Ravenwolfe13

So I felt the need to vent in a place where people understand my pain.

All the buildings in my apartment complex are having roof work done (hail storm earlier in the year). The garages are detached. The roofers are doing the main buildings at the moment. I rather foolishly thought (in error as it turned out) they'd do the garages last. Not so.

I came home today and saw the garage had a new roof. Sinking feeling followed. I walked in there and my Vette was COVERED in dust and woodchips. Some of these woodchips were as long as four inches. I used a hairdryer to get all the junk off. Then I noticed a four inch scratch and some dark abrasions on the front fender.

I didn't see any other damage but it's dark out and while the garage is lighted, it's kind of hard to tell if there's any other scratches. Going to have to pull it out tomorrow and examine it in natural light.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? I imagine the apartment management will say they're not liable. Haven't called yet to see if my insurance will cover this. Since tomorrow's Thanksgiving I guess it'll be a few days before I find out if I'm going to have to shell out $800 to get the fender repainted. (Assuming there isn't any other damage)

So I'm a little annoyed. I've had the car for over two years now (bought it new) and never got a scratch on it. You have to love the irony of it now being damaged in the very place I'm paying extra in order to keep it protected. Awesome. Freaking awesome.

The car is a weekend driver. And yes, I do have a cover. The cover wasn't on it because I had thought I might drive it to work this week (which I didn't do). And I didn't know they were going to start working on the garages yet. And even then, I had no way of knowing that much junk would come raining off the roof.

So I'm mostly venting. But if anyone has any experience with something like this, I'd appreciate any advice. Though I imagine I'll get to foot the cost for this myself. Probably some clause in the lease that says they're not responsible. They could at least have given me notice.

Raazor

bummer

MARSC6

Your car insurance should cover it but I would go after the apartment management first.

johnodrake

Or the roofing company. Check your lease agreement. If there is any disclaimer for liability, it would be there or posted on the garage.

StoplightWarrior

definitely talk with the property manager first. How could they not have warned you in advance and given you the chance to relocate your car??

ATC399

With no advance notice they should
eat the cost of the repair

EVRose

Absolutely the management should have warned you and everyone else parked there. They should have taped a letter to everyones door or at least at the mail box.

AORoads

you said apartment, right? as in rented. me, I wouldn't have pulled a single stick off the car w/o the complex manager standing next to me. tomorrow, is anyone fr. mgmnt. there at all? bring them over to see the car. sooner the better. take pics now. don't even move it out of garage; get light and shine on it and take pics w/o flash. even if you have to string ext. cord. as natural as possible. keep little pieces of wood. sweep/put in bag. save them.

and yes, go for mgmt. first. it's their responsibility to go after roofer co.

JT Metal

I'd say the roofing Company would be liable to tape off an unsafe work area/ no parking zone. Too late to take pictures?

EDinPA

Document EVERYTHING. Bring it to the attention of the management and the roofers. They should have builders insurance (usually a policy to cover 100's of thousands of damage). If you can not get an acceptable resolution with speaking with them AND their insurance CO. figure out what the repair cost will be. It will likely fall into a civil small claims category (determined by $ value) You can name the management, roofers and insurance carrier in the lawsuit and let them all point fingers at each other.

I would expect that if you document it correctly and don't go crazy with an acceptable repair, the insurance will just pay you as it would be cheaper than paying an attorney to fight the case.

RedVette84

The roofer should be bonded so I would hit them first. But I would have taken pictures of it before you cleaned it.

Ravenwolfe13

Yes, I should have taken pictures first. Anger, heat of the moment, I was just thinking about cleaning it up and seeing if it was damaged. Hindsight being twenty-twenty and all that...

However, the dirt and wood chips are still all over the garage floor. So I'll take pix of that tomorrow. I've already taken a few of the damage. And I just discovered another scratch on the driver's side door. Awesome. I'm going to leave everything else as is until one of the managers can come and see it for themselves. And I'll find out if they're going to take responsibility or play "not my problem".

Does anyone know of any high-end body shops in the Oklahoma City area? I know there's a Corvette specialist in the vicinity but I don't know if they do body work.

AORoads

Ok City is big. Check two major sources for great Corvette paint/body shops: all local Corvette clubs, and all hot rod/street rod clubs.

mack morrow jr

If you had known when the work was starting you could have taken action to move the car. I think they owe you.

lh4x4

The roofers are agents of the building management disclaimer or not. One is liable for the actions of anyone they contract with.

Should not have blown anything off but called apt. manager.

florida john

Roofing contractor should have insurance (bonding) to cover any damage that they cause. They could claim that they didn't cause the scratch or damage, but you can go to small claims court to make your case in most states.

Charming contactor that my wife hired to do some work on our home used a pressure washer on our river rock pool deck. He didn't stop when he shattered the first patio door, he kept going until he broke out three of them by blowing small stones through them. His insurance paid to repair / replace them, not my insurance. You are in similar situation.

beav626

Hey Raven- Im in OKC and I had this very thing happen to me several years ago witha McSha property Apt.

I compalined to managment and they made the roofers insurance cover the repairs. it was waaay simple.

As far as good Body Shops Let me say this - STAY AWAY from FLAIR!!!
BodyWorks wasnt all that good either on my parents car but they have a good warranty.

On a good note Fishers Collision in Norman recently did some paint work for my friends Victory Red C6 and it came out perfect. They are a vette friendly shop and also Knipplmier uses them for all of their Body issues.

Good luck and let me know if I can help.

madcadr

Roofer...
I hope you took pics before you blew it all off.

ANY construction job like that requires that the CONTRACTOR give notice to the property-owner (Apts) a schedule date for each zone so that the apartment complex can distribute flyers staing when YOUR ZONE will be done and WHERE you will have to park in the meantime.

If the Contractor did NOT give said schedule to the apaprtment complex - Then, it would most likely fall on the contractor.

In any event - The CONTRACTOR MUST be a backwards a$$ idiot for working over liability items such as vehicles....

do NOT go through your insurance - It is NOT your fault. I would definately CALL YOUR insurance company and explain what happened - They should be able to help you in how to handle a claim on the CONTRACTORS insurance.

Just my 2 cents...

The CONTRACTORS did not even use "Reasonable" care when operating around these liabilities.... They could have COVERED the cars themselves if they were about to work OVER them....

3 Z06ZR1

Sounds like a piece of shingle did the damage. Hope it will come off for you.
The black is asphalt mark from a single. Might be ok with-out repainting.
Have it wet sanded maybe the scratch will come out. Good luck!

LMB-C6

What was the contractor thinking (or not) - they start roofing over a bunch of cars, one being a somewhat expensive Corvette, and no one thought "hey, maybe these people should move their cars..."? I don't get it. As people file claims against your construction company, don't your insurance rates go up? If so, I'd do everything possible to minimize claims. Guess that doesn't bother this guy....or he hasn't learned yet.

OP - Hopefully it works out OK for you.