i come back from school and what do i see covering my car: tar dust and tile dust. my car is white also. fucken dumb *** neighbors didn't say ****, and the dam roofing company didn't even have the nerve to throw a dam cover over my car or ask me to move it. anyways, i sprayed off whatever i could and whiped off any excess dust but since it was such a hot day, some of it baked onto my car. now i'm going to call the company and they have the option of paying to have my car detailed and if the tar doesn't come off, i'm getting a new paint job.

are they any laws against what they did?
any legal actions i can take in case they refuse?

thanks
kris

 

Well, it would be pretty easy to figure out that they did do the damage (assuming you had to prove it in court).

1) IMMEDIATELY take photos of the damage.
2) Take photos of location of your car in comparison to where they were doing the roofing. (This will determine the rough distance away from their house).
3) Document everything. From the exact day/time roofing was done to when you attempted to wash off the tar.

My best advice to you is this. DO NOT DELAY! The only way that you are going to get "paid" for this is to make sure you are on top of this.

ALSO, if you can remember the name of the roofing company, call them (DO NOT BE HOSTILE). Make sure that you have the exact company. See if you can have them send you an invoice via fax (you may want to pretend to be their accountant..haha). The invoice will help provide proof that they worked on the house during that particular day. After you establish that this is the roofing company, then you can approach both the neighbor and the roofing company regarding damages.

If they don't pay for damages, then you can pursue legal action (since everything will be documented at that point).

 

I say go out and buy some "bug & tar remover" and wipe it off with that, 9 out of 10 its more of a hassle taking action against the person then it would be to just fix it & get it over with...

 

Nice to see some people still have sense around here.

 

Maybe. But at the same time, the owner acknowleges that the tar company was negligent in not informing the neighbor about possible tar "dust". (It is possible that they just simply didn't realize what happend).

I'm not sure if he has a good "neighborly" relationship w/ his neighbors either.

I've learned to CYA (Cover Your ***) due to shady people. My parents live in a town home (which is popular in the South Bay Los Angeles area). Basically, two or three homes are located on a single lot. The houses are physically built next to each other. Well, to make a long story short, the neighbor in the back would frequently cause problems, such as causing damage to the wooden fence (by hitting it w/ his car), rolling over the grass, etc.. The three homes are tied together w/ a Home Owners Association agreement which basically requires the three units to take care of the "group" propertly. The neighbor would claim that he didn't do the damage (because no one witnessed it), even though it was pretty obvious. Therefore, in order to get payment for the damages, I would do some detective work, like document damages to cars, dirt/grass stains found on tires, etc. (He also was extremely verbally abusive to his children due to his failed marriage). He has since moved out...thank God!

Sad, but true.