He noticed a branch hanging over a cottage from where he was working at the Adam Lindsay Craft Cottage in the Botanical Gardens, and wondered whether it could be dangerous.

"Now I think it was a sign to probably move the car," he said.

Mr Macdonald's car was one of two smashed by an enormous falling branch, which came down in one of the heaviest storms Ballarat has seen this season.

He was working at the cottage as part of the agreement that anyone selling their wares - Mr Macdonald paints watercolours - spends two days tending to the shop.

"Someone came in and said 'when did the trees fall down on the cars?'," he said.

It has left Mr Macdonald and his chronically ill wife Lyn without any means to get around while the insurance is worked out with both their insurance company and the City of Ballarat.

Mrs Macdonald said they been through a rough few years, leaving them to live on much less money than they had planned.

"He's never been booked, he's never had an accident, you know, it's not fair," she said.

"We just get hit whichever way we go."

The couple, who have been married for 48 years, had a second car but could not afford to keep it after several financial setbacks.

Mr Macdonald sells his paintings and cards from his pictures to help make ends meet, and he was doing one of his 18 days in the cottage a year during the storm.

"We'd got ourselves to a point where we were just, just getting by, and then this thing happens, and we're just not in a position to do anything about it," Mr Macdonald said.

Ms Macdonald has had back issues since a fall a decade ago, and now needs to frequently visit the doctor to monitor other conditions.

"That car we had was going to last us the rest of our lives. It was in good condition, we kept it serviced," he said.

The couple is also now looking for a car to get around in while their insurance claim is worked out.