A Tree Fell On My Car At My Friend's House - Whose Insurance Pays?

I bet if I did a poll, most people would think my friend's homeowner's insurance would pay for my car damage. What do you think?

Reality is, a homeowner's insurance policy only pays for injury or damage that the homeowner is legally liable for. Chances are, the tree or tree limbs fell because of some kind of weather event. In that case, the homeowner is not legally liable as it is an "act of God" occurrence. In that case, you need to have comprehensive coverage on your vehicle to pay for the damage from a falling object.

Now the exception is that if you can show the homeowner knew the tree was in bad shape and needed to be removed or trimmed or something to prevent it from causing injury or damage, then chances are they are legally liable if the tree comes down (even if it is during a storm) and you have a fighting chance of getting their home insurance to pay the claim.

So if you are worried about damage to your vehicle for things other than an auto accident, you will want to add comprehensive coverage to your policy. This covers things like theft, damage due to fire or vandalism, damage from hitting an animal, or damage from a falling object (to name a few things).

To answer the original question, my own auto policy comprehensive coverage (less my deductible) will be the policy that has to pay for damages - not my friend's.