Police broke our fence while chasing someone. Insurance won't cover.

Police broke our fence
Hello everyone,
Couple of weeks ago police broke our enclosed backyard fence while chasing someone in the middle of the night. The offender is not related or known to us. Police came back after a couple of hours and gave us a card with the report details, police officer's name and said to pass the details to our insurance.
However RAC refuses to take the claim as they say, that type of damage is not covered. What to do now??

Comments

    • +3

      Kinda like they are with everything else then..

      • +2

        Not for revenue raising responses.

        • +1

          Speeding for sure!!

  • You should of did citizen arrest for brake fence _too late now

  • +1

    All insurance companies specify what is covered. As they said that type of damage is not covered. OP needs to check the list of covered events to see if this damage is covered under any of the events.

  • Bikies for the police.

  • Similar problem but different circumstances to the op.

    Firemen broke down my door. I asked them who was going to pay to repair it and they told me to claim on my insurance. I told them that I didn't have any. They claim that it was for emergency access but I couldn't verify that. Didn't offer any information about how to repair. Am I liable to pay for the repairs?

    • I would expect the person / organization who did the damage to pay for it, not your insurance as your premium will get hiked as a result.

      Obtain quotes to repair the damage and send it via registered mail to the organization.

      • Thanks for your advice. I am now looking for carpenters to quote.

    • Shouldn't these be handled by their departments insurance?

      • I was hoping that. There is damage to the door frame and the architrave. The problem is that the architrave is old and will have to be specially milled to match the other 3 sides.

        I had one guy come over and he said that he couldn't quote unless he cut out a section of the architrave to find out how much to mill a piece to match. I asked him to quote the rest but he said that he couldn't make it accurate. Will see what he comes back with. I have a feeling that this is going to be an expensive venture.

  • +1

    I'm surprised the op hasn't logged back in to update or even ask for further info. I guess it's either all solved, he doesn't actually care (enough anyway) or he is dead?

    • +2

      Cops caught him. Plot twist - he was the perp being chased

    • +1

      S/He's only a part time ozbargainer

    • +1

      It is either that or he has has a life and is not on ozbargain 24/7 like the rest of us

      • Op has logged in, but as usual, since 2011 when op joined ozb, he hasn't contributed at all. Just here to Leach and run.

  • +1

    Locate your local station here:
    https://www.police.wa.gov.au/Contact-Us/Police-Station-List

    Call and speak to the station's senior sergeant. They will help.

  • -4

    FK D PO PO LOL

  • Tell the police that they won't cover the damage

  • Get the bikies involved

  • My front door on my tenants "drug fortress" was knocked down by the police . They paid for the replacement no issues. This was NSW. We didn't go through our insurance due to excess costs so not sure if they would have covered.

    • Was one of your other tenants able to make up for the supply shortfall?

      • My other tenants are hopefully more gainfully employed. We only knew about the police raid and the tenants entrepreneurial spirit, when we read in the paper about a "drug fortress". It does explain why my husband used to get pulled over and checked by the police when he would go pick up the rent.

  • +1

    Sometimes - I am not saying in all cases insurance companies will try and get out of something technical (or too difficult), if it is not your fault then you shouldn't have to pay. The reason why your insurance may not cover this is - because its too hard for them to chase the money. Lodge a complaint.

    Go to Financial Ombudsman Service located here https://www.fos.org.au/

    Good luck with it all, you pay your insurance company for a reason!!

  • +1

    Just get a quote and go to local police station, they will pay for it.

  • I guess, you could say, you have taken afence to the damage…

  • An intruder broke into our place a few years back, slit his wrists, panicked and called '000`.Emergency services broke down our front gate, front door and bathroom door to get to him. Insurance covered everything. We were with RACV at the time.

    Edit: They also replaced the window he broke.

  • +5

    Someone damaged your property and won't pay for it?
    I'd call the police…

  • -1

    Email a complaint to police department they will response because once a complaint is made, CCC will monitor the case too.

    • Or do it on their fb page

    • The CCC do not automatically monitor complaints lodged with police AFAIK. A person can lodge a complaint with the CCC - https://www.ccc.wa.gov.au/complain_about. The circumstances of this case are unlikely to be of interest with the CCC.

      As I mentioned above, the OP needs to start with the responsible police station. If no luck there, contact Legal Services of WA Police (assuming they are in WA) to seek formal clarification of Police Manual Policy that applies in cases where a police officer has damaged property while on duty. The most recent phone number I can find is 08 9263 2522.

      Source: Used to do this for a job…

      • -2

        Wrong, i had the same issue with my fence, i lodge a complaint email and subsequently i received a letter from CCC asking if my issued has been resolved

  • Just looked at the RAC PDS. You are covered by a list of insurable events. It depends on how the fence was damaged. If it was damaged by a police vehicle, you would be able to claim under the "Impact" insurable event. As it's a dividing fence the insurer is only responsible for 50% of any damages. Your neighbours are responsible for the rest.

    If the offender caused the damage, the insurable event would be "malicious damage"

    If it was a case of the police jumping over it/knocking it down and causing damage, there is no insurable event that covers that unless you start querying the definition of "malicious damage" which isn't mentioned in the PDS. You would have to go direct to the police for it unfortunately.

  • http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/woman-in-insurance-dispute…

    Sometimes you just get stuck in the middle and get crapped on and there is nothing you can do.

  • +1

    Troll. Troll lololololololol.. lolollllolololol

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z4m4lnjxkY

  • I was leaving a servo recently around 11:30PM on a Saturday night when robber entered the store. I sat in my car and called 000 to let the police know. The call immediately switched to blutooth. The robber heard me talking to the police as he was leaving the store. He snapped the side mirror off my car. That's a $600 part that I had to pay for out of my pocket. The stores insurance won't pay because it didn't happen on camera and there is only my word. This type of stuff happens. Suck it up and move on.

    • +1

      f-ck that's bad luck

    • -1

      I'd be happy I didn't get stabbed. You know what they say, snitches get stitches

    • I would've smashed the door onto the robber, take my ready available baton and make a citizens arrest. That way, at least you got some thrill out of your loss. Really anything used correctly can be very dangerous. Just something with a longer reach gives you an advantage.

      • I could have run him over. I wanted to do it. But then I would be in bigger mess than him so I restrained myself.

  • First thing insurance companies look for is how not to pay a claim.. also things like how to dispersuade a client from making a claim.

  • Michael Eburn wrote an article about this:

    https://emergencylaw.wordpress.com/2017/07/07/damage-to-prop…

    Conclusion

    If the action of police is ‘reasonable’ then they are not liable for damage done to property to make an arrest. If it was not ‘reasonable’ (taking into account all the circumstances) then the state will be liable for any damage done.

    • That's referring to entering a property to arrest a person who resides there.

      An innocent party (like in the case OP highlighted) would be entitled to reimbursement, depending on who caused the damage (the police or the offender). If it's the offender, police should be charging them with property damage. And depending on which state you are in, there's also money available under 'victims of crime'.

      Bear in mind though, you aren't going to get a brand new fence if you have a busted old asbestos fence that's falling down.
      If indeed you have a crappy old fence, then it may have very little real value at all.

      Worse comes to worst, you also have small claims court/civil tribunal to put your claim forward there.

      • Eburn specifically addresses the innocent neighbour but the resulting conclusion is the same…

  • +3

    try calling your insurance company back and assuming you speak to someone new, see what they have to say. the amount of times ive got a completely different answer just by speaking to someone else is amazing.

    • Great hack.

  • -3

    funny how police try to escape their legal obligations

    • Did you read the post? The insurance company is refusing to pay, not the police.

      • -5

        Here comes the fun police :P

      • Police should be held to the same reasonable standards as the public. You dont just break a fence then walk away. They should contact the owner off the fence at least as a courtesy. They should have a record at the police station etc…

        So yeah. I stand ny ny comments

  • Hi OP are you there?

    Can you let us know what is happening?

    • That would be an interesting concept on this site.

  • Each Police region should have a finance department.

    You'll need to speak to a supervisor at station level.
    They will be able to forward your issue to an unsworn finance clerk who will likely refer you on to lodge a civil claim with their department.

  • It sounds to me, like the fence is old and not maintained. If this is the case, insurance companies are keen to wash their hands of claims, and blame poor maintenance.

    Same happened to a flat roof where I lived a few years ago, it leaked every time it rained, but it hadn't been maintained over 40 years, so not really an insurance job.

  • +2

    to all the police haters: imagine if the cops decided against chasing said criminal (therefore not busting down OP's fence). said criminal was high on ice, went for a high speed drive, t-boned and crashed. the person he hit was your mother\father. how do you feel about the fence being knocked down now?

    there are 2 sides to every story, and the police unfortunately cop negative flack at almost every decision they make. remember all the (unsaid) good they do for you.

    • Don't scare the bottom feeders with logical opinion.

    • Most police in my neighbourhood don't chase so called criminals. They catch and release and if you have stuff broken or stolen. Loss is on you. I've come to accept the fact that if I was victimized by criminals in my neighbourhood, might as well just cop the loss.

      • Based on what you've said….You realize your complaint lies with the courts, right?

  • -2

    Fk the police coming straight from the underground
    A young ni
    a got it bad cause I'm brown
    And not the other color so police think
    They have the authority to kill a minority !!

    • -1

      what does your racist rant have to do with this subject

      • +1

        lol i think hes referencing a song mate.
        pretty famous song tbh, not my style of music but i still know it.

        • may be a song but still racist

  • Had they never taken a shortcut before?

  • i think OP has turned off notifications as we havent heard back from him but he has still been logging on.

    • ..makes me wonder if this was genuine?

  • Can't believe no one has told OP to build a wall and make México pay for it

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