deep risks it cracking if a stone hits it etc

Also, isn't detailing just car cleaning? or does it include repairs too? I have no idea myself

Ha ok, so to sign up on Detailing World there's a security question to stop bots signing up. The question it "What does DW stand for?". Stand for Detailing World, right?. Apparently it's wrong every time I enter that. So confused

The roof is really thin and flexes. No way it could be filled unfortunately.
Yes detailing is cleaning but in my opinion it’s all connected. Detailing and smart repairs are both to do with improving a cars appearance.. As I said , there maybe a recommendation. Professional detailers use the forum and may know someone that’s done a few roofs.
Another option is PistonHeads. Someone may have had a roof smart repair in the past and you’d be asking car enthusiasts from all walks of life.

Sorry just thinking of ideas.

[SRGTD]

I’ve seen some amazing dent removed from roofs.
Maybe worth joining a couple of detailing Facebook pages and seeing what they think. There might be some smart repairs specialist on there.
Also join detailing world forum. Some of the best detailers in the country are on there and will have contacts.

Thanks, anything is worth a try at this point as I'm running out of ideas.

I'm unsure how it could get fixed back to the standard it was prior without a replacement. The dents too deep to fill, filling a dent that deep risks it cracking if a stone hits it etc

Also, isn't detailing just car cleaning? or does it include repairs too? I have no idea myself

Ha ok, so to sign up on Detailing World there's a security question to stop bots signing up. The question it "What does DW stand for?". Stand for Detailing World, right?. Apparently it's wrong every time I enter that. So confused

@Lordie; Really sorry to hear about your misfortune.

I’m a fan of Mat Watson’s videos on YouTube. Mat had / has a Porsche 911 with some serious vandal dent damage to the roof. The dents were removed using paintless dent removal and the results were amazing IMO. It wasn’t cheap - £1,500 - but you keep the original roof and judging by the repair to the Porsche roof, the results are really impressive. A company called TDN Group did the repairs - link to their website and to Mat Watson’s YouTube video below;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI1_l1J9SjU

https://www.tdngroup.co.uk

Might be worth giving TDN a call.