Insurance guys (1 Viewer)

[Wrigley]

This past weekend our area was hit by what can only be described as a micro-burst, knocking over small trees, and larger tree limbs   It was a cray 5 minutes 

One of these larger tree limbs happened to fall on my neighbors fence and trampoline 

told the wife to call our insurance, thinking our tree our fault 

just wondering if that’s really the right call?   It was an “act of god” and not necessarily our fault.  
 

Who should be filing a claim, the neighbor or us?  
 

 

[jobarules]

Why would you file a claim? Nothing of yours was damaged.

 

[TLEF316]

Your neighbor files. If his carrier wants to subrogate against your policy,  they'll do so. 

 

[jobarules]

He files the claim with his insurance.

https://www.allstate.com/tr/home-insurance/fence-damage.aspx#:~:text=What If Your Neighbor's Tree,with your own insurance company.

 

[-fish-]

Depends what state you're in.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

There's a couple ways to go here but I'll answer the insurance part of this. And this goes to cars and homes and all that stuff. Whoever has their property damaged files with their insurance company which then will go after the other insurance carrier(depending on who is at fault). I was involved in a fender bender a few months back and he rear ended me and was ticketed, totally his fault. But I wanted to have control over where I went to have my car worked on so I opened the claim with my carrier. Believe me they tried to trick me into going with the other guy's insurance carrier initially since he was at fault. 

Insurance is to put you back together as complete as possible and then deal with who they are going to go after at a later date, your immediate ability to be 100% again is what is most important. I had a $500 deductible and they made me feel like I was going to be OUT the money but low and behold a few months later and look what came in the mail. My way saved a lot of time and grief, they wanted me to go thru some shop in downtown WPB which is a good 20 miles from my door and not convenient. 

Just let them know if they ask if you're going to pay for it, their insurance company can take it up with yours...this also sounds like a People's Court case, I guess they could sue for the cost of a new trampoline? Not sure how all that would work.   

Good luck!

 

[Chris B.]

TLEF316's response is the long and short of it.

 

[SpurrierisisGod]

What TLEF said.

Oh and fences are considered easements so insurance will most likely only cover a prorated (based on age/life of fence) amount for just the damaged section.  Unless It took out an entire run of brand new fencing, it's most likely not going to cover any decent amount of repair.

 

[Sand]

As far as I know you're not responsible just because it's your tree.  Their insurance should cover regardless of where the tree came from.  Unless your tree was rotting and you were put on notice that it was a hazard.

 

[Wrigley]

What TLEF said.

Oh and fences are considered easements so insurance will most likely only cover a prorated (based on age/life of fence) amount for just the damaged section.  Unless It took out an entire run of brand new fencing, it's most likely not going to cover any decent amount of repair.

The fence is less than 3 months old…. 2 sections completely damaged

just got into a shouting match with said neighbor, told him he’d have to file with his insurance because the damage was to their property    He tried telling me that the tree was a liability because “it’s obviously dead”   Well(me pointing at tree) that dead tree sure has a whole lot of leaves on it 

 He isn’t happy 

if this happened with any other neighbor, it wouldn’t be a problem.  Just so happens that we don’t really get along with them(that’s a whole other story)

if he wasn’t such a Richard, I’d be out there removing the limbs myself.   But, F him.  It’s why I’ve got insurance 

 

[SpurrierisisGod]

The fence is less than 3 months old…. 2 sections completely damaged

just got into a shouting match with said neighbor, told him he’d have to file with his insurance because the damage was to their property    He tried telling me that the tree was a liability because “it’s obviously dead”   Well(me pointing at tree) that dead tree sure has a whole lot of leaves on it 

 He isn’t happy 

if this happened with any other neighbor, it wouldn’t be a problem.  Just so happens that we don’t really get along with them(that’s a whole other story)

if he wasn’t such a Richard, I’d be out there removing the limbs myself.   But, F him.  It’s why I've got insurance 

Hurricane country down here....

Ivan blew a tree from my yard across the chain link into neighbors yard.  I got offered pennies of SECTION  of a 30 year fence that was already 15 years old.  So basically 50% material cost (fence already 1/2 life) on maybe 10% secrion of the fence.  It was like 1k short of my deductible.  

Neighbor came out and asked the adjuster what they could do and he said "call YOUR insurance".

So yeah....neighbor can suck it up and call his company.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

The fence is less than 3 months old…. 2 sections completely damaged

just got into a shouting match with said neighbor, told him he’d have to file with his insurance because the damage was to their property    He tried telling me that the tree was a liability because “it’s obviously dead”   Well(me pointing at tree) that dead tree sure has a whole lot of leaves on it 

 He isn’t happy 

if this happened with any other neighbor, it wouldn’t be a problem.  Just so happens that we don’t really get along with them(that’s a whole other story)

if he wasn’t such a Richard, I’d be out there removing the limbs myself.   But, F him.  It’s why I’ve got insurance 

I don't understand why he's mad at you, why does there always have to be a smoking gun or bad guy? Goofy #### happens but I think he does not understand how insurance works or thinks his policy is somehow going to skyrocket because this happened.

He's probably just pissed off he has to lift a finger and make a couple phone calls, it is a major PIA let's not sugarcoat it but it wasn't personal. But this turkey thinks its getting personal or there is bad blood prior to this somehow? Good luck 

 

[Wrigley]

I don't understand why he's mad at you, why does there always have to be a smoking gun or bad guy? Goofy #### happens but I think he does not understand how insurance works or thinks his policy is somehow going to skyrocket because this happened.

He's probably just pissed off he has to lift a finger and make a couple phone calls, it is a major PIA let's not sugarcoat it but it wasn't personal. But this turkey thinks its getting personal or there is bad blood prior to this somehow? Good luck 

I seriously think he thought we would just cover the costs of the fence(and trampoline) without looking into our options   
 

End of last summer last year, the same tree lost another large branch.  The storm had taken down several trees in the neighborhood, including one of the said neighbors    
 

He claims he told me then that our tree was dead, and we should have done something about it    The tree clearly is not dead, although it’s not nearly a full as it used to be   I’m convinced he’s trying to pass on the liability, and he’s pissed  that we won’t take responsibility 

We live in a quite cul-de-sac and get along with everyone, sans them.   I mean we say hello and wave, but we’re not being invited over for drinks anytime soon 
 

Ive told the wife to let the insurance companies handle it(she’s pretty fired up), no need to kick the hornets nest

 

[jb1020]

The only scenario where you might have to file is if it were a dead tree and the neighbor had documentation that he had asked you to do something about the dead tree cause it was a hazard.  I've still never seen that play out. 

His property is damaged from a windstorm....his problem.  

ETA - just saw your last post @Wrigley you're still good.  Stay out of it.  

 

[[icon]]

What TLEF said.

Oh and fences are considered easements so insurance will most likely only cover a prorated (based on age/life of fence) amount for just the damaged section.  Unless It took out an entire run of brand new fencing, it's most likely not going to cover any decent amount of repair.

Surprisingly State Farm covered my back fence when it was taken out by a nearby tornado once. Fence was likely a decade old and the check they cut was 50% over the replacement cost with my contractor. Fixed a sagging gate with the balance. 

I realize State Farm is often known for going above and beyond, but wanted to share. 

 

[[icon]]

I seriously think he thought we would just cover the costs of the fence(and trampoline) without looking into our options   
 

End of last summer last year, the same tree lost another large branch.  The storm had taken down several trees in the neighborhood, including one of the said neighbors    
 

He claims he told me then that our tree was dead, and we should have done something about it    The tree clearly is not dead, although it’s not nearly a full as it used to be   I’m convinced he’s trying to pass on the liability, and he’s pissed  that we won’t take responsibility 

We live in a quite cul-de-sac and get along with everyone, sans them.   I mean we say hello and wave, but we’re not being invited over for drinks anytime soon 
 

Ive told the wife to let the insurance companies handle it(she’s pretty fired up), no need to kick the hornets nest

First Bold: Shhhhhh...  

Second Bold: That's the play. His insurance company will handle it.

 

[TLEF316]

Yeah, obviously every policy is different, but most insurance carriers (at least good ones. If you go with some dinky carrier just for the cheapest price, that's on you) value the customer loyalty for paying claims over the small amount of money they might save fighting them.

A lot of carriers won't bother with subrogation on something like this either. Again....its a question of resources. They'll probably spend more in terms of man hours and legal costs going after your policy to get the $$$ back than they'd save on the damages. 

 

[SWC]

there is only one solution to this problem and what you do is go out with a chainsaw and you carve that branch into a bear or possible a giant eagle both of which are all the rage as far as chainsaw art goes in northern wisconny and then bam that neighbor says well hey he may have taken down my crappy fence and the eyesore trampoline that my kids havent touched in three years which you can actually hear rusting on a quiet night but on the plus side he did carve me up this sweet bear holding a trout and bam you are best buddies moving forward and that my friend is how you insure you have a good neighbor take that to the bank bromigos 

 

[Beef Ravioli]

Just so happens that we don’t really get along with them(that’s a whole other story)

Go on…

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

Take pictures that show the dead tree and the fallen branch have leaves on them.

Ignore the neighbor.

 

[Wrigley]

Go on…

Let’s see how this plays out first