My Car Was Hit By a Golf Ball, What To Do? ?

[deserthead]

Hey all,

Couple months ago I drove past the local golf course, wen WHAM, golf ball bounces off the bonnet!!!
Went up to the club house, being a public hol, no one from admin was there.
Had to chase them up, lady on the fone told me to get a quote and send a statment of what happened with the quote, (I also send in pictures) and she said they would cover the costs.

I received a letter back from them stating that they would not cover the costs for people playing on their course.

Now my question is, does any1 no whether I can take this further. More so for the point of the matter now. I was talking to a mate, he said go to a lawer and get them to write a letter of demand, and demand for payment!

Any help or ideas would be great!!!!

Cheers, Keegan.

[goombeast]

Get pics,documentation and all relevant facts,witnesses if any.Go to the clerk of petty sessions at the local courthouse and fill in a statutory declaration which can be purchased at local newsagent for around 50 cents or under.Write out a statement about what happenned and get a J.P. to sign it.Ask the clerk how to lodge an application for small claims and pay your $50 and he`ll put you in the register,they will be summonsed to appear.With the cost of downtime,solicitor,hassle etc.They will probably pay up right away.No you don`t need a solicitor.Just go to the courthouse and they`ll set you right.You`ll get your $50 bucks back and they will have to pay court costs on top as well so I reckon they`ll settle.

[Just_Ice]

Good luck......

[greenfoam]

I'm pretty sure it's standard for all golf courses to pay for this kind of thing, Broken house windows and all that, at least they do where I live and so they should. They would have insurance for this kind of thing and worse, for example I wouldn't want to cop a golf ball in the eye as I walked past a golf course : )

[IBLOWN]

Unfortunately The Golf Course Is Not Responsible. Stupid But This Shit Happens All The Time. Anyway Golf Courses Have Alot Of Money Therefore Have Good Lawyers. I Would'nt Mess With Em. What I Would Have Done Was Hunted The Golfer That Did It Down And Harass Him!

[vkberlina]

Shouldnt the golf course have some legal responsibility to keep the golf balls on the course? like a duty of care?

Talk to your insurance company even if your only 3rd party property they may be able to offer some legal advice but my opinion is they should be liable, just like if a shopping trolly hits your car the trolly collection company is liable for the damage.

cheers
Scott

[IBLOWN]

but the golf ball hit his car on the road. its not the golf courses property then.

[sixshooter]

Buy yourself a cheap motocrosser then err...you get the picture...?

Instant concrete mix in the sand trap ?

Pay to get in and hit a few balls at the clubhouse ?

not helping much am I ?...

I cant help but feel vindictive when something like this happens...

[Pretender]

Unfortunately the Golf Club is not held responsible if there is fencing along all fairways that are near roads but it does have a duty of care to attempt to identify the Golfer who hit the wayward ball (near impossible). In WA the fences are required to be 3 metres high which even a poor golfer will clear easily. As was said before approach a Lawyer or seek legal aid and inform the club of your intended action. This sometimes worries them into paying up and use the term "Duty of Care".

[vh-holden]

golf balls have dimples on them so they go faster and further.

i'd take the car back to the golf course and get more little golf ball dents. Might have the same effect.

[Julie]

Maybe an option would be (assuming you have full comprehensive cover) getting in touch with your insurance mob. Explaining the situation, giving them the golf club details. Then let your insurance company fight them.

[Troy711]

we had a booze up on the golf course a few weeks ago and asked a resident there what happened in the event of broken windows/tiles from stay (golf) balls. he said that the course doesnt cover any of it. so it could extend to cars too? im not sure, butcontact your insurer. you may have to claim it as a '3rd party damage, no 3rd party found' and you will have to pay the excess...

[deserthead]

I would've thought that they pay for this kind of thing also. . .
But what gets me is 2 people who work there both said that it would be fixed them I get a letter stating that they dont hold responsibility!

As for the fences they are on the normal kind of link fences you get anywhere, no special height on them, no nets, just smallish trees. . . .
They have a high fence on the main road, but not on any of the others.

I rang my insurance about it, they said I would have to make a claim for them to pursue it. For one, I can almost get it fixed for the excess amount, and I've just chaged insurance company, so I have to be with them for a year to get no claim for life. . . don't want to lose that either. . .

So yeh, its now take it further or as sixshooter says. . . . . . Already thought of a few things. Not that I condone that of kind of action. But I am just sick of places like that just wiping their hands of things like this!!!

[semmi]

what a b!tch of a thing to happen!!

this is one of those situations where the golf course morally has an obligation to pay you, but legally it's a grey area (it's really up to you to fight it)

getting a lawyer to write a threatening letter is not a bad idea, but lawyers charge like a wounded bull for these things and a lot of times it goes nowhere, because the party you are claiming against knows you're just blowing a lot of smoke up their ass, that you aren't really going to get your lawyers on to them

julie had a good suggestion about goint to your insurer although depending who your cover is with, you will have varying degrees of success. the other thing is you will probably to pay some sort of excess if you claim through your insurer, and if you don't claim they probably won't be interested in coming into bat for you... [edit: i reread your post and just realised that is exactly what did happen when you called them!]

personally i would go with what goombeast said about lodging a small claims complaint - just remember the process differs from state to state so you need to check out what the process is for your state - this is also likely to be the cheapest option, and why should you be out of pocket for something that isn't your fault and you have no control over?

anyway good luck, and let us know what happens

[STEALTHY™]

Buy yourself a cheap motocrosser then err...you get the picture...?

Instant concrete mix in the sand trap ?

Pay to get in and hit a few balls at the clubhouse ?

not helping much am I ?...

I cant help but feel vindictive when something like this happens...

After your last post deserthead, seems sixshooter is on the money. You wont get your car fixed, but you'll sure feel ****in good for a few weeks!

[MOTIV8]

Because of your insurance excess amount you have to decide whether it's the money that you want to pursue or whether it's the principle of the matter that you want to settle.

What happens if this occurs again in a few months or to someone that you know?

If you get a judgement against the course then you will have set a precedent and golf courses in the state you live in will have to pony up for insurance to pay for any damage done by any of their members in the future.

In your case money is not in abundance so they will get away with it yet again. If it was James Packers car I have no doubt they would scramble to pay him out immediately.

[Demons1964]

Not sure about other states but in Victoria the golf ball scenario falls under the same umbrella as the cricket ball. A couple of weeks ago I watched a cricket ball get despatched for 6 into a passing car (I wasn't bowling at the time!!). It smashed right through the driver's side of the windscreen, showering the driver in glass. He was in a state of shock when he hopped out and looked like a rough customer. When he came over to beat up the batsman responsible he was given the same line as you were, "Here's the club president's phone number, contact him and he'll look after you". The cricket club is not responsible, it's just used to calm down the complainant at the time. You can try the lawyer letter routine, but I think the cost to get it done will outweigh any chance you have of scaring the club into paying (the golf club will know their rights without even consulting a lawyer).

[MOTIV8]

Someone has to be legally responsible for any damage from activities that result in damage, injuries or deaths that occur from properties.

Who is the legal owner of the property? That might get better and faster resul;ts.

[deserthead]

After reading all the relpies, thanks for the help too!!, I'm guna go with goombeast's susgestion. Just have to wait till after new years now.

Its not really bout the money anymore. Dont get me wrong, I want it fixed, but y should I have to pay for it wen its not my fault?
So now its definitly more the principal of the matter!!!!
Still want the car fixed though!!!

Some1 has to be held countable! You cant have a place saying "well, it came out of our land, but were not responsible for it."

Grrrrr, gets me worked up everytime I talk bout it!!!

Couldn't agree more with you MOTIV8. Money makes the world go round. They probly think, its just some local hick trying to get money outta them. But the funny thing is I went in with the papers in uniform after work, thought it might have made them realise i was a normal (I use this term loosely too) person. Made no difference though. . . .

So now I only have one place on my dance card atm and its this golf course!!!!!!!! *insert evil laugh*

[MOTIV8]

Just make sure you don't get into any legal trouble such as criminal damage etc because that would be way more expensive then the cost of damage to your car as well earn you a criminal record.

A criminal record wouldn't look good on a passport if you want to travel overseas and it wouldn't look good on any job application either.

I would talk to a legal expert first before doing anything else.

[deserthead]

I intend to look into the matter fully, before any drastic measures are taken.
I'd get into doublely the trouble with the job im in if something happened anyway.

The only thing Im worried about is if the don't settle in small claims and it becomes something much bigger!
But as I said b4, I'll go to the local courthouse after new years and go from there!

[vkberlina]

Oh also pool salt does fantastic things to green growning things, they quickly turn a brown colour

I think it would work esp well on really short, smooth flat grass just before sprinklers are activated automatically

Also, Just the other side point of view, I have started up playing golf over the xmas holidays and got hooked, just something about wacking that little white ball a couple of hundred meters But if I hit someones car or property for that matter I would offer to restore it to the condition it was previously.

cheers
Scott

[Tasmaniak]

Law Access on 1300 888 529 ask to speak to someone regarding Property Damage

[Bobo88]

How could they not be responsible for paying for the damage?

So if someone was sitting in their driveway, hitting balls on to a main road at passing cars, they would not be responsible?

[stocky]

How could they not be responsible for paying for the damage?

So if someone was sitting in their driveway, hitting balls on to a main road at passing cars, they would not be responsible?

i wonder if they sorted this out last year...