Mayday Mayday - Tree fell on my car!

New.Novice · 11th August 2010, 06:55

Folks,

I got woken up by security of our society at 6 in the morning. They had a news for me. And the news still has to sink in.

A tree ,from outside of the fence of our society, fell off. It has 3 cars under it, one being mine. I rushed to take a look. My car is right middle in the mess, i can walk up to her along the wall, see her from front.

The wind screen seems intact. So does the front panels, am expecting (and hoping against the hope its not) some damage at the rear which is absolutely not accesible/visible.

Logged in here to quickly check what is the role of insurere here. My car, a Ford Fiesta, is 4 months old. I have taken a few pics, any pointers would be highly appreciated.

Let me know what I should and should not do.

My car is right inside this

Mayday Mayday - Tree fell on my car!-image0302.jpg

It did not uproot, it just "broke"

Mayday Mayday - Tree fell on my car!-image0301.jpg

Third bonnet is my car

Mayday Mayday - Tree fell on my car!-image0300.jpg

A pic from front, wind screen seems intact

Mayday Mayday - Tree fell on my car!-image0298.jpg

Right behind this greenery is my Chill color sweet heart, not sure if she is chilling as of now. Need to get her out ASAP :(

Mayday Mayday - Tree fell on my car!-image0299.jpg

Mods: If this is not the right place, please move the thread accordingly.

11th August 2010, 07:58

Sorry for the sad development. I pray that the car's rear portion is free from any damages.

aargee · 11th August 2010, 09:22

I'm sorry for your state.

Quote:

Originally Posted by New.Novice

My car, a Ford Fiesta, is 4 months old

IMO, you don't have to worry much on monetary part, as your car is just 4 months old. You'll be able to get almost everything covered by the insurance company. If at all you need to shell out something, it would be something negligible. All your labours & metal will be covered 100% by insurance.

Take a good time before handing over the car to any Ford A.S.S; spend some time to find out a competent Ford A.S.S (even if it is located little far off). Reason being that, when the doors are damaged along with the body, the body work needs to be done carefully by experienced people.

SS-Traveller · 11th August 2010, 09:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by aargee

IMO, you don't have to worry much on monetary part, as your car is just 4 months old. You'll be able to get almost everything covered by the insurance company. If at all you need to shell out something, it would be something negligible. All your labours & metal will be covered 100% by insurance.

Well, that's just bad luck.

Plastic and rubber parts: You pay 50%.
Anything else: Insurer pays 100% since the car is less than 6 months old.

WDM007 · 11th August 2010, 10:29

@ Aargee & SS-Traveller,

Isnt it a natural calamity ? Fallig a tree ?

Is this act covered under the insurance policy ?

New.Novice, you better contact the insurance company to get more details. Otherwise you will have to crook a story about some accident on the road.

Lets hope for the best, when it comes to claiming insurance.

ajmat · 11th August 2010, 10:42

Similar thing happened to me. Take pictures. Inform insurance company and get claim number. They will tell you whether they will want to view car at scene or take it to the repair facility and they will assess car

jkdas · 11th August 2010, 11:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by WDM007

@ Aargee & SS-Traveller,

Isnt it a natural calamity ? Fallig a tree ?

Is this act covered under the insurance policy ?

New.Novice, you better contact the insurance company to get more details. Otherwise you will have to crook a story about some accident on the road.

Lets hope for the best, when it comes to claiming insurance.

Holy!

Yes, it should be natural calamity and should be covered. Hope there isnt much damage.

MrinalSinha · 11th August 2010, 12:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by WDM007

@ Aargee & SS-Traveller,

Isnt it a natural calamity ? Fallig a tree ?

Is this act covered under the insurance policy ?

New.Novice, you better contact the insurance company to get more details. Otherwise you will have to crook a story about some accident on the road.

Lets hope for the best, when it comes to claiming insurance.

AFAIK, it is not a Natural "calamity". To qualify as a natural calamity, the event has to effect x (usually in thousands) number of people.

But you have to go through the policy document thoroughly to understand this clause.

SILVERWOOD · 11th August 2010, 12:59

I am sorry to hear this.
Take lots of pics, call up the insurance guy asap.

esteem_lover · 11th August 2010, 13:04

It is an accident not a natural calamity & it has to be covered by insurance.

vnabhi · 11th August 2010, 13:13

Rather than terming it as a natural calamity, I think law defines it as 'an act of God'. I am pretty sure insurance will take care of this case.

I am however sorry that this had to happen to a new car.

AlokSriva · 11th August 2010, 13:22

Oh boy!! So sorry to hear about the accident..

From the looks of it, I doubt there would be too serious/major damage to the cars because the main trunk is still resting on the boundary wall.

I sincerely pray that this doubt of mine comes true..

Don't worry a lot, even the structural damages can be repaired these days with perfection. In this case, hopefully it would be superficial damages only. Rest assured, once your car returns from the workshop, there won't be any tell tale signs!

anachronix · 11th August 2010, 13:23

Folks, I have undergone this wierd thing of tree falling over a car while I am driving it.

As much as I know, there is some clause in Insurance which does not cover if a tree falls on the car while its in parked mode.

@New.Novice, best thing to do at the moment is to contact your insurance ASAP. Collect as many pictures as possible where the regn. plates are clearly visible.

Gilead · 11th August 2010, 14:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by anachronix

As much as I know, there is some clause in Insurance which does not cover if a tree falls on the car while its in parked mode.

A tree fell on my neighbor's Ikon when it was parked in front of the house and insurance covered it.

Please take a lot of pictures from every possible angle including the number plates before the mess is cleared.

Found a pic of the Ikon. I had uploaded it in the Accidents thread.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...-09_1040_2.jpg

New.Novice · 12th August 2010, 12:03

Thanks all of you to have visited and leaving suggestions. I did talk to both Dealer as well as Insurance. While Insurance was non-committal my sales guy was upbeat of getting this taken care of.

Half the day got spent in taking out cars (in total 4). Since the main trunk was still hanging on the wall, it was no mean task to cut branches and take out car's one by one as one wrong move could have made the whole thing coming crashing down.

First to go out was an i10 (the red one that you can see in one of the pic above), absolutely scratch less. Second was the turn of Spark parked right next to it. It took us some time, but it also came out well. one branch was very delicately stuck on its rear glass, but we did manage to take it out almost harmlessly (some very very minor scratches, not visible unless you look hard).

It was my car then, but the whole rescue team was not sure if we can do that, the heaviest of branches were resting on my car. So we decided to move from the other side and took out an Indica, stuck on the other side of my car. This one came out well too without any damages.

We then moved to my car. It was decided that we will have to approach it from back as most of the car was not even visible from back/sides for us to be sure which braches are taking the maximum load and in fact how many in total are on top of my car.

We started making our way to the car through cutting and chopping whatever came our way and we thought was safe to cut off. The first visuals from the back were heart breaking. Heaviest of branches were on the roof and sides of the car, hugging it like serpents.

The good news was, we saw nothing broken. Boy, does Ford make strong bodies or I was plain lucky. None managed to poke in or fell at an angle which could harm the glasses or the roof. We managed to pull out the car in reverse after providing support to some of the branches and few being pulled by hands while I reverse. A close inspection revealed that there are same dents (or should I say depressions) on the frame right above the rear right door. Right where it start coming down, parallel to real glass, to the boot. A couple of scratches too.

I am going to take it to Ford to get the assessment done. If the cost is not much, I would rather not like to go for insurance. The question here is, do they do dent removal from that area? I am asking as Maruti ones refused to do that since as per them it was a very costly affair though the dents were small (similar case now). And if yes, can someone in NCR suggest a reliable and reasonable (essentially price competitive) place?

Having gone through this, I am not sure I should consider myself lucky or unlucky. Unlucky, because there are about 200 cars in our society which do not have a covered parking place and get parked in open. The tree has to fell on mine (which is only 4 month old, the other one I had been parking there for 4 years). Or should I consider myself lucky as despite that, it came out in a shape no one imagined when the rescue was on.

I could not take pictures when we were actually reaching my car, as I did not want to leave it on those guys alone. Have taken some before and after that. Will post them in the evening.

11th August 2010, 06:55	#1
New.Novice BHPian Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 195 Thanked: 216 Times	Mayday Mayday - Tree fell on my car! Folks, I got woken up by security of our society at 6 in the morning. They had a news for me. And the news still has to sink in. A tree ,from outside of the fence of our society, fell off. It has 3 cars under it, one being mine. I rushed to take a look. My car is right middle in the mess, i can walk up to her along the wall, see her from front. The wind screen seems intact. So does the front panels, am expecting (and hoping against the hope its not) some damage at the rear which is absolutely not accesible/visible. Logged in here to quickly check what is the role of insurere here. My car, a Ford Fiesta, is 4 months old. I have taken a few pics, any pointers would be highly appreciated. Let me know what I should and should not do. My car is right inside this It did not uproot, it just "broke" Third bonnet is my car A pic from front, wind screen seems intact Right behind this greenery is my Chill color sweet heart, not sure if she is chilling as of now. Need to get her out ASAP :( Mods: If this is not the right place, please move the thread accordingly. Last edited by New.Novice : 11th August 2010 at 07:01.
	() Thanks

11th August 2010, 07:58	#2
J.Ravi Posts: n/a	Sorry for the sad development. I pray that the car's rear portion is free from any damages.
	() Thanks

11th August 2010, 10:29	#5
WDM007 BHPian Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Beaverton, USA Posts: 236 Thanked: 16 Times View My Garage	@ Aargee & SS-Traveller, Isnt it a natural calamity ? Fallig a tree ? Is this act covered under the insurance policy ? New.Novice, you better contact the insurance company to get more details. Otherwise you will have to crook a story about some accident on the road. Lets hope for the best, when it comes to claiming insurance.
	() Thanks

11th August 2010, 10:42	#6
ajmat Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 15,061 Thanked: 29,723 Times View My Garage	Similar thing happened to me. Take pictures. Inform insurance company and get claim number. They will tell you whether they will want to view car at scene or take it to the repair facility and they will assess car
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11th August 2010, 12:59	#9
SILVERWOOD Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: BANG-A-LURE. Posts: 1,209 Thanked: 4,664 Times	I am sorry to hear this. Take lots of pics, call up the insurance guy asap.
	() Thanks

11th August 2010, 13:04	#10
esteem_lover Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Madras/Py Posts: 7,556 Thanked: 507 Times View My Garage	It is an accident not a natural calamity & it has to be covered by insurance.
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11th August 2010, 13:13	#11
vnabhi Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: DC -> DC Posts: 5,979 Thanked: 2,407 Times View My Garage	Rather than terming it as a natural calamity, I think law defines it as 'an act of God'. I am pretty sure insurance will take care of this case. I am however sorry that this had to happen to a new car.
	() Thanks

11th August 2010, 13:22	#12
AlokSriva BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Fremont Posts: 486 Thanked: 72 Times	Oh boy!! So sorry to hear about the accident.. From the looks of it, I doubt there would be too serious/major damage to the cars because the main trunk is still resting on the boundary wall. I sincerely pray that this doubt of mine comes true.. Don't worry a lot, even the structural damages can be repaired these days with perfection. In this case, hopefully it would be superficial damages only. Rest assured, once your car returns from the workshop, there won't be any tell tale signs! Last edited by AlokSriva : 11th August 2010 at 13:24.
	() Thanks

11th August 2010, 13:23	#13
anachronix Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Madras Posts: 3,286 Thanked: 1,336 Times View My Garage	Folks, I have undergone this wierd thing of tree falling over a car while I am driving it. As much as I know, there is some clause in Insurance which does not cover if a tree falls on the car while its in parked mode. @New.Novice, best thing to do at the moment is to contact your insurance ASAP. Collect as many pictures as possible where the regn. plates are clearly visible.
	() Thanks

12th August 2010, 12:03	#15
New.Novice BHPian Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 195 Thanked: 216 Times	Thanks all of you to have visited and leaving suggestions. I did talk to both Dealer as well as Insurance. While Insurance was non-committal my sales guy was upbeat of getting this taken care of. Half the day got spent in taking out cars (in total 4). Since the main trunk was still hanging on the wall, it was no mean task to cut branches and take out car's one by one as one wrong move could have made the whole thing coming crashing down. First to go out was an i10 (the red one that you can see in one of the pic above), absolutely scratch less. Second was the turn of Spark parked right next to it. It took us some time, but it also came out well. one branch was very delicately stuck on its rear glass, but we did manage to take it out almost harmlessly (some very very minor scratches, not visible unless you look hard). It was my car then, but the whole rescue team was not sure if we can do that, the heaviest of branches were resting on my car. So we decided to move from the other side and took out an Indica, stuck on the other side of my car. This one came out well too without any damages. We then moved to my car. It was decided that we will have to approach it from back as most of the car was not even visible from back/sides for us to be sure which braches are taking the maximum load and in fact how many in total are on top of my car. We started making our way to the car through cutting and chopping whatever came our way and we thought was safe to cut off. The first visuals from the back were heart breaking. Heaviest of branches were on the roof and sides of the car, hugging it like serpents. The good news was, we saw nothing broken. Boy, does Ford make strong bodies or I was plain lucky. None managed to poke in or fell at an angle which could harm the glasses or the roof. We managed to pull out the car in reverse after providing support to some of the branches and few being pulled by hands while I reverse. A close inspection revealed that there are same dents (or should I say depressions) on the frame right above the rear right door. Right where it start coming down, parallel to real glass, to the boot. A couple of scratches too. I am going to take it to Ford to get the assessment done. If the cost is not much, I would rather not like to go for insurance. The question here is, do they do dent removal from that area? I am asking as Maruti ones refused to do that since as per them it was a very costly affair though the dents were small (similar case now). And if yes, can someone in NCR suggest a reliable and reasonable (essentially price competitive) place? Having gone through this, I am not sure I should consider myself lucky or unlucky. Unlucky, because there are about 200 cars in our society which do not have a covered parking place and get parked in open. The tree has to fell on mine (which is only 4 month old, the other one I had been parking there for 4 years). Or should I consider myself lucky as despite that, it came out in a shape no one imagined when the rescue was on. I could not take pictures when we were actually reaching my car, as I did not want to leave it on those guys alone. Have taken some before and after that. Will post them in the evening. Last edited by New.Novice : 12th August 2010 at 12:09.
	() Thanks