Today part of my neighbor’s tree fell in my backyard. It did not hit the house but did crush an old metal shed I don’t use and break one section of the chain-link fence. The main branch is about 10-12 inches in diameter and it will have to be cut up to get out of the yard. I’ve owned the house 10 years and have never had to use my insurance. I don’t know if I should just deal with this myself or file a claim. Will my rate go up if I do file a claim? Are there any other penalties?
My deductible is $500. In checking Angie’s List, I can probably get a tree service to remove the debris for much less than that. Getting the fence fixed shouldn’t be too expensive. Then again, I have no idea how much it would cost to have the shed taken down and hauled away. I had decided to go that route but tonight I’m wavering. If anyone has had a similar experience and can offer advice, it would be much appreciated. I’ll have to decide one way or the other tomorrow.
We have trees fall all the time; big yard, lots of trees.
First off, not sure why you have to decide so fast. We had a tree fall in January; we just now are getting it taken care of. Our insurance doesn’t care when we file the claim.
I’d file a claim if I were you; it will probably be enough to either fix or haul off the shed and clean up the tree. Also, we’ve found that once a year, our insurance pays for $1K worth of “tree clean up” - we use that just about every year and have them come and pick up all the deadfall around our house. Yeah, we also have a $500 deductible, but it’s WAY easier to have them do it than try to do it ourselves. Then again, like I said, we tend to have a lot of trees fall. In a given year, at least three or four. Most of the time, they fall in the woods, and don’t cause us any problems. Every once in a while one will come down across our driveway, or, like what happened this year, in the part of the yard that’s fenced-in for the dogs.
Just a heads up, if you file this claim, you will be reminded of it with higher quotes for the next several years. When we recently investigated obtaining insurance on a new home, we were naively shocked at the impact of having made a claim on our previous home. And ALL insurers have access to your claim history, not just your provider.
In short - even tho you have been paying those premiums for years and may think this exactly the sort of thing you’d expect protection/compensation for, I’d recommend saving your claim for the BIG losses.
Exactly the same situation happened to me. I filed a claim and my insurance basically asked me a few questions and cut me a check. When they assess the claim, they aren’t going to shop Angies Lost to find the cheapest guy in town. They will pay what a normal arborist would charge - Same with the fence and the shed. It will probably come out to way more than $500. You’ve been paying for 10 years against this very event - time for the insurance company to step up and do they part of the job. This is so small they won’t even bother sending anyone out to check.
I’ve never heard of them increasing rates but I haven’t made many claims over the years.
I thought you had to let them know asap. Besides, the debris is strewn over the small back yard and is blocking the gate. It’s not something I can leave indefinately. So I want to get started one way or the other.
In checking my policy this morning, I see that I receive a 15% discount for being claim free. So, at the least, I’ll lose that. I’m still debating with myself at this point.
I wish! In my state, if a neighbor’s tree falls in your yard, it’s your responsibility. I have another neighbor’s tree which extends over my roof. I always get it cut back when I have my own trees trimmed. In hindsight, I should have had this one cut back, too, but as it didn’t seem to threaten the house, I didn’t worry about it.
No, for residential trees the rule generally is that the insurer for the property where it falls is responsible. The above article discusses this point as well.
A very good article, Tom, thanks for posting that.
aurora marie, did the limb just fall of its own accord or was a storm involved? Does the tree itself show evidence of work having been performed on it previously? Finally, had you and the tree owner had any discussions about the limbs that extended over on to your property… had you talked with them about removing the limb before it fell and caused damage?
Most people now will tell you don’t use your insurance unless your house burns down. Sadly that’s the way the system works now. Any kind of claim can result in your coverage being cancelled after the claim is paid out.
Insurance companies have decided that money should only flow in, not out so if you dare to file a claim they dump you.
That hasn’t been my experience. We had a big claim a few years ago, a bad hail storm came through and damaged our roof, siding, and a car. If I remember right, it was $40-$45K in damage. Neither our car insurance nor our home insurance premiums went up, nor were we cancelled.
And, lieu, the limb fell with no storm or wind. As far as I know, in the ten years I have been there nothing has been done to the tree. It’s leafy and looked fine until this happened. Now I can see where it is dying up in the canapy. A rental company owns the property. I’ve never seen the owners. In reading that article, it looks like I need to send a letter to the rental company and tell them the tree is dying and needs to be removed before it does any more damage. They may just ignore me but maybe if they think I’d try to sue them for negligence, they would do something.
ADAIK, our policy was not cancelled, and our rates did not increase after filing the claim. But when we sold that house and later were looking into buying and insuring a new home, we were (ignorantly) surprised to learn the impact our prior claim on the rates we were quoted - including from our old insurer.
IANAL but it looks from the linked article and another I read that you’d have to prove negligence and file suit against the owner. Negligence would be difficult to prove since the tree ‘appeared’ healthy until the incident and no written record exists of you contacting them to raise an alarm about its health beforehand. I wish someone in the know would give you an answer you’d rather hear but that’s how I interpret it anyway.
Still, I’d certainly talk to the rental company and see what steps they’re willing to take to resolve the accident and prevent another from occurring, especially now that you can show them the tree is in distress and becoming a nuisance. If it needs to be removed entirely then they should be reasonable about including the limb in their work.
It’s probably too late to do anything about this incident but it looks like a good idea to have some documentation in case of future problems with the rest of the tree. And in that light, I’ve decided to go ahead and contact the insurance company. I’ll talk to my agent and see what he advises on getting in touch with the rental company.
Auto-Owner’s Insurance (yeah, for our house AND cars. Weird name).
But I don’t think it’s just them; the hailstorm came through and damaged about half the town. I personally know 3-4 people, including my parents and 2 brothers, who had the same or more damage that we did, and nobody was cancelled, nor did their insurance premiums go up as far as I know. I’ll double check with my Mom, but I’m pretty sure I would have heard about it if they had - it’s the kind of thing she keeps track of and would have complained to me about.
