Insurance says no "act of God"

[flatyre]

was out quoting today and was asked for a price to remove a large chunk of Eucalyptus which had broken off and landed on a shed. Tree belonged to the neighbour but he phoned his home insurer who said "not covered, act of God". The shed owner then phoned his home insurer who said "not covered, act of God" Is this true or just an excuse for home insurers to get out of paying? If i'm driving down the road and a gust of wind hits me and puts me in the ditch, and I phone up my insurer will I be  told "not covered, act of God", if my house floods due to heavy rain is that covered or is it an "act of God"? For some reason I thought "acts of God" had been done away with in insurance as they created too big a grey area?

in an era where you can claim for just about anything, how can one person be left with damaged property and out of pocket because of something growing in someone else's garden?

Edited February 7, 2018 by flatyre
added some things

[Gary Prentice]

What had fallen off and in what circumstance. Ie dead branch, live branch in a gail. Was it foreseeable etc

 

[flatyre]

tree split into two main uprights about four feet up the trunk, this was the smaller of the two (about a third of the tree), split at the union in a gale, healthy tree but have seen a number of Eucalyptus shed major limbs recently.

[Mark J]

I think Eucayptus get a bit 'greedy' in the UK.  They tend to get natural lions tails.

 

[chrisjpainter]

It's still active, although in greatly reduced scenarios - and actually in the vast majority of cases, we should be grateful it does still exist. If it was removed, every single ridiculous outcome would have to be insured against and the result would be premium hikes. this tree is a case in point. 'Acts of God' have to exclude things that reasonably can be guarded against. So the  tree could have been pollarded back, but would that have been reasonable to expect, just to save a greenhouse/fence? Even with vaguer catch-all assessment clauses, premiums would still go up because more and potentially far more expensive risks are being insured against. 

 

Your house flooding is an interesting one. usually people have bolt on insurance for flood, because it's expected or at least foreseeable. But if some fool with a pneumatic drill hits a pipe and floods you, then they'd be liable. if you live right next to a stream that never rises much, has never flooded the house in living memory and has never posed a threat to anyone else, suddenly does flood your house due to natural causes, then you could be in trouble. Lots of ifs and maybes - the fun and games of insurance!

 

It's just like risk assessments in work. there are some things you just don't put down and for which you'd never be held accountable should they happen. you might write the perfect risk assessment - then a goose dies mid-flight, knocking your climber out just at a critical point, causing someone to have something dropped on their head - it's not in the risk assessment, but if it was, you'd either be psychic, or mad. Really you're just a victim of 'these things happen' and insurance companies don't like unforseeable 'these things happen'!

Edited February 7, 2018 by chrisjpainter

[Ty Korrigan]

Is this the same God who helps women find their car keys, scores touch downs and walks alongside Trump?

 Because his priorities are screwed.

 Breaking peoples sheds is an act of vandalism and the almighty should be bloody ashamed of himself.

   Ty

[Canal Navvy]

4 minutes ago, Ty Korrigan said:

Is this the same God who helps women find their car keys, scores touch downs and walks alongside Trump?

 Because his priorities are screwed.

 Breaking peoples sheds is an act of vandalism and the almighty should be bloody ashamed of himself.

   Ty

He should be charged with arson when he burns his own churches down too   (or she)

[the village idiot]

2 minutes ago, Canal Navvy said:

He should be charged with arson when he burns his own churches down too   (or she)

It has always amused me that churches install lightning conductors on their spires to protect them from 'acts of God'.

[janey]

What happens if you're an atheist?

[the village idiot]

39 minutes ago, janey said:

What happens if you're an atheist?

Generally speaking you get on with your life, trying to get your head around the fact that many people think you have no basis for morality, whilst simultaniously being totally bemused as to how people can worship any of the 'perfect' God's in the ancient texts when they have a non filtered look at the world around them.