European auto insurer AA Insurance has released its list of the most comic claims for 2008. The bizarre claims run the gamut from family fender-benders to unexpected run-ins with animals.

One customer called AA’s claims line saying his car had been damaged by a terrified flying sheep. The animal apprently jumped from a bridge over a motorway after it escaped from a truck lying on its side. The man’s car was a total loss, AA said, but he never reported what became of the sheep.

Another client’s car was damaged when a large Christmas tree allegedly lifted off the roof of an oncoming car driving around a curve.

“He was driving too fast, and I saw the tree lift off and it flew straight at me,” the customer told an AA claims handler. “The trunk made a great dent in my bonnet and caused me to run off the road and into a hedge.”

The client added, “The chap didn’t stop, and he never came back for his tree.”

Another strange claim involved an animal that’s meant to be in the air – a magpie. One flew in front of a nurse’s car, and she said she immediately thought of the old saying about magpies, "one for sorrow, two for joy." But while she waited for that second, joyful magpie to fly by, she sorrowfully rear-ended the car in front of her.

Another AA client was in an accident while driving behind his son, who was about to trade in his old car. The son made a quick stop, and his father rear-ended him, severely damaging the son’s car. The cars, however, weren’t as damaged as the relationship between father and son.

“It meant the part exchange deal was off and my son couldn’t buy the car he wanted after all – I wasn’t very popular,” the man told AA.

AA says that such incidents demonstrate the importance of having comprehensive car insurance coverage.

“It doesn’t matter how bizarre the incident, you may be sure we’ve heard it all before,” said Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance.

Click HERE to read about more bizarre claims.