Damage to Parked Vehicle in Basement Carpark

I need some expert assistance with this!

I am a Proprietor, and I parked my rarely used second vehicle in a Visitors' Parking space within our Basement Carpark for a short time (Mon 11pm – Tues 3pm).

I am not a habitual user of these spaces as my “veteran” vehicle is usually garaged off-site, and I failed to notice that one of the many “leaks” of lime-laden / white coloured liquid that drips from around the various points where sewer and drainage pipes exit our carpark's concrete roof was right above this Visitors' space.

Needless to say, this lime-laden leachate badly damaged the paintwork of my pristine old car, and as it's 60yo acrylic paint the entire roof has to be treated and resprayed.

I wrote to the Sec. of our Executive Committee, and very politely requested some reimbursement of my costs ($1,600) either ex-gratia by the Owners Corporation or via a Claim on our Insurers (CHU).

The Sec's response in part is as follows:

“You were parked in a visitors parking space which under our constitution is not allowable for the lengths of periods that the car was there. 

I have been advised that we are not liable.  It is up to Residents to advise if there are any problems and as such, we address any issues raised.  As each Resident has asked for assistance to stop the water leaking etc, we have had trays put up.  Our insurance does not cover vehicles parked in the garage area as it is considered a “wet” area. 

I suggest you contact your own insurance company for assistance.”

OK, I know that the Model By-Laws state that Owners & Occupiers are not permitted to use the Visitors' Spaces, but there's apparently a “Constitution” that I've never heard of or seen that permits parking for some period of time (?).

My intended line of argument to the Owners Corporation and our Strata Manager will be (subject to advice) that:

1)  Visitor's carspaces aren't marked as such, they just don't have Lot numbers painted on them, so very occasional users such as myself really don't know, and may use them inadvertently;

2)  All visitors' carspaces are Common Property and are under the care of the Owners Corporation (O/C);

3) The Constitution (if it exists) has no standing under the SCMA, and would therefore need to be backed-up by Special By-Laws setting out the conditions under which Visitors' Carspaces may be occupied, and I'll ask for a copy of those;

3) The O/C has acknowledged that the leachate is a problem, but relies upon Residents to report “leaks”, which they'll then address by installing drip-trays below the carpark roof to divert the leachate away from vehicles, BUT;

4) The minutes of the last two AGM's include Resolutions that the O/C will undertake, or will have undertaken, a Risk Assessment of the Common Property and develop Corrective Actions; this has never been done so the O/C is liable for my vehicle's damage;

5) Our Basement Carpark area is surely not regarded as a “wet area” by our Insurers (CHU), and in fact should be a “dry area”, and indeed it would have been dry IF the O/C had done the minuted Risk Assessment and implemented Corrective Actions.

6) If our Insurers (CHU) have indeed declared that our Carpark is a “wet area” and therefore not covered by the Legal Liability Cover contained in the O/C's Building Insurance, then I'd like them to corroborate that.

Any advice here will be greatly appreciated, and particularly any precedents where Proprietors' damage has been covered by Building Insurance. By the way, the leakage is not weather related; it's there to varying degrees all of the time!

Help!!!!