Will car insurance cover falling, frozen iguana damage?

Editor’s Observe: This report was encouraged by a problem submitted from Miami Herald reader Liz Portal via Curious305, our local community-powered reporting collection that solicits issues from visitors about Miami-Dade, Broward, the Florida Keys and the rest of the Sunshine Point out. Post your query here or scroll down to fill out our kind.

Hey, Curious305: How quite a few insurance coverage claims have there been in South Florida due to “frozen iguanas” that tumble from trees/constructions?

In South Florida, we do not just have the danger of chicken poop landing on our vehicle anytime we park below a tree. We have iguanas, much too.

Though iguanas are powerful climbers — Zoo Miami spokesman Ron Magill suggests climbing is “an instinct” iguanas have to prevent predators whilst they sleep at evening — the critters are likely to freeze and drop out of trees each time temperatures dip into the 40s. And you may well wake up to an iguana popsicle on your windshield.

Point out Farm claims it has seen a vast array of auto injury caused by animals in the U.S. more than the several years, together with crashes involving chickens, alligators, cows, even bats. The most common animal involved in crashes, not surprisingly, is deer (whether they are caught in the headlights or not).

But when it arrives to slipping iguanas damaging your hood or windshield, effectively, which is a new just one.

“Auto injury from animals essentially is not unheard of (whilst falling iguanas could be entirely a South Florida phenomenon!),” Michal Brower, a spokeswoman for Point out Farm in Florida, wrote in an email to the Miami Herald.

Florida observed about 50,800 animal collision promises in between July 2020 and June 2021, according to a Point out Farm evaluation released in Oct. Condition Farm states it does not have claim-specific facts on slipping iguanas.

Nevertheless, from time to time freak mishaps materialize, like in 2017, when a Regional10 photojournalist driving his mini-van in Davie experienced a massive iguana tumble from a tree and land on his windshield, cracking it.

Iguanas, by the way, can get pretty major. The invasive species can improve to a lot more than five ft in size and weigh up to 17 lbs. That is extra than a bowling ball, which generally weighs 6 to 16 lbs.

Iguanas try to eat crops and are identified to lead to infrastructure destruction, which include to seawalls and sidewalks. Sometimes they get run over or bring about mishaps.

In 2020, for illustration, an iguana crossing U.S. 1 close to Marathon caused a crash that remaining a Boynton Seaside hearth captain and his daughter severely hurt. A bicyclist in the Keys also collided with an iguana that jumped in entrance of his bike.

Nonetheless, it looks like auto injury prompted by falling iguanas is exceptional. The insurance policies companies we spoke with said they did not have any falling iguana assert data.

But if it have been to come about, would your coverage address it?

Would insurance address slipping iguana problems?

Brower, the Condition Farm spokeswoman, mentioned damage brought on by falling objects — even an animal these kinds of as a frozen iguana — would be lined less than Condition Farm’s Comprehensive protection, which includes glass claims and windshield restore.

“Comprehensive Protection is the coverage that kicks in to fix or swap a protected car damaged by anything other than collision or rolling about,” she wrote.

Similarly, Nationwide claims it does not have any experiences that precisely mention falling iguanas, while if an incident did come about, it might be shown as a fallen object. Liberty Mutual, Progressive and Estrella Insurance policies did not respond to the Miami Herald’s inquiry.

“In a circumstance the place an iguana damages your automobile, this could be taken care of as a fallen object. Coverage carriers appraise just about every claim on its have deserves, and auto destruction brought about by an animal would ordinarily be lined under the vehicle’s comprehensive coverage,” Nationwide reported. “No make a difference how one of a kind the lead to of reduction, Nationwide stands ready to services the needs of our consumers in the event of a lined reduction.”

Allstate also hasn’t experienced any slipping iguana statements. Neither has Geico, despite the fact that the firm has observed circumstances when iguanas uncovered their way beneath the hood of a automobile and brought about mechanical problems or chewed wiring.

“On a handful of situations, iguanas have also induced a crash just after motorists swerved to stay clear of them in the street,” Geico claimed. “Speaking of reptiles, we’re thankful there appears to be no evidence geckos have at any time been associated. That’s a big aid!”

Seems like just another working day in Florida, wherever iguanas pop out of bogs, gators break into homes and escaped cow herds roam the streets.

This story was at first released March 17, 2022 6:00 AM.