Belt Auction

Who is responsible when a Tree Falls and damages your Auto?

My friends neighbors tree fell through the night and part of it broke a window out of her daughters car. Who pays for the damage to the Car? Neighbors homeowners, says it falls to My freinds AUTO insurance Co, My Friends Homeowners says it is an Act of GOD so the other homeowners insurance is correct, the Auto Insurer for my friends says if she claims she will loose her CLAIM FREE discount, that is so bogus?

Public Comments

1. Call your auto insurance company and let them deal with the financial details. They will tell you what to do.
2. Unless there was some negligence on the part of the neighbor (he knew the branch was going to break and did nothing to stop it), then his insurance will not pay. The neighbor's auto insurance would not pay because the damages were not caused by his automobile. Your friend's auto insurance can pay if she has comprehensive coverage. That's basically it.
3. Whoever's property it is on is who's insurance should cover the damage. Even if the lady says she will loose her discount, it doesn't matter. Her insurance has to pay. Tell your friend to find out who she has insurance with and just call them and file a claim. There is nothing the lady can do about it, unless she would rather waste her time in small claims court, and by the way, it is concidered an act of God and her insurance shouldn't be affected by it anyway.
4. At this juncture, it looks like it should be something you should allow your insurance company to deal with. *If you go ahead and pursue a comprehensive claim through your own auto carrier (assuming you have comprehensive coverage) - then they will in turn attempt to subrogate the at fault carrier. The tree falling damaging any type of property, would be covered under your neighbors HOMEOWNER'S policy. However - if this was an act of God, it would not be covered. Now if the tree had previous issues with it, which you have noticed, or other neighbors have noticed and have advised the homeowner to do something about it, that's a different story. If you do file a comprehensive claim - it WILL NOT AFFECT your premium, it is a no-fault coverage. You would only be responsible for your deductible. If you do not have comprehensive coverage - you can file a claim with your neighbor's homeowners insurance, and then they will investigate the loss. HOWEVER, again that's no promise it will be covered, they do have to investigate and uncover the details surrounding the loss.
5. I can't speak to losing the claim free discount since companies are not consistent as to how they administer those type of programs. The who pays for the damages is the easy part. The auto insurance is the only place to have the claim paid. In order for the neighbors insurance to pay for the damages there has to be negligence on the neighbors part. Any homeowners liability policy will only pay if their policyholder is negligent. Just because they owned the tree that fell does not automatically make them negligent. They have to be negligent in some way. If the tree was known to be rotted and weak and they were warned about it but failed to remove the tree that would constitute negligence. However, that does not appear to be the case here.
6. The key word here is NEGLIGENCE: if the neighbor knew of an existing problem and/or a pontential risk from a rotted or storm damaged tree and did nothing to eleminate or reduce the risk then there could be a case for the neighbor's homeowners insurance to handle this. If, on the other hand, the tree showed no signs of falling over at a moments notice then there is no one to blame except mother nature or...the tree. Your friends auto coverage will have to cover this situation. As far as losing a claims free discount, well boo-hoo --- sh*t just happens.
7. It would be the homeowners insuranceresponsibility, Unless there is a clause or exclusion in their policy where acts of god are not covered. If the tree is on a parkway that may be city or village property. You could always call nonemergency PD and see what they say. It would not be your neighbros cars insurance as their car did not cause the damage to your auto. Your best bet is to file w/ your own insurance company and let them determine who will pay them back thru subrogation
8. My experience is homeowner's policies NEVER pay any damages on cars. if the house burns down and burns the car - tough - no pay. Cars are supposed to be separately insured for "comprehensive" damage (anything not a "collision"). it seems this is a problem of arithmetic - which is worth more? the no claim discount or the window? a window replacement may cost $200 or so - is the discount more? or less? than that. And - how long will it take to re-gain the no claim discount? (one year? Two years?). figure it out.
9. If the tree is on your neighbor property and it is also their tree the answer is very simple, it is your neighbors responsibility.