My family and I recently went on holiday and left my car at a car park near Narita airport.
After giving them the keys while walking to the airport we saw through the fence an employee drive our (new to us)car into a pole.
After initially saying they will cover all repair costs, after a month of negotiations their insurance only agreed to pay 1/3 of the repair cost. (Apparently the terms and conditions of this piece is that they only pay however much the insurance decides to pay, and not the real cost.)
After searching only for a lawyer or seems in Japan the concept of the lose paying the fees is not a thing here.
We are at a loss and don’t know what to do.
9 comments
And what did your insurance company say…? That’s what you’re paying them for…
Man, hope you get it all covered. How much is the total damage caused in your estimate?
Maybe look into 少額訴訟, similar to what we call “small claims court” in the United States.
https://www.courts.go.jp/saiban/syurui/syurui_minzi/minzi_04_02_02/index.html
As a side note sheet putting on my car details in online to search the market price it’s estimated at and 300,000yen
Could you….
Take what their insurance pays out.
And then sue the remaining from the car park company. Make them pay out of their pocket
If you don’t have 車両保険 then that’s the maximum you are going to get
From what you’ve written below, your car is valued at 200,000 yen, and has 400,000 yen worth of damage. As you’ve already learned, jibaiseki doesn’t provide you with any insurance benefits, and you shouldn’t drive a vehicle without proper insurance. Too late now, but pointing it out as it would have benefited you to at least have the lawyer coverage.
The cost of the repairs exceeds the economic value of the vehicle, so this is referred to as 経済的全損, economic total loss. The maximum that insurance will generally pay out is 90% of value if the car is totalled, and that also means that they get ownership of the vehicle. You also can’t value the vehicle at more than you paid for it unless it’s a classic car and the vehicle has considerably appreciated in value.
You should inquire as to whether the lot’s insurance has a 対物全損時修理差額費用特約 (たいぶつぜんそんじしゅうりさがくひようとくやく) clause – repair cost in the event of total loss of the insured item. The specific name varies depending on the insurance provider, but it can *sometimes* provide for additional compensation if the total repair cost isn’t covered, up to 500,000 yen usually.
A lawyer MAY be able to help push the issue, but you can’t really expect more than 180K max, plus the cost of your transit home from the airport due to the unavailability of your vehicle, and any other transport issues that occurred due to the unavailability. When you consider that totalling the vehicle only costs you 20K in the end (less the transport etc.) it’s arguably a very inexpensive lesson in how insurance works.
Thankyou for the reply, I hope I can convince the small claims court that the money from their insurance is not enough to replace or repair and the company in question should the pays the rest.
We also have it in writing from then that they will pay the full repair cost but that attitude changed towards the end.
Just to let everyone know, the company is SUPER PARKING near terminal 3 Narita airport.
I will personally not use a car parking service again where you have to give them the keys.
Did you pay for the spot and the parking service? If so, they need to pay for all damage since you were hiring a service.