Tree fell on my car as I was driving - how to deal with it?

mrs_sparrow

Today, as I was driving along, a tree snapped in the wind and it fell onto my car as I was driving past, first I knew was the twigs hitting the windscreen. Now I do know I was lucky - the vines surrounding the tree stopped it from falling down to the ground so it fell halfway but as I was driving along it has gouged the top of my year old car to the bare metal in 3 places, almost front to back.

I went home and called the council to report it being dangerous and then popped back to get photos of it, I noticed on another trip out tonight they had cut the tree back. I asked the council how I went about claiming and they told me how, but driving tonight I wondered if there was any point. Also, do we need to tell the insurance company what happened?

We have 2 cars, both registered in my name (as he has a company vehicle) but hubby is insured as main driver on the new one that was damaged today and I on the other as this is my main car - we are both named drivers on the policy.

1) Which policy do I need to claim on - my insurance as driving another vehicle or his insurance as it is for this specific car?

2) If we claim on his insurance, does it affect my NCB on my insurance (it is protected - but do I have to call the ins co to report I am making the claim)

3) Does he have to tell his employer a claim is being made on his policy - as he has a company vehicle he drives.

What a bloody nuisance - I could not be bothered to put diesel in my car so took the new one. What a headache this has turned out to be.

Thanks for any help.

forgotmyname

If you claim from the council then you will need to notify your insurer. With the strength of the winds im not sure you will have any luck claiming from them.

If you were driving with your DOC cover then it wont be covered for the damage by your insurer or his.
So its claim from the council and notify your insurer or put your hand in your pocket and pay for repairs.

If its a fairly new car i would not let anyone drive it with the drive other car extension on their policy.
Their cover is 3rd party only so any damage thats their fault or disputed will need to be paid for my my pocket.

Retrogamer

mrs_sparrow wrote: »

Today, as I was driving along, a tree snapped in the wind and it fell onto my car as I was driving past, first I knew was the twigs hitting the windscreen. Now I do know I was lucky - the vines surrounding the tree stopped it from falling down to the ground so it fell halfway but as I was driving along it has gouged the top of my year old car to the bare metal in 3 places, almost front to back.

I went home and called the council to report it being dangerous and then popped back to get photos of it, I noticed on another trip out tonight they had cut the tree back. I asked the council how I went about claiming and they told me how, but driving tonight I wondered if there was any point. Also, do we need to tell the insurance company what happened?

We have 2 cars, both registered in my name (as he has a company vehicle) but hubby is insured as main driver on the new one that was damaged today and I on the other as this is my main car - we are both named drivers on the policy.

1) Which policy do I need to claim on - my insurance as driving another vehicle or his insurance as it is for this specific car?

2) If we claim on his insurance, does it affect my NCB on my insurance (it is protected - but do I have to call the ins co to report I am making the claim)

3) Does he have to tell his employer a claim is being made on his policy - as he has a company vehicle he drives.

What a bloody nuisance - I could not be bothered to put diesel in my car so took the new one. What a headache this has turned out to be.

Thanks for any help.

You need to claim for the insurance on that specific car.

He should tell his company about the claim as it might affect the insurance policy for them if they pay for it on his behalf.

Claiming on his insurance won't affect your NCB on your own policy but you need to notify them of the claim. It will affect your premium however even with the NCB intact.

Retrogamer

forgotmyname wrote: »

If you were driving with your DOC cover then it wont be covered for the damage by your insurer or his.
So its claim from the council and notify your insurer or put your hand in your pocket and pay for repairs.

They are both insured on the policy on that car as well as having DOC cover due to the policy on another car.

hcb42

Given the high winds today it is the car insurer, not the council you should claim from. The council are not liable for the weather

If you have protected no claims bonus on the policy for that car, then you wont lose this over one claim

Quentin

If you are a named driver on the damaged car's policy then that is the policy to claim off. (Your DOC cover doesn't cover this damage anyway - and in any case you cannot use any DOC cover to make a claim if you are also a named driver on the car's policy)

tomnat

hcb42 wrote: »

Given the high winds today it is the car insurer, not the council you should claim from. The council are not liable for the weather

If you have protected no claims bonus on the policy for that car, then you wont lose this over one claim

This is spot on im afraid, you would only be successful in claiming from the council if you could prove that the tree was diseased or in an unsafe condition prior to the high winds which would therefore cause it to be a possible hazard to users of the highway. There is also a possibility that although the tree may have fallen across the highway and onto your car, it may have been originally situated within private land, in which case any claim would have to be directed to the land owner. I used to work within this field in local government and we would encounter many issues with trees blowing down in the wind. 99.9% of the time Im afraid it is unpreventable and just "Act of God"

I've got every sympathy with you and hope you get sorted.

mrs_sparrow

Thank you very much for the replies. That has helped a lot, thank you - although I am still completely gutted.

I will first see how much it will cost to have the roof resprayed tomorrow. I hit an animal about 10 years back and it never affected the premium with the NCBP so I will have to go through that route.

Oh poo. I guess this is why we have insurance though.

Yes, we are both insured on a car each with the other being a named driver. My husbands company has nothing to do with the insurance on our personal cars but I did not know whether my claiming on his policy was going to affect his works policy. Would the claim be mine, or his, can someone please confirm.

Sorry, if I sound an idiot, this is not something we obviously make a habit of and I do look after my cars, hence being so disappointed.

PS. Is DOC Drive Own Car? Thanks.

Sparx

It's your claim, on that car's insurance policy. It has no effect on your husband's business car ins policy, assuming the car you was in is a personal car with personal insurance?

foxtrotoscar_2

DOC= Drive Other Cars....third party only, ie damage to the car you are driving if you are at fault for an accident is not covered.

stator

As above claim from the policy for that car.

It is worth putting in a Freedom Of Information request to the council regarding trees on that street, what has been reported by members of the public and whether they have had any professional assessments done on the trees to see if they are dangerous. Also look on google streetview and see for yourself if they look okay.

If anything shows up and the council might be negligent, let your insurer know. If they're not interested you could claim direct against the council for your insurance excess. But you need to prove negligence. If there was no evidence the tree was in a bad condition then they aren't liable.