986 Top -- Porsche Pricing is Porsche Priced

A streetcar wire fell and hit the roof of my car a couple of weeks ago, and insurance will be replacing it. After the adjuster took a look at the car, met with the dealer (I'm getting a Porsche original top), I was advised that in addition to my deductible, there was a 'betterment charge' of 25% of the parts (the insurance principle being that you are not advantaged due to mishap), which I thought was fine. Until I saw the number. $1,150.00 -- the parts to replace just the fabric top of the car, and a few bits and bobs, came to $4,600.00.

Yikes.

Actually, the insurer is pretty good -- they are proud of the 'excellent' claims service they provide, and when I made the claim, the adjuster had no problem with using Porsche parts. In fact, and I was shocked, he more or less said "It's a Porsche -- you don't want to replace it with some aftermarket piece -- you want to keep the car original."

Some Con Ed guys damaged power lines adjacent to a cousin's house, subsequently blowing out some electronics and appliances. Con Ed payed, not the homeowner's insurance company.

Interesting, as I did ask a friend who is a lawyer -- and he said it's difficult. If the tree were well maintained, it's an accident -- act of God.

I don't have proof if the tree were maintained or not, so I'm just going to let insurance deal with it, pay the deductible and the betterment charge, but it is a interesting question.

doesn't kick in.

Bummer.

General principles are:

If you have warned the owner of the property his tree is dangerous and it falls on your property, his fault/expense.

No warning letter (best in writing with proof of delivery), portion on your property is your problem.

I run into this all the time in a homeowners association with trees falling across roads. Love those midnight calls.

Ask about homeowners insurance covering the problem as opposed to car insurance...surprising what homeowners/renters will sometimes cover (like run a car into a flooded area miles from home, for example).

About 10 years ago, a large tree branch fell on my car as I was driving down the road. All body panels except the driver's side door, the head and tail lights and the convertible top were damaged. My insurance paid all but the deductible. I sued the city for the deductible and won only because I was able to show that the city knew about a previous limb falling the year before. Otherwise, I would have had to show the city did not care reasonably for the tree, which would have been virtually impossible to do.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/2013 06:13PM by thom4782. (view changes)