A Tree Fell on Your Car: What to Do

After every summer storm in Volusia County there are a few cars in driveways with a tree on them. Sometimes it is a limb across the hood. Sometimes it is a whole laurel oak with the car somewhere underneath. This is the sequence, in order.

First, is anyone in it?

If someone is in the vehicle, injured or trapped, that is 911, not a tree service. If a power line is down on or near the car, nobody approaches, including the person inside, who should stay put until the utility confirms the line is dead. A vehicle can be energized without any visible sign. See A Tree or Limb Is on a Power Line.

If the car is empty and no lines are involved, nothing here is an emergency in the life-safety sense. Slow down.

Do not try to move it yourself

A tree on a car is under load. The limbs are bent and pinned, the trunk may be balanced on the roof, and cutting into it releases that energy in a direction you cannot predict. The most common injuries in storm cleanup are from cutting loaded wood. See After the Storm: How to Clean Up Downed Trees Without Getting Hurt.

Also do not let anyone with a truck and a chain drag the tree off. Dragging a tree across a car finishes what the fall started.

Photograph everything

Before anything is touched: the car from every side, the tree, where the tree came from, the base of the tree or the break point, and anything else damaged. Wide shots and close-ups. Note the time. If the tree came from a neighbor's property or the right of way, photograph that.

Which insurance

This confuses people. A tree on your car is a claim on your auto policy, under comprehensive coverage, not your homeowners policy. Comprehensive covers falling objects. If you carry only liability on the car, there is no coverage for the car itself.

It generally does not matter whose tree it was. Your comprehensive coverage pays for your car, less your deductible. Your insurer may pursue the tree's owner if there was negligence (a known dead tree, for example), but that is their process, not yours. We explained the general rule in Who Pays When a Tree Falls?.

Your homeowners policy may cover removing the tree from your property, depending on what it hit and what your policy says. Ask.

Call the insurer before the tree comes off

Insurers want to see the situation, or at least photos of it, before the tree is removed. Removing the tree first can complicate the claim. Report it, get a claim number, ask whether they need an adjuster to see it in place or whether photos are sufficient, and ask what they will cover for removal.

Getting the tree off

This is where a tree crew comes in, and the job is different from a normal removal. The goal is to lift the tree off the car, not cut it off, wherever possible. That means:

• Rigging the trunk or limbs to a crane, a loader or a rope system so the weight comes up before any cut is made
• Cutting in small sections from the outside in, with each section supported
• Protecting the car from further damage during the work, because the insurance claim is for what the tree did, not for what the crew did
• Keeping the vehicle from shifting as the load comes off

A tree that has crushed the roof has made the car a total loss in most cases, and the removal is about getting it off cleanly so the vehicle can be towed. A limb on the hood is often a case where careful rigging leaves the car repairable.

We run emergency tree service around the clock, and after a widespread storm, a car with nobody in it is below a house with somebody in it on the triage list. We will tell you honestly where you are in the queue.

After the tree is off

Have the car towed rather than driven if there is any doubt about the roof, the glass or the frame. Get the tree stump and remaining trunk dealt with as a normal removal. And find out why the tree failed. A tree that fell on a car in a summer thunderstorm was usually a tree with a defect, and if there are others like it on the lot, they are worth looking at before the next one. See Nine Signs a Tree Has to Come Down.

Frequently asked questions

The tree was my neighbor's. Do they have to pay?

Your comprehensive auto coverage pays for your car. Whether the neighbor's insurer ends up reimbursing yours depends on whether the tree was known to be hazardous. That is between the insurers.

Can you just cut the tree off the car quickly?

We can get it off. Quickly and cleanly are different things, and doing it without dropping anything else on the car takes rigging. It is worth the extra time.

The limb only dented the hood. Do I need a tree service?

If you can lift it off without cutting and without it being under tension, no. If it is big enough that it needs cutting, yes.

Will my rates go up for a comprehensive claim?

Comprehensive claims are treated differently from at-fault accidents, but every insurer is different. Ask yours before you decide whether to file, especially on minor damage near the deductible.

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ArboristRX responds 24/7 to trees on vehicles, structures and access across Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach, Port Orange, Oak Hill and Volusia County. Call (386) 444-5959.