Location: Colorado
My father lives in a community co-op condo building for 55 and up. They all park in the garage in the basement of the building. Each resident has their own little fob to open and close the garage. My father is almost 75 years old, and when he was closing the garage, he didn’t notice and it closed on another resident’s car.
Neither his condo insurance or car insurance will cover the damages which are $7200 out of pocket. He says the owner of the vehicle is being really difficult and that is so much, he could maybe afford $2000.
This man is a Vietnam Veteran that survived 4 heart attacks but I can see this stress getting to him. It’s so hard to watch your parents suffer. I can’t help him financially but what can I do to help him resolve this? Thank you.
Comments
Maybe help him set up a payment plan to pay the costs as it sounds like insurance will not cover these costs.
Can you explain the exact mechanism of how this happened? Your father pulled in to the garage and then hit the fob to close it behind him and didn’t notice that another car was trailing him?
Were the residents notified that unlike most garage doors that will automatically stop and go back up when they detect something in the way, this one does not detect objects underneath it and will crash down on cars, motorcycles, pedestrians, etc. that are under the door when someone hits the fob? Or is this door designed not to crash down on cars but it malfunctioned?
Were the residents ever warned “Don’t try to follow another car in, wait for it to close and then hit open, so you don’t get crushed and so we can make sure only residents and not intruders enter the garage?”
I’m not sure your father is the most negligent party here. Depending on the specific facts, the more negligent parties may be the condo building, the door manufacturer, or the neighbor in a hurry who tried to follow someone in instead of waiting for the door to close and reopen, who who didn’t hit his own button as soon as he saw the door start coming down.
Did it hit the front of the neighbor’s car or the back? Front would suggest he may have been able to see it and stop it. Back would suggest maybe he was improperly tailgating your father.
If your dad can find rules saying “don’t follow a resident into the garage” that may be very helpful here.