Trashed It!

alfatwo

Member
Messages
5,517
Came back to my Fiat 500 on Monday morning privately parked..to find it covered and I mean covered every where in gray fence paint. and it wont come off..

Apparently the women in the garden next door was spraying the fence all Sunday,including my car!

I've been around and had a polite word with the guy next door, the women (she was hiding in the house) I was holding me lip at the time..

So how do I stand guys, I could easily start a war!


Dave
 

alfatwo

Member
Messages
5,517
Wow Dave that's a tricky one as accidental rather than maliciously done I hope.

I'm sure she had no idea what damage she was causing, but lots of damage she did.. later on I also found out the car parked next to me suffered the same paint/body damage..

I did mention they should get in touch with there household insurers before I did!


Dave
 

BL330

Member
Messages
1,121
It may be obvious but I'd take it to a panel beater shop for the quote to buff off the new outer layer grey.
At least it is a small car so won't be too much.
Of course neighbours to pay.
 

spkennyuk

Member
Messages
5,930
Came back to my Fiat 500 on Monday morning privately parked..to find it covered and I mean covered every where in gray fence paint. and it wont come off..

Apparently the women in the garden next door was spraying the fence all Sunday,including my car!

I've been around and had a polite word with the guy next door, the women (she was hiding in the house) I was holding me lip at the time..

So how do I stand guys, I could easily start a war!


Dave

Couple of things you could try. If its only been on a few days. Im assuming its lots of paint spatter. Try some auto glym tar remover and see if that sofens the paint. Then try a clay bar on it.

Try on a small test area first. The clay bar should remove it. If it does then i would use the tar remover on a panel at a time and use a farclay clay mitt at around £10 from halfords. It will give you around 20 times the surface area of a clay bar. Use a half bucket of double / tripple strength mixture megs gold or similar car wash as the lubricant and rinse the mit in a clean bucket often to release the paint particles.

It would help if you knew what paint they had used and a picture or two and i can probably advise further.

If the car had a layer of wax on it before the paint incident then usinh something like auto directs wax off should take the fence paint and the wax coat off in one go. You would need to re wax afterwards.
 

mjheathcote

Centenary Club
Messages
9,033
Many years ago contractor's were spraying the outside of the company premises where I worked, and the overspray covered most of the cars in the car park, including mine.
All the cars went in over a week to a body shop to be what you would say to today, detailed. Back then it was probably a good t—cut!
 

conaero

Forum Owner
Messages
34,593
Oh dear. I am sure it will come off with work. As others have mentioned, claybar and detailing spray as lube is where I would start, then a machine polish.

How to proceed, put a letter through her door giving her 24hrs to respond, if not, it then becomes a police matter.
 

Scaf

Member
Messages
6,512
Sorry to read this, some people just don’t think about what they are doing.
On a positive note in these modern environmentally friendly times I think just about all garden paints are water based so it should come off.
It it were me I would use snow foam to help moisture / water cling and soften and use a “clay mit” rather than a bar - much easier and ahold work well.

Good luck
 

CatmanV2

Member
Messages
48,543
Oh dear. I am sure it will come off with work. As others have mentioned, claybar and detailing spray as lube is where I would start, then a machine polish.

How to proceed, put a letter through her door giving her 24hrs to respond, if not, it then becomes a police matter.

That's it really. I'd have thought her insurance would cover it, but maybe not

C
 

zagatoes30

Member
Messages
20,759
Some years ago a friends neighbour was grinding his gatepost off and the sparks hit mates 156 even though across the drive, all the paint was marked and the neighbours huse insurance covered the repair
 

Ewan

Member
Messages
6,757
Similar happened to a friend a few weeks ago. His Nissan Navarra has since been in the body shop for a full respray, including fitting all new glass, lights, trim, badges, wing mirrors, etc. Huge bill, all covered by the guilty parties insurer.

Why on earth should you muck about with clay bars etc when it was not your fault. If it can be cleaned by a professional detailer, fine. But either way, it's for the home owners insurer to deal with, not you or your insurer.

Don't forget to get a crime number from the police, as the insurers may need this. And take lots of photos.
 
Messages
1,687
What Ewan said. It's up to her insurer to put this right. Professionally. If you attempt to remove the paint, it might give her insurer an 'out'. I'd have thought her insurer will want to send out a claims adjuster to assess and quantify the insurer's financial liability.
Definitely get a crime number and have an informal chat with the police station's shift sergeant to see if any criminal offences apply. I can't recall which offences require intent and what the monetary thresholds are. The hint of possible criminal proceedings can often light a fire under the insured. Metaphorically speaking ;)
 

Rex B

Member
Messages
657
Dave take it to your local body shop and get a quote to remove it a good clean cut and polish should get it off and the car should come back better than new.

Rex B
 

Spartacus

Member
Messages
3,184
Give it to a detailers and send the neigbour the bill . If they refuse tear one of their arms off .
 

dgmx5

Member
Messages
1,142
There is a civil claim here, but it falls far short of a criminal offence. As some of the other posts have said, it is not your time and effort to be spent on resolving this, it's her, or her insurer's, responsibility to pay to remedy the issue. If a detail will do it, the the costs of a full bare metal respray would not be reasonably incurred. You have a duty to mitigate the loss, but if a respray is necessary, then so be it.

Foolish, but not malicious, behaviour by the sound of it.
 

jasst

Member
Messages
2,313
Lets just hope they actually have insurance, there are a surprising no of people who don't !
 
Messages
1,687
There is a civil claim here, but it falls far short of a criminal offence.................Foolish, but not malicious, behaviour by the sound of it.

Quite happy to be proved wrong, however I was curious and had a look at the CPS website.
The offence of Criminal Damage would seem to apply. There is no need for there to be an element of intent, or mens rae. (guilty mind) This is useful to know, as the threat of involving the police can often expedite things. Particularly where there is no insurer.