Well, the Insurance company was wrong in this instance!

[tfrogh]

The insurance always makes a stink about keeping our Classic Car Insured cars in a locked garage to keep them safe. Tonight, that turned out to be the least safe place. A freak wind event snapped a couple of trees and brought them down on the garage. In this photo is a 3-bay garage smashed to the ground. In the middle bay...when debris is cleared…we will find the remains of a 1972 Plymouth Fury Custom Suburban. :-(

The cars sitting outside got very minor damage.

The good news, my buddy had decided to take the night off. Otherwise, he would have been under it starting on a rear main seal replacement. PHEW!

UPDATE - Trees cleared. Wagon spotted! Roof is buckled down the middle. I was stunned to see the pillars and glass intact. Still, the photo gives no sense of how crushed it is. Peeking down low with a flashlight, it looks like it is on the ground. It will probably be a week before the garage debris is cleared away.

IF ANYONE is interested in the remains for parts scavenging, please send me a message. The insurance company will need to know ASAP if I plan to buy it back. I cannot store it, so I will need to have a game plan in place.

 

[traintech55]

OUCH!

 

[JC68vert300]

Man, that garage is flattened! Great news there were no injuries.

 

[FURYGT]

Sorry to hear this.

Please tell us the manufacturer of the steel garage, if known so that I (and others) never buy their product.

 

[live4theking]

All I can say is wow.

 

[crv]

Better the car to be flattened and not some unlucky person.

 

[detmatt]

So sorry, that sucks!

 

[The Goose]

The insurance always makes a stink about keeping our Classic Car Insured cars in a locked garage to keep them safe. Tonight, that turned out to be the least safe place. A freak wind event snapped a couple of trees and brought them down on the garage. In this photo is a 3-bay garage smashed to the ground. In the middle bay...when debris is cleared…we will find the remains of a 1972 Plymouth Fury Custom Suburban. :-(

The cars sitting outside got very minor damage.

The good news, my buddy had decided to take the night off. Otherwise, he would have been under it starting on a rear main seal replacement. PHEW!

View attachment 383864

If your buddy was using the HD harbor freight jack stands he probably wouldn’t have even noticed until he was done. Man that sucks.

 

[Newport 66]

Iye karumba!!! Good thing there were no injuries (human)

 

[Turboomni]

Horrible just horrible. Glad no one was hurt. I'd be very interested how your insurance company handles this and what company you are with.

 

[Old Mike]

****! That just blows.

 

[MacLebaron]

Wow! Glad no one was hurt, but that loss sucks.

 

[patrick66]

Sorry to hear this.

Please tell us the manufacturer of the steel garage, if known so that I (and others) never buy their product.

Wood generally wins the fight over steel, regardless of who the source of the steel was.

 

[cbarge]

Glad nobody was hurt.
More than likely the wagon will be written off. If so,see if you can buy it back and salvage anything re-useable (powertrain,etc)
That way good to have parts for the next project or help out other members here.

 

[jct]

This is an act of God and it's not covered by insurance

 

[Mike66Chryslers]

Ooh, that's awful. Sorry to hear. At least no one was injured.

 

[Mike66Chryslers]

This is an act of God and it's not covered by insurance

I don't think so, though the OP may be using a shady insurance company that might use this excuse to weasel out of paying.

We had an ice storm once. Tree limbs covered in ice got too heavy, broke off and fell on our cars parked in the driveway. Insurance paid-out from our comprehensive coverage without question.

Years before that, roofers were fixing the roof on a house which we were renting. They left a loose bale of shingles on the roof. The next morning strong winds blew the shingles down and they fell on my pickup truck. Big scratches down one side, windshield and hood. The roofers tried to claim it wasn't their fault because "act of god". That didn't go anywhere with the insurance company either.

 

[stubs300]

They left a loose bale of shingles on the roof. The next morning strong winds blew the shingles down and they fell on my pickup truck. Big scratches down one side, windshield and hood. The roofers tried to claim it wasn't their fault because "act of god". That didn't go anywhere with the insurance company either.

Since when is a Ignoramus leaving a bail of shingles on the roof a act of God?

 

[Mike66Chryslers]

Since when is a Ignoramus leaving a bail of shingles on the roof a act of God?

Exactly.

I don't want to derail the thread, but basically I called the roofers when it happened. They offered to pay for the damages privately. I got a quote from the bodyshop and gave it to the roofer. The woman in the office (small business, wife of the guy who actually does the roofing) freaked out and left 3 nasty voicemails on my home phone while I was at work claiming the quote was ridiculous, I'm in collusion with the bodyshop to defraud them, this was an act of god and they only offered to fix the damage to be nice to me, and now refusing to pay.

I figured I don't need this BS, immediately called insurance, described the events to the adjuster. She was floored and said something to the effect of, "You offered to let them pay privately and THAT's how they treated you?!?! Wow, we'll handle this." And that was that. I heard later that the roofer gave the insurance co a hard time too, they threatened to go to court and wound-up settling.

Our landlord still used the same roofer another time because they were cheap. They ripped the shingles off the roof and left it bare plywood overnight. There was a huge rain storm that night. It rained IN OUR BEDROOM while we were sleeping. Landlord came the next morning. I warned her that these people are shady and will try to get out of liability, don't take anything they say at face-value and get insurance co involved. She did not listen. Roofer assured her there would not be any lasting damage and if there was they would make it right. After that we started to see mould problems on ceiling drywall. We bought our own house and got out of there at just the right time.

 

[tfrogh]

It was a wood frame garage with aluminum doors. The odds of it not being totaled are probably the same as my hitting the jackpot on Powerball. No way the wagon's roof isn't flattened. Waiting to hear from the adjuster with Grundy. Comprehensive claim, fully insured.

Absolutely, I will try to save everything worthwhile! The gas tank if intact, was a Renu restored tank. These tanks are so rare, I have a spare tucked away. I would love it if the hide-away headlights/front end can be saved.

I'll post photos when the car is un-buried and keep you all posted. Not sure what will be next. Maybe something less precious so I am more apt to drive it. 7 years and I put maybe 4k on the Tunaboat. Our old Benz gets 4k/yr! But then again, it is easy to replace. Plenty of them on the road.