Tech Talk: Your client wants to know! A taste of the upcoming October convention …
By
Irene Morrill, CPCU, CIC, ARM, CRM, CRIS, MLIS, CPIW, LIA
VP Technical Affairs, MAIA
MAIA’s annual convention …the BIG EVENT … is just a few short weeks away. So, to whet your appetite and to entice you to attend, the following is a “taste” of some of the information to be presented. On Saturday, October 22nd, I will be conducting five different one-hour seminars. These are based on questions that you have emailed to me over the last year. Two will be on various personal residential issues, another on personal auto, still another on certificates of insurance and another on banks and what they think they are entitled to.
The following questions and answers are examples of the format for my convention courses.
MAP Question:
Irene, I have one for you… if you are away on business and rent a car in your name will your personal auto policy respond? Does the class 30 rating help?
Answer to MAP Question:
We classify the MAP based on how the owned autos are used and who they are used by. Class 30 is not necessary to provide coverage for You or a Household Member when renting a non-owned car for a business purpose. HOWEVER, class 30 can be NECESSARY on your client’s vehicle if he/she uses it in the course of his/her employment.
BUSINESS USE (according to the MAIP manual)
Class 30 Business Use. The automobile is used in the occupation, profession, or business of the insured and all operators of the automobile have been licensed at least six years. Going to or from the principal place of the occupation, profession or business of the insured is not considered business use. Any inexperienced operator classification would supersede the Business Use classification.
If your client just uses the vehicle to commute to work, then class 30 would not be necessary.
The following are excerpts from the 2016 MAP:
Part 4. Damage to someone else’s property
We will pay only if you, or a household member….. is legally responsible for the accident…. Under this Part, we will pay for damage or destruction of the tangible property of others caused by an accident and arising from the ownership, maintenance, or use of an auto, including loading and unloading.
Exclusion #7: We will not pay for property damage which occurs: When the property damage is caused by anyone using an auto without the consent of the owner.
Part 5 Optional Bodily Injury to Others
Under this Part, we will pay damages to people injured or killed in accidents if you or a household member is legally responsible for the accident and such accident arises out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of an auto by you or the household member. Also, like the Compulsory Part, this Part does not pay for the benefit of anyone using an auto without the consent of the owner.
You and household members must always have the consent of the owner which generally means being listed on the rental contract.
Under Parts 4 and 5 there is a business exclusion, but it does not apply to cars or pickups/vans (owned or non-owned). It reads as follows:
While anyone is using a vehicle in the course of any business other than the business of selling, servicing, repairing or parking autos. This exclusion does not apply to private passenger autos. It applies to pick-up trucks, vans, or similar vehicles not used for the delivery or transportation of goods or materials unless such use is incidental to your business of installing, maintaining, or repairing furnishings or equipment.
This MAP business use exclusion doesn’t apply to private passenger autos or pickups and vans not used for delivery. It is intended to apply to larger commercial vehicles.
Under the physical damage coverages of collision, limited collision and comprehensive there is no business exclusion but there IS a restriction for “type” of vehicle covered.
Part 7 collision
Under this part, we will pay for any direct and accidental damage to YOUR AUTO caused by a collision. We will also pay for collision damage to other private passenger autos while being used by you or a household member with the consent of the owner.
Part 9 Comprehensive
Under this part, we will pay for direct and accidental damage to or loss of YOUR AUTO other than damage caused by collision. We will also pay for such damage or loss to other private passenger autos while being used by you or a household member with the consent of the owner.
Parts 7 8, or 9 coverage only applies to your auto or “other private passenger autos” so there would be no coverage for larger non-owned commercial type vehicles.
As long as you and household members have the consent of the owner and rent cars and pickups then the 2016 MAP should apply to business trips!
BAP Question:
Our client has a personal umbrella. She has a company car that she is allowed to use for personal use.
The personal umbrella carrier would have the client count this car as one to cover over and requires them to be sure that the commercial policy is at the minimum levels that they require.
The personal umbrella will only cover over an incident while the car is being used for personal use.
The question is: How does a commercial auto policy work? Does the BAP apply to all uses of the vehicle whether the use is commercial or personal?
ANSWER to BAP Question:
Under the liability section of the business auto policy, it states that anyone using a vehicle with the named insured's permission is an insured. If the employer allows personal use of the company car, then coverage would respond on a primary basis subject to "normal" BAP policy exclusions, of course!
Some employers, like my husband's, only allowed actual work use and commute to work use. In this case, if the business has a "written" or "stated" policy of restricting employee use then the employee would not be an insured under the BAP when using the vehicle “outside of permission”.
Example, if my husband Bud drives the company pickup truck to the movies and has an accident then he would not be considered an insured under his employer’s business auto policy. He would have no defense and if the BAP ends up paying out on behalf of the employer as owner of the vehicle, then the BAP carrier could subrogate against my husband, the negligent party who is not an insured.
If your client’s employer allows personal use, then the BAP would respond. Then, based on what you have said regarding the personal umbrella policy, her umbrella carrier should respond as excess for her, if necessary.
There is NOWHERE in the BAP where business use is required for coverage! “Permissive use” is required for coverage!
See the following excerpt from the BAP liability definition of “insured”:
Who Is An Insured
The following are "insureds":
a. You for any covered "auto".
b. Anyone else while using with your permission a covered "auto" you own, hire or borrow except:
BOP v. DP Question
I was hoping that you could tell me the differences between a Bop policy vs. a dwelling fire. I am in the process of having to renew a two family in Belmont from a package policy Bop to a dwelling fire. I am trying to fill in as many of the gaps as possible. I was hoping that you would be able to provide me with all the differences in coverage.
Answer to BOP question:
This is a QUICK and NOT EXHAUSTIVE look at differences DP v. BOP.
Covered Causes of loss
I “assume” that it would be special form BOP or special form DP. There are various edition dates of both forms, but I will stick with issues that are similar from one edition to the other.
The BOP special form has more property loss exclusions than the DP special form does. There are almost 6 pages devoted to exclusions in the BOP whereas the DP Special Form only has a little over 2 pages!
The BOP special form excludes power surge/electrical arcing damage to the building. The DP special form has no such exclusion.
The BOP will only cover interior building damage due to rain sleet or snow if the exterior first sustains loss due to a COVERED cause of loss. The DP special form would pay the interior damage regardless of whether there was a covered exterior loss first or not.
Loss of rents/income
The BOP pays ACTUAL LOSS SUSTAINED for loss of rental income for a maximum of 12 months. There is no dollar limit just a time period limitation.
The DP-3 form provides 20% of the Coverage A dwelling value for loss of rents e under the 2002 or 2014 ISO edition date (only 10% of Coverage A under the 1988 edition). If more coverage is desired, it must be purchased. But the good news there is no time limit.
With 2022 supply chain issues is 12 months sufficient rebuilding time? If not the BOP will not pay loss of rental income after the 12 months is gone.
Other Structures and Insurance to Value
In the BOP the building value declared INCLUDES the value of the other structures. If it is not sufficient one could suffer an “insurance to value” penalty.
The DP-3 automatically provides an additional 10% of the building value for other structures which is separate from the dwelling coverage limit. Higher limits of value for other structures can be purchased and this additional limit would be shown on the Declarations separately from the dwelling value.
The DP-3 also has an “insurance to value” provision for buildings losses. One must carry 80% of the building value to avoid a loss payment penalty.
Loss payment basis
Both the BOP and DP can be replacement cost for building if the limit of insurance is sufficient to meet the “insurance to value” clause.
The BOP would allow replacement cost for contents losses, if contents coverage is purchased. There is no replacement cost option for contents under the DP form, only ACV loss settlement.
Neither the BOP nor the DP give any contents coverage for free.
Ordinance or law:
The DP form gives 10% of the building value or ordinance or law and it is in addition to the dwelling limit. The BOP only gives a specific dollar limit of $5,000 or $10,000 depending on the BOP edition date. Both forms should add the ordinance or law endorsement for additional coverage.
Liability issues:
The BOP policy includes an occurrence liability limit but there is also an overall yearly aggregate limitation.
The DP form is a property form, and you have to ADD liability to the DP-3 by endorsement or extend liability from a HO policy. Personal liability is on a per occurrence basis and allows unlimited occurrences in a year.
BOP liability has a pollution exclusion whereas the Dwelling liability form does not.
The BOP automatically provides liability coverage for personal injury which could include wrongful entry and wrongful eviction. You have to ADD this coverage by endorsement to dwelling liability by endorsement DL 24 82.
Those are some of the major highlights that come to mind.
So, back to the Big Event. Don’t worry if you don’t think that you like this format for courses there are a TON of choices offered by other instructors!!!
Please visit our website to see a COMPLETE list of ALL the educational course offerings
And as Mae West would say …Why don’t you come up and see us …this year …
As always, if you have any further questions, please feel free to email me, Irene Morrill, Vice President of Technical Affairs, at [email protected]
This article has been developed expressly for the members of MAIA. Reprint by other than members without the express permissions of the author is not permitted