Home insurance question?

[Barbara!]

A little while ago, we had a storm here.

My neighbors have a very heavy trampoline. In the storm, the wind kicked up to 60 MPH, and threw the trampoline over my truck. It has damaged it pretty badly.

Now the owners are saying that their home owners insurance doesn't cover it due to the "Act Of God" clause. That doesn't make any sense, to me. An Act of God is when something happens that is unpreventable. Their trampoline flying into and damaging my vehicle is preventable, as they should have had their trampoline secured somehow.

I was under the impression that if you have things outside of your home that could possibly become airborne in a storm and damage someone's property, that you were supposed to have it tied down, and if you didn't, your home owners insurance would be responsible for the damage.

It doesn't make sense to me how my truck can suffer $3,400 in damages due to their negligence and I have to pay for it out of MY pocket.

If anyone can clear this up for me, that would be great. What should I do?

 

[stardogs]

Can you talk to *your* insurance agent? They usually are pretty happy to make sure they don't have to pay for damage if at all possible and thus may be more able to get some satisfaction from your neighbor's company.

 

[Barbara!]

Truck insurance is liability. They don't cover it. ):

 

[Renee750il]

You may have to file suit against them, naming the neighbors and their insurance company, being sure to note that their trampoline was NOT secured, which is definitely what a person of reasonable care would have done. Talk to an attorney. The costs should be part of the judgment/settlement.

 

[Renee750il]

OH! And if you haven't already, TAKE PHOTOS.

 

[Miakoda]

A tree coming down (or its branches) is an "act of nature". Damage from the trampoline is indeed covered. I know this for a fact seeing as how I've been through many hurricanes down here with trampolines involved in damage.

However, they may have that trampoline "illegally". By that I mean there insurance company may have a ban on trampolines or the trampoline is something that had to have been discolsed for the insurance company to cover damages caused by it. Trampolines are add-ons, like pools and pets, for many insurance companies.

You can definitely go after your neighbor though. Take them to small claims if you have to. Down here, everyone knows to turn a trampoline upside down and stake it down, or just stake it down where it stands, in the event of a storm.

During Gustav, our neighbors trampoline cleared our shared 8 ft privacy fence, and caused damage to the siding of our house and broke a kitchen window. Their insurance paid that part of our home repair (our insurance covered the rest).

 

[Barbara!]

I don't think my boyfriend really wants to take them to court. We have taken a good bit of pictures, video included. I think my boyfriend feels that it's rude...and well, yeah, it is...

But we have two vehicles. My car, his truck. My car has a good bit of body damage but his truck doesn't. They are both old, "get from point a to point b" type of vehicles and we live in a house that isn't much better than a trailer. Our neighbors live over a creek from us, in a separate, much more wealthy neighborhood. They have a huge house, brand new vehicles (one of which they JUST purchased) and are obviously VERY well off financially. We went to ask them about it all after it happened, and it took them days to get back to us. She simply said "our insurance doesn't cover it because of the act of God clause". She didn't offer to help, or anything. Ya know, if I was well off, and my trampoline crashed into some poor people's meager means of getting around and one of few valuable things they own, I would offer to help.

Is it wrong that I'm slightly mad at these people? I mean, they haven't been rude, just short with us. And it sucks. I get to look at their big awesome house everyday and day dream about it while I have money issues and they get to walk away when their trampoline causes $3,400 in damages to my boyfriends truck.

We don't have a whole lot of money... UGH.

If it was you guys, what would YOU do? These people aren't mean, they aren't rude, they're just...nothing. Lol. Just our neighbors who had their trampoline crash into our truck. They apologized, but that's about it.

Is small claims court expensive? We would probably win, and that would be great.

 

[sassafras]

What I would do is call my auto insurance company, explain the situation to them, and let the insurance companies fight it out. They're not going to want to pay out if they don't have to, and they are far better prepared to hash it out with your neighbor's homeowner's company than you are.

Then if that doesn't work out, I would file the court paperwork. The notice of a lawsuit alone is often enough to get people to offer to settle out of court.

 

[HayleyMarie]

Honestly, I would go after them. And how do you really know if their insurance company will not cover it? They might just be lieing so their insurance does not increase. I would also call your car insurance and see what advice they could give you.

 

[JustaLilBitaLuck]

A tree coming down (or its branches) is an "act of nature". Damage from the trampoline is indeed covered. I know this for a fact seeing as how I've been through many hurricanes down here with trampolines involved in damage.

This. Absolutely. I researched this quite a bit during a bad storm we had here - one of our neighbors trees came down and took out our fence. That was technically an "act of nature" - there's nothing anyone could have done (short of cutting it down) to ensure it didn't fall down. However...someone's property (trampolines, picnic tables, etc) flying into someone else's property could have absolutely been prevented.

 

[Renee750il]

Yes, they are being terribly rude, and condescending.

I'd insist on getting their insurance information and, if they aren't forthcoming, file a suit. "Act of God" my ass.

 

[Barbara!]

I just have to convince the boyfriend... I think the paperwork alone would be enough for them to give us the money.

 

[Renee750il]

This kind of stuff just pisses me off royally.

 

[Barbara!]

Trust me, me too. I have to look at their big ass house every day and they don't even OFFER to help with anything? And they saw Josh's truck....ugh. People. He's nice though. Too nice. Not sure if he is going to want to take them to court.

 

[Renee750il]

People like that bank on people like Josh . . .

 

[Grab]

I do think their insurance would pay for it. As was suggested, see if your insurance company will call theirs. Otherwise, you'd likely do well in small claims court. I don't think it's much to file and, as you said, the paperwork alone might convince them to just pay it.

I will note, though, that their living in a large/expensive house and appearing to have money does not necessarily mean they are well off. They might be, but you don't know their financial situation (I am assuming). Perhaps they pay a ton in medical bills. Perhaps they support children. Maybe only one of them works. Even well off people can be overwhelmed with bills.

Now, this does NOT mean they should not either turn it into their insurance company or just pay the damages out of pocket. They are definitely responsible. However, appearing to be well off does not mean that they have $3000 lying around.

We certainly do not have a lot of cash..and in the summer we're just on my paycheck, so by the end of the summer we're barely scraping by. But, not once have I ever been bitter when around people with more money than we have. *shrug*

 

[Renee750il]

I didn't take it so much as being bitter that they have more money so much as being angry at being treated like damages don't matter because Barbara and her SOs things aren't new and expensive. THAT would rub anyone the wrong way.

I've known people who had a great deal who treated others with respect regardless of what they did or didn't have -- and then some who really did feel like the appearance of monetary status gave them special privilege. Those people suck.

 

[Barbara!]

No, it's not that they have nice things that makes me thing they are "well off". They flaunt their money in various ways and made a point to brag about how much the trampoline costed and how it "didn't matter" and that they "spend that in a weekend".

Anyways, their trampoline also did damage to our rental home, in which the landlords are taking care of. They came by today to pick up rent and apparently the woman who owns the trampoline gave them the same "my insurance doesn't cover it" BS. My landlords know better than that and are having their insurance company file suit with them. I think the woman who owns the trampoline may have gotten incorrect information from her insurance company, because of course they don't want her to file a claim that will lose them money. Also, I think the lady is under the impression that she will have to pay her $5,000 deductible... And my landlord says you only have to pay the deductible if the damages are on YOUR OWN property. So maybe once she realizes that her insurance DOES cover it, and that she won't have to pay a deductible, she may file a claim without us having to go to court. I sure hope so because my boyfriend isn't going to want to take her to small claims and well...I want to.

Also, I'm bitter at them for not taking responsibility for their actions and for their trampoline and for acting like it isn't something they could have prevented. And having a brand new truck that they brag about while not batting an eye at the fact that the only vehicle my boyfriend has and can afford is now mangled and not even offering to help AT ALL. Of course that's frustrating.

 

[yoko]

What I would do is call my auto insurance company, explain the situation to them, and let the insurance companies fight it out. They're not going to want to pay out if they don't have to, and they are far better prepared to hash it out with your neighbor's homeowner's company than you are.

Then if that doesn't work out, I would file the court paperwork. The notice of a lawsuit alone is often enough to get people to offer to settle out of court.

I don't know if it's different in different states but liability will absolutely not pay for anything. The insurance company will not fight for it because they wouldn't pay for it in the first place.

Trust me, me too. I have to look at their big ass house every day and they don't even OFFER to help with anything? And they saw Josh's truck....ugh. People. He's nice though. Too nice. Not sure if he is going to want to take them to court.

Like others said that doesn't mean anything. When I worked for Braums there were hundreds of people like that with huge houses, buying expensive cars and blowing money and bragging about it. But most of them were so deep in debt it's not even funny.

Are storms like this common? If so I think it would be smart to get better insurance. I live in tornado alley and it was just always a given to me that since I was carrying liability on my old car if a storm, not even a tornado just a bad storm, came through and a tree/trashcan/part of a house/kids toy took it out it was going to be a total loss.

 

[Barbara!]

They're not really all that common. This is the first tornado here in years. And the first time I've experienced storms like this in the 3 years I've lived here. It's supposedly the heat.