Can I Claim Repair Costs Without Having the Repair Done?

Has someone crashed into your car? Now is the perfect time to sell it and collect the repair costs from the person responsible. Here's how.

Compensation for damage to property: how does it work?

If someone causes damage to your property, you have the right to compensation, and specifically to the cost of repair. And here is the interesting part: you can quantify these costs and claim them from the wrongdoer even if you don't have the repair carried out. This is known as notional repair costs.

What does this mean in practice?

Say you have an older car worth 200,000 CZK and someone crashes into it. The damage is lost among the other scratches, and you decide to sell the car for the original 200,000 CZK. Even so, you have the right to claim 20,000 CZK from the wrongdoer for the repair, even though you sell the car without repairing it.

How does the case law see it?

The settled case law of the Supreme Court holds that the amount of the damage cannot be made to depend on what the injured party does with the thing. The wrongdoer cannot benefit, or be put at a disadvantage, by how the injured party deals with the consequences of the damaging event.

Why is that?

The amount of compensation reflects the fact that, after the damaging event and any repair, the thing no longer provides the same benefit as it did before. This drop in value occurs regardless of whether the injured party sells the thing after repairing it or not. The benefit lies not only in being able to sell the thing, but also in carrying on using it, where the injured party may bear the risk of hidden defects or a poorly carried out repair.

These concerns, which push down the sale price, stem from the possible risk of hidden defects, a greater susceptibility to damage, or the risk of a badly carried out repair. It is often hard for the injured party to prove that these problems are connected to the original damaging event. It follows that the injured party's assets shrink as early as the moment of the damaging event. Put simply: the damage arises as soon as the thing is damaged, regardless of what happens to it afterwards.

What this means for you

If someone has crashed into your car or caused other damage to your property, you can claim the repair costs even without having the repair done. This way you can obtain compensation and keep your financial losses to a minimum.

If you need help claiming compensation for damage to your property, don't hesitate to get in touch with our law firm. We are here for you.