<p>I am hoping someone can answer this question for me. I want to have an idea of the protocol before I talk to friend or my insurance company.</p>
<p>My car was parked in a friends driveway. While it was there an large tree branch fell onto the fender of my car, denting it. The way it is dented in, it is preventing the hood from being able to open, so it has to be fixed.</p>
<p>Is this something my auto insurance covers? Does their homeowners cover it or help with my deductible? </p>
<p>I am hoping the answer is that my insurance will contact and work with their homeowners without us having to get involved directly to prevent things from becoming awkward.</p>
<p>I think that is your answer. Contact your auto and they will sort it out with her homeowners most likely. I’m assuming it was her tree as well as her driveway. If it wasn’t her tree I wouldn’t think there would be liability just based on it happening in her driveway. It seems the liability would be with the owner of the tree.</p>
<p>I don’t think the tree owner has liability unless the tree was known to be diseased. At least in my state, I know if my home is damaged by a neighbor’s tree it would be on my insurance, not theirs. So I would not expect my neighbor’s insurance to cover a friend’s car either. </p>
<p>But I’d start with my own auto insurer. They can at least offer guidance. </p>
<p>We just had our tree snap Ina storm and fall into neighbors yard. We were not responsible for pay info have it removed (it was perfectly healthy tree), but we did. I have no idea about how it works with a car. </p>
<p>Why don’t you call insurance companies ?<br>
Everybod y here has different contracts (not only different from Insurance compnay to another, but contact may be different within the same insurance company). You will need the subscriber ID (and maybe a group ID) and customer service should be able to answer, if not, then ask for a supervisor. </p>
<p>I spoke to the insurance adjustor today. They said my comprehensive would cover it. The only way that their homeowners would get involved is if they had a dead branch and knew about it, but didn’t address it. If they had a dead branch or not, I wouldn’t know. I guess I am out the deductible unless they volunteer to participate. </p>
<p>I’d check to see whether your policy premiums would go up and by how much to decide whether to fix the damage myself and NOT have a claim or go ahead and let insurance pay for repairs minus the deductible. For our insurer, premiums went up a shocking amount for any claims, so we prefer to only use it with HIGH damages which justify the increased premiums for 3 years.</p>
<p>Good point. I think this insurance is pretty good at not jumping rates after a claim, but I will check. I am going to find out how much it is to fix and then ask them about any increases to compare.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, if this happened in your driveway from your tree would you offer to help?</p>
<p>I’d be a bit sad that someone in my driveway suffered property damage, but really would see it as not a good idea to park under a tree. I wouldn’t be thrilled to have a guest asking me to pay out of pocket for damage she got while visiting me–not sure what I’d do as I have never had anyone ask me for money for anything that happened on my property. I think it might weaken my friendship to be asked for payment for something that is really an “act of nature.” </p>
<p>If it was my car and the amount was something I could handle, I probably would only mention it in passing to my friend and not expect her to offer any money. If it was a HUGE amount (several $1000s) and would be tough for me to pay the amount needed for my car to be functional, I’d explain the situation to the friend and see what she was wiling to do to help.</p>
<p>Yes, getting an estimate as to how much it will cost to repair the damage would seem to be the 1st step. You can generally get free estimates from several shops & figure out what you want to do and get a good feel for expenses.</p>
<p>It should be fairly easy to pound the hood out, unless it is fiberglass in which case it would be more expensive.</p>
<p>I try and not park under trees cause sticky crap, plus squirrels upabove hurling acorns and pine cones down on the roof of my car.
Because my neighbor has huge oaks in his planting strip, even when I am down my driveway, I am targeted by #%^*ing squirrels.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t ever ask someone to pay out of pocket because the damage happened at their house, but if it were my tree that fell on someones car I would feel like I should offer. I just wondered if anyone else felt that way.</p>
<p>If my insurance company told me it was their homeowners responsibility I would also feel bad making a claim against their insurance if that is what was supposed to be done. That is why I even said up thread that I would rather the insurance companies worked it out without me getting involved if that was how things were going to go.</p>
<p>As it turns out, our carrier said it is our comprehensive that covers it so that is what we are doing (as long as it makes sense to file a claim). I have no intention of asking them to help pay the deductible, I just wondered if people would feel guilty not offering to help.</p>
<p>For the record where I live, if you want to park somewhere that isn’t under a tree you will have to park in the next town and walk!</p>
<p>Even when we found out our tree snapping and falling in someone else’s yard was not our responsibility, we paid, so we would probably at least help pay for something like what happened to you. I suppose it depends somewhat on circumstance</p>