Hi Mamas!
I will call my home owners insurance Monday AM but till then this is going to bug me... So I rent out my house currently to a family while I was finishing up school blah blah... anyways we had a nasty snow storm up here in MA 2 weekends ago.. the husband renting the house called me the next day saying everything was fine, a few small branches in the yard, and they had power.. great.. now to today... the wife calls me and says that during the storm a branch fell on her car (1st i am hearing about it) and her whole hood has been severly damaged and i need to call homeowners insurance and have them fix it.... Now with this storm branches were down everywhere in the state because the snow was too heavy on all of the green leaves that were still on the branches. There had been several trees in the yard I have had taken down promptly once they were noted to be dead or close to dead, so this isnt a tree I had neglected to remove...
So my insurance company knows I rent the house out.. would this fall on me, act of nature, or it is their car so on them?? Where I am currently renting if something happened to my car I highly doubt my landlord would pay to fix it... I am just wondering where i stand in this issue, i have not seen a pic of the car... and it sort of bothers me 2 weeks later they tell me about it, hmmmm.....
thanks!!!
Thank you everyone for your input!!! I had my mother and father in law drive by the house since I live an hour away from the house and there was no evidence of any snapped branches in the trees next to the driveway where the car would have been, also any branches or tree debris is already gone from the yard (it is a very small fenced in yard)... SOOOO IDK... I will talk to the insurance company tomorrow ro make sure I am not at fault but i dont see how I can be when there is no evidence of tree damage.. thanks again!
OK Monday AM... It is not my house insurance's responsibility to cover their car, they need to have comp on their car.. that's what I thought, thank you everyone!! House insurance covers if a tree falls on the house, neighbors house, porch, dwelling stuff not car related.... :)
Did the tree fall on the property? Or elsewhere, and she's sticking you with it. Are you located nearby where you can corroborate this story with any neighbors who may have seen it? What about the branch itself, is it still on the property?
As someone in the insurance field for 11 years, let me give you some helpful information.
Anytime your property damages someone else's property, the claim has to be evaluated under your liability coverage. You are NOT liable if the tree limb fell solely because of the storm. If the tree was healthy, showed no signs or rot/decay, and the limb fell because of an act of God (which storms are), there is no negligence on your part. Negligence is what generates a liability payout. There is no way you could be negligent due to a storm coming and it knocking down a healthy tree limb. There is nothing you could have done to prevent it. It does not matter that it was your tree on your property. This is why they should have comprehensive coverage on their vehicle. That coverage is for falling objects on their vehicle. If they only have liability coverage, they are going to have to fix the car themselves.
Now, if the tree was weakened by rot and fell during the storm, then your tenants have a shot at getting a payout from your insurance company. In the case of rot, you could be considered negligent for not taking care of the problem. For example, even if you couldn't see the rot, if you hadn't had your tree pruned in 10 years, your insurance company could conclude that a reasonable person would have had the tree pruned in that time frame and by your failure to do so, you are considered negligent. Your insurance company will come out and inspect the damage and the limb. If the tenants already disposed of the limb, then they will have a hard time getting their claim paid, unless the stump where the limb fell shows signs of decay/rot or some other flaw that should have been taken care of.
If they have comprehensive coverage on their vehicle, their insurance company could pay the claim and present a subrogation demand to your insurance company. Your insurance company would then evaluate the loss and determine if you are liable or not. If so, they would reimburse the other insurance company. If not, they would deny the demand. Happens all the time. Good luck.
thats why they have renters insurance! it's on them not you...if they choose not to have insurance it there fault.
It would be covered thru their comprehensive coverage w/thier automobile insurance and if the insurance company felt there were any negligence on your part (meaning it were a tree limb you intentionally did not cut back and knew about for eons) they would persue a claim against you for the damages paid to recover their damages paid out along w/tenants deductible called subrogation, doubt seriously your homeowners will pay for an act of God. BTW I worked in auto claims for many years.
A lot of good responses. Some surprise me. A friend of mine who was renting had exactly this happen to her during the same storm. A tree branch fell on her car damaging it. She said her car insurance company claimed unless she could prove the tree was already damaged, it was their policy (the car insurance) not her landlord's who needed to be contacted.
Like you, I find the timing to be high suspicious! I would suggest you go over there today and look around for a snapped off branch from a tree near the driveway. Take a camera. It's your property and you have every right to be on the grounds (outside) without notice. Maybe you want to drag a few of the downed branches to the edge of the property or wherever you usually dispose of such things. Don't engage the couple in conversation that reveals your suspicions. Just ask a couple of questions about where the car was parked and perhaps where the branch is. If they took pictures, they will volunteer this info.
Let the insurance company handle it. I doubt they will hold you responsible - the claims are numerous in MA since the storm, and it's their job to handle and sort out legitimate claims from fraudulent ones.
It is your property that damaged her property regardless of the other circumstances. You are liable, even if they were just neighbors and the tree blew from your yard on to their vehicle. Your car insurance and home owners would both be good resources to contact. Some times I have heard of a person having good insurance on their car and if someones car is damaged by anything involving you the car insurance pays some of the repairs. It can't hurt to ask.
It may depend on you state and I don't know your laws but I believe it would fall on THEIR renter's insurance. I would check w/ your agent but before you do, ask the husband and wife when exactly this happened (since he said nothing of it). Keep in mind, that the issue could have occured after your conversation w/ the husband.
I really don't know from a legal standpoint. But as a home-owner myself, if the storm damaged my van, it would be my van insurance that pays for it and not my homeowners insurance that pays for it. It's farmers either way, but they would not put a claim through my homeowners policy for my car, I don't think. I could be wrong.
I think I'd do this. Tell them they must put it through their car insurance. Don't say anything else. If they complain, just tell them that's how it is. THEN, wait to see if you hear from their auto insurance company. Maybe, their insurance company will baulk and the 2 companies will make the claim together or something. This has me scratching my head.
They need to call their insurance company. If they have comprehensive coverage they will need to pay their deductible and it will be covered by their insurance (if that is really what happened).
Margaret T is correct, I work in the insurance industry in MA & they would have to prove you were negligent in order to collect from your liability for the home policy. My guess is that they contacted their car insurance and discovered that they do not have comprehensive coverage or they are trying to collect from you so they do not have to pay a deductible which would apply on the car insurance. good luck :)
I know the timing of the two phone calls probably bothers you....
but if it happened in your yard & it's your tree....then it's your responsibility. You are the owner of the property.
It's a home owner's claim. My husband assesses auto damage (in MA - it's been a busy two weeks for him!) and sometimes he gets claims like this that are filed through the auto insurer. Sometimes the auto insurer pays so that their client's car gets repaired quickly, but they then turn around and get reimbursed by the home owner policy of whoever owns the property.
I don't know the correct answer, but I suggest you let your homeowner's insurance know that they may be hearing from you about this or they may be hearing from a car insurance company. Then I suggest you ask your renters to go throught their car insurance and that you have alerted your home owner's company. And I'm sorry about the tree damage. I lost a precious tree that was very healthy. That was the problem. The healthiest trees had a ton of leaves still on them and suffered some of the worst damage. My best to you.
If the tree was healthy than you should not be liable. I find it fishy they waited 2 weeks, do they have photos of the branch on the car? the damage? the branch still in possession? I would call my insurance company, but minus the above their claim will probably get denied.
So we are renting a house right now and a tree branch actually fell on my husbands car during that nasty storm as well. The landlords immediately asked my husband if any damage had been done to his car, thankfully there had not but they were very proactive and wanting to know if there had been damage that they needed to take care of. I agree, 2 weeks later is wicked sketchy and they should have told/sent pictures to you ASAP! I think it is way too weird that all of a sudden they are saying her car has damage and it's from a tree branch! I know that a lot of branches got stuck in tress coming down, maybe is this the case that afterwards, (we've had some windy weather) that it came down after being stuck in the tree??? I unfortunately think that you may end up being responsible...your tree, her car, but at the end of the day, it's your tree and your property that it happened on.
If there was nothing negligent on your part, I don't think your homeowner's will cover it. She should submit it to her auto coverage and hope she has comprehensive coverage.
I think it a bit odd that nothing was mentioned when you spoke to him, and then 2 weeks later you get a call.... seems like they would have called you sooner than that.
Do they have a picture of the branch on the car (or the branch in the yard next to the car with the damage to the car visible)? Won't the insurance require proof that it fell from YOUR tree in YOUR yard? I'm not an adjuster and don't live where snow is ever an issue, so maybe some of these other mamas know more about this than I can offer. But I think I would want some sort of "proof" that it happened on your property and not somewhere else...
