Hi,
For what it's worth, here's what I heard from my homeowner's
insurance company after a tree broke and took down my 75 foot tower in 1986:
1. It destroyed your utility trailer too? Take that claim to
your auto insurance company. Oh, we also insure your auto?
Never mind, we'll cover everything from your homeowner's policy.
2. Was the tree also on your property? (I expect that I would then
have been directed to get my neighbor to pay if it wasn't. This
probably answers the question of who will pay for your neighbor's
house damage if your tower falls on it.)
3. Was this tower used commercially at all? (I think that my normal
homeowner's coverage would not have covered it if I had been
renting space on my tower to commercial users. I have no intention
of doing that anyway, because of guarantees I'd have to give the
users.)
Of interest also was the attitude of the adjustor. First, he noticed
that some of the materials used in the tower installation were used when
I put them up. (The installation was only about 4 years old.) He said
I'd have to have some sort of proration done on them. Ok with me. I then
gathered up the estimate for the parts, and also figured that I'd have to
spend 40 hours of labor. I told them I'd be happy with a labor charge of 40
hours times my hourly rate for my regular job. "OH NO - you've got to get a
professional tower company estimate." So, I got the estimate. The labor
was about 3.5 times as much as I wanted. Several weeks later, I cornered
the adjustor and asked him what he was going to do. "There's no way we are
going to pay that much for labor. I know for a fact that you can get a
crane and two men for a day for only $ XXX. You'll have to accept that."
I hemmed and hawed, then accepted it. The amount I accepted was twice
what I had originally requested! As frosting on the cake, he was so excited
about cutting down the labor cost that he forgot about the used parts and
paid me for the brand new price of all materials! After trying to be
honest and getting the impression that he was trying to gouge me, I found
it a rather satisfying experience.
73, Dave Clemons K1VUT
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