Insurance v no insurance

[cassa333]

I have just been reading a post on another site and wondered about insurance etc.

What happens in the case of an accident that happens to your property by someone/something that is not part of or related to your property and you don't have insurance?

As an example your car port is damaged by a branch that falls from a neighbours tree in the high winds. If you had insurance you would claim from them but what happens if you have no insurance? Does the tree owner have to pay? and if so why have insurance in the first place? Whay not get the 'other party' to pay for all damage always? A bit like third party instead of fully comp!!

Thanks

[New Judge]

Simply because the other party is not always responsible for the damage caused.

As an example, you drive into the rear of a stationery vehicle. Both vehicles are damaged. If you hold only Third Party insurance it will pay for the damage to the other party’s vehicle but not for the damage to your own, and there is no way the person with whom you collided is responsible for the damage to your vehicle.

Simples!

[boxtops]

With your instance of the tree, also, that could be deemed by the insurance company as Act of God - if the tree was in good condition and there was no reasonable expectation that the branch would fall off, there is no negligence. You would then claim off your own policy for accidental damage, rather than claiming from the neighbour.

[twix123]

Without insurance, what would you do if it were your tree that damages your neighbours car port?

[cassa333]

But supposing I had no insurance that covered the car port damage? Would I be expected to sue the tree owner?

Or supposing his uninsured car drove into my car port? For whatever reason my insurance doesn't cover it. How do I get the costs back?

[dundurn]

In the case of the uninsured car, yes you could sue, but whether it would be worthwhile would depend on whether the driver had enough in the way of assets to pay up. In the case of the car port you can only sue successfully if the tree owner was negligent. Say for example they had been told by a tree surgeon that the branch was diseased and liable to fall and had done nothing about it. If it was just a case, however, of a very strong, unexpected storm (think hurricanes and Michael Fish) then you have no one to claim against. You would have the same problem if it was a lightning strike or broken windows due to hailstones. to paraphrase the advert - where there's no blame, there's no claim.