Does my auto insurance cover damage caused by a falling object? (2024)

If you’re wondering whether auto insurance covers damage caused by a falling object, you can rest easy with affordable comprehensive auto insurance coverage. Comprehensive insurance covers various things that aren’t your fault: objects falling from vehicles, a tree crushing your car, hail damage, and more.

You must carry full coverage to get a comprehensive policy. So, shop for affordable full coverage auto insurance rates from the top providers and learn more about comprehensive insurance coverage and falling objects below. You can also enter your ZIP code into our free quote comparison tool above to get started now.

Falling Objects: What Comprehensive Auto Insurance Does Cover

What does auto insurance do? There are various categories of auto insurance that cover different scenarios. Comprehensive auto insurance covers incidents that aren’t collisions. This insurance category covers almost everything that might fall on your car, causing damage to the vehicle.

Here are some examples of falling items that would be covered by comprehensive auto insurance:

• Rocks: Rocks can bounce up from the road or drop from road-adjacent hillsides. Your comprehensive auto insurance should cover any damage caused by rocks, including if vandals throw them at your vehicle.
• Hail: In some parts of the country, hailstones get as big as baseballs. These can do a lot of damage to an unsheltered vehicle, and the damage should have coverage under your comprehensive auto insurance.
• Trees: Does car insurance cover tree damage? You should be covered under comprehensive if your car is parked and a tree falls on it unless your negligence caused the damage.
• Objects falling from vehicles: Any trucks carrying building materials, one any that kick up rocks, can damage your vehicle. Luckily, comprehensive coverage pays for this type of damage if the other vehicle is uninsured.

You may also wonder when comprehensive auto insurance won’t cover falling objects. If a falling object causes a collision where your vehicle hits something, the damages may be covered under your collision auto insurance coverage instead of your comprehensive insurance.

An example of this type of accident is something falling into the road, like a tree, street light, or downed power line, causing you to hit the object or swerve and hit something else, such as another vehicle or a road barrier.

Read More:

• Does my auto insurance cover damage to my car if I hit a parked car?
• Does my auto insurance cover damage caused by my own negligence?
• Does my auto insurance cover damage caused by a construction zone accident?

Items Falling From Another Vehicle

A source of debris that can damage your vehicle includes road construction crews transporting road-building materials by truck. Even when the load is tarped over, sometimes rocks escape and bounce onto other vehicles. This is the most common cause of cracked windshields.

Areas with high winds cause other problems when the wind force rips items from another vehicle that hit your car.

Falling Objects That Comprehensive Auto Insurance Doesn’t Cover

While comprehensive covers a range of scenarios involving falling objects, there are many scenarios where you may not have coverage, listed below:

• Negligence: Does my auto insurance cover damage caused by my own negligence? Claims related to damage caused by negligence or lack of maintenance (e.g. a dead tree on your properrty you failed to remove falls and damages your car) may get denied by your insurer. However, check with your company to find out.
• Act of war or terrorism: Some insurance policies exclude coverage for falling damage caused by acts of war or terrorism, but you should ask your provider.
• Certain acts of nature: While auto insurance covers hailstorms and tree damage, your policy may exclude earthquakes or floods since they’re high-risk events that can cause widespread and expensive damage.
• Third-party damage: In car insurance, a falling object from another vehicle gets covered by your comprehensive policy if the other driver is uninsured or underinsured. However, you may need to file a claim with the responsible party’s liability auto insurance coverage if they have it. (Read More: How to File an Auto Insurance Claim)

Below, we’ll explain how you can recover damages if your vehicle gets damaged by a falling object from another driver.

How to Claim Damages Caused by a Falling Object

For damage to your vehicle from a falling object, you should submit a claim to your insurance company under your comprehensive insurance policy.

So you may wonder, how do I recover my auto insurance deductible from the at-fault driver?

If someone else is at fault, your insurance company may make a claim against them due to their negligence. If your insurance company successfully gets another party to pay the claim, you may get a refund of any auto insurance deductible you paid.

Buy Auto Insurance to Cover Damage Caused by a Falling Object

Knowing that you have comprehensive insurance coverage is comforting when insured for damage caused by falling objects. Nevertheless, you should always watch out for hazards when following a truck and avoid exposing your car to a hailstorm.