Home Owners insurance and Trees - You Love Them Your insurance enterprise Hates Them

Coverage for damage caused by trees and for the trees themselves is one of many confusing areas of a Homeowners assurance policy.

Your neighbors' tree falls and damages your garage, shed and fence.
Will assurance pay for the damage?
Whose assurance should pay?
What will they pay for?

Insurance

A tree falls in your yard.
Will your assurance policy pay for it to be removed?
Will it pay for a new tree?

A tree limb breaks from wind or a lightning storm and is dangling over your house.
Will your assurance policy pay for it to be removed?
What if it's hanging over a neighbor's house?

A tree falls on your car.
What policy will cover the damage to my car?
Is there coverage for the tree removal?

First, the basics; it does not matter whose tree it was. If there is damage to your asset (from anyone's tree) your assurance policy is the one to respond. If there is damage from your tree to a neighbor's property, their assurance policy is involved. If there is damage to both properties (from anyone's tree) both policies will be involved and each will deal with its own asset only.

The only time a Homeowners assurance policy should be involved with damage to person else's asset is if there is liability involved. That is if the tree was rotten or leaning and should have been removed or trimmed prior to the damage occurring. Even then the damaged properties assurance policy will commonly pay for their customer's damage and then try to recover their money from the tree owners' assurance company.

Second, the prominent observation for coverage is; what is physically damaged. If a tree, or portion of a tree, falls and does not damage any real asset there is no coverage. Real asset is any building, structure or contents item it does not contain land, landscaping or plants of any kind. A fence, shed, patio, driveway, swing set or bike would count as real property.

If a tree falls into your yard and does not cause any damage to the home or any other real asset then there is no coverage to remove the tree or for any cleanup. Sorry!

If there is damage to whatever such as a fence then the policy should cover repairs or transfer of the damaged item(s) and also dinky coverage for extraction of the tree. To make this even more confusing; the tree extraction coverage is divided in 2 phases.

Phase 1: Getting the tree removed off of the real asset is covered with no sub-limit. That is if a tree is on a storage shed then the first stage of tree extraction is to remove it off the shed so repairs can be made. The only limit for this part of the extraction is the coverage limit on this section of your policy; in this case the Other Structures coverage.

If the repairs to the shed and the tree extraction combined are greater than the coverage available then there is an further coverage available for debris removal. This is 5% in most cases, so if you have ,000 coverage on Other Structures you can have up to ,500 for the repairs and tree extraction cost.

Phase 2: The second stage of tree extraction is removing the tree debris off the premises. This portion is dinky to 0 or ,000, this limit can vary by assurance company, policy type and state involved.

Third, the tree itself is covered in unavoidable dinky circumstances and for a dinky whole only. The tree is not covered for wind or hail damage but is covered for damage from fire, lightning, explosion, vandalism and car damage (as long as it was not a car driven by members of your family). The limit is typically 0 per tree but can be more on some policies and in some states.

Fourth, If a damaged tree is leaning toward your home or dangling precipitously over your home what is covered? Assuming that portion of the tree has not damaged real asset then there is No coverage. Even if other tree or portion of the same tree has caused damage.

It is your responsibility to protect your property. The assurance policy only covers damage, Not possible damage. The same is true if one of your trees is dangling over person else's property, no coverage for possible damage.

If you ignore the situation and the tree later falls and causes damage to the neighbor's home their assurance will cover their damage. They will then want to recover their money from your assurance company, or you. This is called subrogation.

If the later damage occurs to your home your assurance business could try to deny coverage because you did not protect the property.

The Homeowners assurance policy covers sudden and accidental damage it is not a maintenance policy.

Finally, damage to any automobile will only be covered on the auto policy (then only if you have whole coverage). The tree extraction will not be covered by your Homeowners policy unless other real asset was damaged.

See our websites mentioned below for more information. You can send direct questions or read what other homeowners have asked.

Home Owners insurance and Trees - You Love Them Your insurance enterprise Hates Them