Insurance

[Killer_B]

UP,

I assume you were doing this as a favor and not being paid for the work you did. If you were being paid, ignore the rest of this post.

Did the company send you a denial letter? Here in Michigan most homeowner's policies exclude liability:

f. Arising out of: (1)The ownership, maintenance, use, loading or unloading of motor vehicles or all other motorized land conveyances, including trailers, owned or operated by or rented or loaned to an "insured";

But go on to say:

This exclusion does not apply to: (4) A vehicle or conveyance not subject to motor vehicle registration which is: (a) Used to service an "insured's" residence; (b)Designed for assisting the handicapped; or (c)In dead storage on an "insured location";

Here in Michigan, as long as the tractor is used to service your premises (even though the loss occurs elsewhere), the exception (4)(a) to the exclusion (f.) (1) would seem to allow coverage.

Check your policy.

KB

 

[ray66v]

(4)(a) as I read it, argues against your point more than for it. It is a stretch in my mind to think that if a piece of equipment is covered while being used to service the insured's property, that piece of equipment would be covered in some other capacity, (being used for anything other than servicing the insured property). That would leave a giant loop hole allowing equipment to be covered for all kinds of things without the Insurance Carrier being compensated for the additional risk. A hint is the fact that in dead storage the equipment has to be on the Insured's premises to be covered. To me that suggests the coverage is to on premises equipment only.
Or did I totally misunderstand the point?

 

[Killer_B]

Or did I totally misunderstand the point?

Yes.

It's a simple quesion: Is your Kubota used to service your premisis? If so, then (4)(a) applies to you, and exclusion (f) (1) is out the window.

KB

 

[ray66v]

Ok, KB I will have defer to you on that one. I don't know how they write it in Ohio, but, after a big pow wow with my agent, and the underwriters, they said the coverage on my TLB ends at my property line. I can never be sure if they came up with the right verdict.
I think we can both agree they make this language so hardly anyone can understand it.

 

[Red55]

I think we can both agree they make this language so hardly anyone can understand it.[/QUOTE]
YES! Even the lawyers can't agree as to what it means.

LB thanks for letting me know you were kidding. . Thought some bait was being toss my way and didn't want to go for it -Ed

 

[gemini5362]

UP,

I assume you were doing this as a favor and not being paid for the work you did. If you were being paid, ignore the rest of this post.

Did the company send you a denial letter? Here in Michigan most homeowner's policies exclude liability:

f. Arising out of: (1)The ownership, maintenance, use, loading or unloading of motor vehicles or all other motorized land conveyances, including trailers, owned or operated by or rented or loaned to an "insured";

But go on to say:

This exclusion does not apply to: (4) A vehicle or conveyance not subject to motor vehicle registration which is: (a) Used to service an "insured's" residence; (b)Designed for assisting the handicapped; or (c)In dead storage on an "insured location";

Here in Michigan, as long as the tractor is used to service your premises (even though the loss occurs elsewhere), the exception (4)(a) to the exclusion (f.) (1) would seem to allow coverage.

Check your policy.

KB

I had a really nice quote typed out and lost it. Let me try it again.

I had to read this several times to understand what you meant. I think I have it so let me see if I understand. I believe you are saying that the section 4a means that since the tractor is used to service the insureds residence then the liability insurance is in effect even though the use might not be on the insured residence. Is that what you mean ?

If so I look at it a bit differently. I am afraid if i used that arguement on a member of the Academy of Arbitrators in an arbitration The arbitrator would just smile at me and tell me you cannot read one sentence in a vacuum.
You have to read the whole section. I interpret the whole section to mean that if you are using a vehicle that is not subject to motor registration laws on the INSUREDS RESIDENCE no matter where the vehicle came from ( assuming of course it is obtained legally) the Homeowners Liability is in effect. I. E. You rent a backhoe and you are digging a ditch in your backyard. A friend comes over to see you and notices you working in your backyard. They park their car in your yard in front of the backhoe. You take the backhoe and use it to push the tractor forward to extend the ditch. When you push the tractor forward you dont look and you put a huge dent in the side of your friends car with the FEL bucket on the backhoe. In that instance your homeowners liablity insurance would pay for the damage even though you dont own the backhoe and it is not a part of the homeowners policy. 2. Your friend loans you a trailer with his riding lawn mower in it. When you go to unload the riding lawn mower you loose control of it and knock down your neighbors fence which is actually encroaching on your property by 6 inches. Even though the trailer and the riding lawn mower is not your property your liability insurance would be in effect for the repairs. That is the way I interpret the policy exclusions.

The interesting thing is if your church liability policy has the same clause in their liability section. One could make the argument that you loaned your tractor and your service to the church and the accident occured on their property. This might make it fall into that exclusion. It would be a grey area since it mentions insureds residence. I dont know enough about insurance policies to know how that would play out. Of course the church might have to admit that they knew you were working there and that you were not doing it without permission but from your post it looks like they would be happy to do that since you have done it before. Let us know what happens I am curious to find out

 

[Killer_B]

I believe you are saying that the section 4a means that since the tractor is used to service the insureds residence then the liability insurance is in effect even though the use might not be on the insured residence. Is that what you mean ?

That is exactly what it says, and that is exactly what it means.

If the intent was to provide liability coverage on the residence premises only, then (4) (a) would add 'on an "insured location"' just as was added to (4) (c).

But it wasn't, so it isn't.

As far as the language being confusing, I don't find any big or esoteric words used in modern policies. Yes, the world is a complicated place so contractis have to be precise. You have to follow the logic closely, but that's not too difficult, I don't think.

KB

 

[shane]

Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.


Keep up the good work and don't let the insurance companies bring you down.

 

[Killer_B]

Keep up the good work and don't let the insurance companies bring you down.

Hey Shane,

I doubt the insurance adjuster who made this decision is trying to bring anybody down. His decision may well be the correct one, and very likely it is. My original point was that Upraiser should be sure that he understands the reason for the adjuster's decision. Mistakes are made sometimes, particularly on claims that are not run of the mill, and/or when the adjuster is inexperienced.

Having made my living in claims for over 20 years, I have made my share of bad calls. I am never offended when an insured or his lawyer calls and says "I see where you are coming from, but have you considered this..."

BTW: I always felt Luke 16:1-9 presented a fascinating conundrum for those in my line of work.

KB

 

[tallyho8]

I say it doesn't matter if your homeowners insurance covers it or not. It is not worth it to make a small claim on your homeowners insurance and everyone ought to have at least $1000 deductibles on their policies. If you make 2 claims of any size on your homeowners policy in 3 years, they will cancel your policy and then your new policy will cost thousands of dollars more in the next few years negating any benefits you may have received.