Natural disaster: bad weather caused damage to thousands of car owners

Thousands of cars in Russia were damaged due to bad weather in the summer of 2025, insurance companies told Izvestia. Car owners indicated that their vehicles were affected by hail, falling trees, and heavy street flooding. Insurance companies were most often contacted from the Tomsk, Rostov, Kemerovo, Moscow and Novgorod regions. For the risk of a "natural disaster", compensation can only be obtained under a hard hat policy, and in case of refusal of payments, victims can file civil lawsuits with the court. How to compensate for the damage caused by bad weather is in the Izvestia article.

What damage was caused to car owners by bad weather

Almost two thirds of insurance claims for the risk of "natural disaster" in 2025 occur in June and July, insurance companies told Izvestia. Thus, according to Rosgosstrakh, 22% are wind impacts, including falling trees, and just over 2% are floods. Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod suffered the most from them. Car owners also complained about the effects of hail.

— This summer, the weather is showing its unpredictable nature: heavy rains, floods and large hail have already caused damage to thousands of cars in Moscow and other regions of Russia, — said Lyudmila Yusova, head of the Department of motor insurance payments at Rosgosstrakh. — Footage of flooded cars, broken windows, dented roofs and hoods has flooded the media and social networks, and owners of damaged cars are turning to insurers en masse.

From July 8 to July 16, the specialists of the RESO-Garantia contact center recorded about one hundred insurance claims from customers whose property was damaged by the disaster. 53 appeals related to bad weather were recorded in casco: 12 in Moscow and 33 in the Moscow region. Eight more such cases were recorded in other regions. The largest flooding of vehicles in the capital was on July 15.

— 16 appeals from the regions are also related to hail — five cases were recorded in Tomsk, six in the Belgorod region, one each in Karachay-Cherkessia, Ryazan and Kaluga regions, Stavropol Territory and the Altai Republic. A tree fell on a car in the Novosibirsk Region," added Igor Ivanov, vice president of the insurance company.

Another cyclone hit Moscow and other regions of Central Russia on July 21-22. So, on the night of July 21, monthly precipitation fell in some areas.

More than 50% of requests these days in connection with car damage from Moscow and the Moscow region were related to damage caused by natural disasters, experts from the insurance company "Consent" said.

Maxim Dmitriev, Director of the Department for the settlement of losses in the retail business of Ingosstrakh, noted that last week, when bad weather was raging in Russia, 12 requests from customers under casco contracts for the risk of "natural disaster" were recorded.

"Seven appeals were related to flooding of vehicles as a result of heavy rains, three to hail, and two to falling objects on vehicles as a result of strong wind gusts," he said.

Over the past two weeks, Absolut Insurance has received requests from customers for two insurance claims in Moscow caused by natural disasters, said Alexander Sysuev, head of the CASCO, DGO (voluntary liability insurance), and CTP Losses Department at the company. For example, on July 23, a tree fell on a Kia car in Moscow.

How much can insurance companies pay?

This year, according to Lyudmila Yusova, the repair of a 2024 Chery Tiggo 4/Pro car insured by a customer from the Penza region was the most expensive. The insurer paid about 240 thousand rubles for the elimination of the consequences of hail at the maintenance station.

"But the process of settling the insurance events of recent weeks is still ongoing, and it is possible that this year will break the records of previous years," she said.

The geography of appeals has also changed — this year most of them were from the Tomsk, Rostov, Kemerovo, Moscow and Novgorod regions. A year earlier, these were the Lipetsk Region, Moscow, Tatarstan, Novosibirsk Region and Stavropol Territory.

"Judging by the number of appeals we have already received in the first seven months, we can assume that there will be more motorists affected by the disaster this year than in the previous two years," the expert added.

In 2024, the number of payments related to natural disasters to vehicle owners was 13 times higher than payments due to theft and theft, according to Consent. One of the largest payments in 2024 amounted to 10.7 million rubles — a Porsche parked in the garage was damaged as a result of the flood.

"4.8 million rubles were paid due to the fact that as a result of a heavy downpour, water got inside the Hyundai Palisade," the company said. "And 4.3 million rubles — due to the fact that a heavy downpour flooded the underground parking lot and the parked Kia Sorento went under water by 1.7 m."

In 2024, 779 cases of damage to vehicles at risk of "natural disaster" totaling about 200 million rubles were reported to Ingosstrakh under the hard hat, Maxim Dmitriev added.

"One of the largest payments was the damage to a Sitrak tanker truck as a result of flooding in the Orenburg region last spring," he said. — This insurance case was settled on the terms of total loss. The payment to the client amounted to 9.5 million rubles.

In 2024, Rosgosstrakh spent the maximum amount of 1.3 million rubles on repairing a one-year-old Jaecoo J7 from Karachay-Cherkessia damaged by a large hail.

— In 2023, the largest payment for the risk of "natural disaster" in Rosgosstrakh amounted to 3.5 million rubles, which is how much the company reimbursed to the owner of the Volvo V90 Cross Country. This car, built in 2018, was declared beyond repair after flooding," Lyudmila Yusova noted.

How to get compensation

The CTP policy covers only damage caused by drivers to other cars, and does not provide compensation for damage to their own car due to adverse natural phenomena, the insurance companies recalled. For those who want to avoid the cost of repairing a car after flooding, hail or falling trees, the only solution is voluntary hard hat insurance.

— If there is a threat of hail or heavy rains, park your car in covered areas, while avoiding underground parking lots that may be flooded, — said Lyudmila Yusova. — Special care should be taken in case of floods — water above 30 cm near the thresholds can lead to critical damage.

If the car is insured under a hard hat, then natural disasters, hail, storm, flood, falling of a tree or pole can be recognized as an insured event if it is specified in the contract, said Alexey Ivanov, the owner of the Alliance Trucks commercial transport dealership network.

"Even in the case of an obvious cause, such as hail hitting the roof and hood, insurance companies first assess whether such an event is included in the list of insurance risks," the expert explained. — The reason for the fall of the tree is also important: for example, if it was an emergency and fell in a weak wind, additional procedures with the service organization may be required.

A natural disaster, i.e. force majeure, is not a reason for refusing payment if the event is specified in the contract. On the contrary, such cases are provided as insurance.

— However, in practice, disputes often arise: for example, if the policyholder did not have time to apply on time or cannot provide evidence that the damage is related to this particular event, — Alexey Ivanov emphasized. — Then the insurance company may refer to the incompleteness of the data or the absence of a causal relationship.

If a tree fell on the car and flooding occurred, it is necessary to record the circumstances of the incident, said trial lawyer Ilya Vasilchuk.

— Take photos and videos of the scene of the accident, the damage to the car, and the surrounding environment, — he recommended. — Write down the contact details of the witnesses, if available. Call the unified rescue service and indicate that a tree has fallen or a car has been flooded. When drawing up a report by a police officer, make sure that the document indicates visible and possible internal damage to the car. Next, you should get a certificate from the Hydrometeorological Center that there really was a downpour in Moscow.

In addition, it is worth clarifying whether the incident occurred in an urban area, a private parking lot, or an apartment complex.

"Report the incident to the local utilities, the management company, the owner of the paid parking lot and the State Unitary Enterprise Mosvodostok," the expert explained. — If the car is insured under a hard hat, contact your insurance company and provide the necessary documents.

In case of insurance failure or lack of casco insurance, an independent expert opinion should be obtained that would assess the actual amount of damage and the cost of repairs.

— This is useful for further negotiations with the insurance company or the culprit of the incident, — said Ilya Vasilchuk.

In case of refusal to pay compensation, it is necessary to file a claim with the court. In accordance with the Civil Code, in cases where a car has been damaged by bad weather, you can expect to be reimbursed for all losses.