My Kia Seltos gets damaged in society parking after bike falls on it

The bike must have fallen on the car and someone just picked it up and ran away.

BHPian bluevolt recently shred this with other enthusiasts.

I want to share an incident that happened with my car and seek advice for the next steps.

My car (Kia Seltos), parked in my allotted parking, has been severely damaged by a bike parked adjacent to it. I notice the damage during my night walk (at 11.10 pm) today.

The bike must have fallen on the car and someone just picked it up and ran away. Please find photos of the damage attached.

Upon finding this, I called the guard at the tower and asked him to bring the owner of the bike along. But as per the guard, no one opened the gate of the flat even after 5-7 rings of the bell. After this, the main gate security was called. The supervisor came to the parking to see the damage. He checked the bike and it was found that the bike was on the side stand, with a punctured tyre, totally imbalanced and someone just made it fall on my car. As per the supervisor, the owner did not answer the phone.

Please advise me on the next steps to take. Should I call the police in the morning if the owner is still not reachable or does not accept his fault? How should I manage this damage? Get it done through insurance or at an outside workshop. My car is 3 years old and I haven't claimed insurance yet.

I have written an e-mail to the society maintenance office for action highlighting the below points:

• The parking next to mine is an empty space and besides that, it belongs to another flat. Hence, this bike is wrongly parked next to my parking spot. This has damaged my car badly due to the negligence of the owner in the first place.
• I have asked the security to scan the CCTV footage in the parking area to identify who caused the damage. If it is some other person who made the bike fall, he/she should be identified at the earliest and action should be taken against them. I parked my car at 2 pm in the slot in perfect condition and I saw it damaged at 11.10 pm during my night walk.
• The guard on duty at the tower prior to 8 pm must be called and interrogated - why he did not check the parking? When the bike would have fallen, it must have caused a loud noise and the guard must be attentive enough to check the incident in the first place. The car itself is parked close to the lift lobby.
• Even If the bike had fallen due to some other person, the owner of the bike will still be held liable for damage as it is his responsibility that the vehicle is in a stable condition when parked so that it doesn't fall on another vehicle.
• This is a clear case of unorganised bike parking near the designated parking slots of the owner. I have asked for immediate action to be taken to remove wrongly parked bikes near the designated parking spaces of others. Bike/scooter owners must be directed to park in their assigned slots, where they park their own cars so that their two-wheelers cause damage to their cars in case of a fall and not to others' property.

Here's what BHPian self_driven had to say on the matter:

I know it's heartbreaking for a car owner but police action for such trivial issues is really not worth it. Rather what you can do is make enough noise so that RWA members and security take a note of it and such accidents can be prevented in the future.

Check the CCTV footage. If the bike fell down on its own (which is owner's negligence), get your car repaired under insurance or otherwise and ask the bike owner to pay for damages.

If some kiddos or a third person did it, which is more likely to be the case, I doubt there's much you can do. Get it repaired and move on with life.

Here's what BHPian bblost had to say on the matter:

It will be impossible to pin the liability on the RWA. They will have some board or notice that will say parking at owners risk.

Your best bet is to hope that there is a CCTV that captured this and the person is a resident.

Additionally that that resident is a decent person who accepts his mistake.

Here's what BHPian am1m had to say on the matter:

Don't even think about involving the cops for this small damage. I understand how this feels to a car owner who loves his vehicle, but getting the cops involved will make things far worse. If you're lucky, they will refuse to get involved seeing the minor damage. If you are unlucky, they will use it as an excuse to extract money from both you and the person you are making the complaint about!]

Even about the other person accepting blame, it's going to be a matter of luck. If you are lucky, they will do the decent thing. But mentally prepare yourself that they won't. Get it repaired, move on. Certainly lodge it as an issue with the RWA. Whatever you do, don't continuously try and seek out the other party. Offense is the best form of defense and people who are wrong often get aggressive to cover their mistake. They might file a harassment complaint against you and that is certainly something the cops are more likely to act on!

Here's what BHPian TwentyDeewar had to say on the matter:

Agree with the opinion of folks on this thread.

I had a similar experience a couple of years ago when an overhead pipe came apart and fell on my car's roof and bonnet in the designated parking slot. I initially tried to take the path you want to go down on -> Managed to get CCTV evidence and tried to pin the fault on poor maintenance. Realised that the amount of time I was spending on this vs the benefit was just not worth it. I got the car repaired and moved on (that's what insurance is for). I just ensured that the pipe repair work was done properly so that it doesn't happen again.

I understand how you must be feeling, but its probably best to repair the car and move on. I think you have already brought it to the notice of the right folks, and a good win for you would be if the bike's owner is more careful in the future about how he parks and/or moves the bike away to a different slot.

Here's what BHPian  sumeethaldankar had to say on the matter:

Kindly claim insurance and get it fixed. The whole purpose of the insurance is for such things. Since no damage to life was done involving police is of no use, they will probably make you sit at the station for hours waiting till you change your mind of filing a complaint. A common tactic used by cops to have minimum people file reports etc.

The society could co-operate and provide you CCTV footage, hopefully the owner will come forward. Since you have already sent an email you could request the society to take positive action and desist wrong parking in designated areas and fine fellow society members for such violations.

In a society I visit vehicles parked wrong are clamped and the owner fined for such acts.

Here's what BHPian Hayek had to sy on the matter:

Don’t think you can prove who caused the damage to your car. Even if the bike fell, it’s an accident. Except if it was deliberate and malicious damage, you need to bear this cost your self - whether through your insurance or out of pocket is your call. Such things happen everywhere in the world - which is why you have insurance.

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