Would car insurance cover this?

[duffer]

Say you’re parked on the street. Someone jumps from a building and totals your car. Generally speaking, would your auto policy cover that? Or would they consider it an act of God?

[Fear_Itself]

@duffer

Say you’re parked on the street. Someone jumps from a building and totals your car. Generally speaking, would your auto policy cover that? Or would they consider it an act of God?

It would be covered under the comprehensive coverage of most policies.

Regarding the Act of God angle, I have a personal experience that is relevant. My father died of an undetermined seizure while driving, resulting in a crash that injured my mother and two passengers. His insurance (AAA), declined to pay the medical expenses of the passengers, citing the Act of God clause. Their reasoning was that since my father was medically disabled by an unforeseeable condition, he was not liable for the accident, therefore his insurance was not liable. We assisted the passengers in suing AAA, and won a judgement for their medical expenses.

[yabob]

Point of clarification - “acts of God” are generally covered - this is what the “comprehensive” portion of your car insurance is for. For instance, it covers you when a tree falls on your car (or, interestingly enough, if you hit a deer). Comprehensive also covers acts of vandalism, so I imagine it would cover somebody jumping on your car.

[anson2995]

You might recall that this happened to George Costanza while he was visiting a friend at the hospital. He tried to get the hospital administrator to cover the costs, to no avail.

[duffer]

Thanks for the answer.

[Rick]

@Fear Itself

It would be covered under the comprehensive coverage of most policies.

Regarding the Act of God angle, I have a personal experience that is relevant. My father died of an undetermined seizure while driving, resulting in a crash that injured my mother and two passengers. His insurance (AAA), declined to pay the medical expenses of the passengers, citing the Act of God clause. Their reasoning was that since my father was medically disabled by an unforeseeable condition, he was not liable for the accident, therefore his insurance was not liable. We assisted the passengers in suing AAA, and won a judgement for their medical expenses.

This strikes me as being a little strange, since liability is not required for med pay coverage. Medical payment coverage does not require a finding of fault for it to kick in. It is designed this way to keep small claims from having to go to court.

[Fear_Itself]

@Rick

This strikes me as being a little strange, since liability is not required for med pay coverage.

I agree. It was a unsupportable ploy by an insurance company to deny benefits. It failed.

[Ruby]

I’m an insurance adjuster. In my experience, the term “Act of God” is rarely used, but when it is, it’s in the context of a liability claim. For example, if your tree falls on your neighbor’s house during a windstorm, do you owe for the neighbor’s damage. In most instances, the answer would be ‘no’ because you were not negligent. Your neighbor’s property was damaged by an “Act of God”.

The OP’s been properly answered. A human body, a tree, or ladder in the garage falling onto your car would be fully covered under your policy’s comprehensive coverage.