You did the right thing, Jay.

Aside from the moral hazard, perhaps you should consider your fufutre insurance costs. Should you wait and then file the claim, and then have another claim in the following couple of years, you will likely be dropped by your carrier.

Once this happens you could be in a position where you wish you had paid the extra $500 upfront.

I see your "moral hazard" and raise you one "law of unintended consequences"

Don't forget duty to mitigate damages.

Wouldn't it make financial sense for your insurance companies to pay for preventative repairs or maintenance, with the same deductable? In this case, if they had paid all but $500 of the bill for cuting down the tree, they would have ended up paying much less than if you had decided to just let it fall on our house. (This is akin to health insurance companies starting to figure out that they can keep their costs down by paying for more preventative care visits for their customers.)

You may be able to still get coverage for removal of the tree if there was an immenent risk of damage to property. From your description, sounds like the tree was going to fall over, just a matter opof when--I'll note that I think thunderstorms (with attendant wind) are forecast for tomorrow. I'd still submit the claim for the cost of tehtree removal.

I had the same issue and the same irrational response from the insurance company. To compound the craziness the insurance company had already paid once for roof repairs due to falling tree branches. Yet they would not pay to remove the entire tree. I chose to pay out of pocket to have the tree removed since I decided I did not want to risk to life itself from a falling tree or branch.

It's called homeowner's INSURANCE, not homeowner's preventative maintenance program.

I absolutely despise Erie Insurance Company so I would let the tree fall.

When I was in HS, I bought a used car and the insurance payment each month was much more than my car payment! I had a perfect driving record and no accidents.

If I was in your situation, I would let the tree fall! It would be sweet justice...

The fallen tree could have injured or even killed someone. How would you put a price on that?

Jay,

You did the right thing but should have a higher deductible and you need to know that Erie will surcharge your premium 10% each year for 5 years for the 1st claim and 70% for the second. You will find not much market for anything close to your current premium when you shop for homeowners insurance with 2 claims on your record. The money you would save with a $2500 deuctible would pay for the tree over and over. No samll claim is worth reporting so take the higher deductible and save your premiums for the small stuff. Erie Agent in Buycks County PA

As a Erie Agent I say "Thank you"!!!

Re: claims & deductables. Yes, you are far better off with a very high deductable & NO claims. In addition to the comments posted, I have heard that if a property is sold and there have been prior claims, the prospective buyer may not be able to find an insurer willing to write a policy, because all insurers have access to a data base of prior claims. This can kill the sale & create a huge problem for the seller.

Also, depending on your home, unless you can afford to insure with a primo company like Chubb, current policies may not pay off the real cost of rebuilding. They pay at current "standard" construction rates for the square footage. For your car-port or garage, this may be ok, but if your house contains any unusual features or high quality materials etc etc -- any kind of "custom" quality or upgrades -- you probably won't get the cost of rebuilding to original specs -- just average book construction costs for the area.

I have a lot of (very tall) trees on my property and recently paid to have a number taken out which I thought posed potential risks. I needed to have a few trees removed for other reasons, and with a huge crane in place, adding on any others that looked like they could possible fall on the house was cheaper than it would ever be again! So if you have tree removal work done, consider getting an estimate for any others you think you might need to remove later: it could be less expensive in the long run. Also, if you think a tree looks like it is ready to fall on your neighbor's house, don't call your insurer to ask "what if" because that implies that you "know" there is a hazard that needs to be addressed, rather than an unexpected "Act of God" if it falls in the next storm.

Excellent blog! Key point is that you acted as an upright citizen. Meaning you did the right thing. This is how you keep your insurance premiums down. Insurance is for the catastrophic claim. Fire, Storm, burglary, etc. The higher your deductible the better. If you have ERIE's enhancement endorsement they actually waive your deductible for any claim over $50,000. Deductibles are there to reduce little claims. Deductibles should be set at a level that you can afford. Only you can determine that.

My homeowner's insurance company hiked my rate by $600 per year for 3 years simply because I took out a claim last fall. I'll be paying much more than what I received in my claim. So would you blame me if I tried to find another company to insure me for less?

We are having the same issue. We live in GA and have a huge pine hovering over the whole house. The ground around it it being erroded away, and more and more of the roots are showing. I would think it would be in the best interest of insurance companies to have an amount that they will pay out for tree removal before a catastrophe happens.