From: Paul A. Thomas (bluewhale@jaxkneppers.com)
Date: Tue May 04 2004 - 18:15:06 PDT
Herr, or Book:
I can't agree with much of what you said, however my claims ( thus
policy coverage ) information is 15 years old so to all: please take
with a grain of salt.
I ran " homeowners policy exclusion for wheeled vehicles " by Google and
the first link had this info in it. THIS is the type of language that
applies... and it definitely depends on the exact form used by that Ins
Co..
***********************
The current ISO homeowners policy defines “motor vehicle” as: “A
self-propelled land or amphibious vehicle.” Absent any written
confirmation from an insurance carrier to the contrary, a Segway should
be considered a “motor vehicle” under the policy.
Under Section I of the policy coverage for motor vehicles is excluded
except for:
We do cover "motor vehicles" not required to be registered for use on
public roads or property which are:
(a) Used solely to service an "insureds"
residence; or
(b) Designed to assist the handicapped;
*******************
MOST companies use ISO forms for their policies, tho they amend them as
they see fit. Companies like Progressive use their own forms so
coverages change IE: if I have Progressive and you have an accident
driving my car Progressive will cover you ONLY for the minimum required
amount in that state... something like $15K here in Ca whereas the ISO
forms give a permissive driver my policy limits.. One reason to stick
with ISO based companies IMSHO.
You need Liability insurance both for operating the vehicle as well as
for parking it. A tank is an attractive neusence( my spell checker was
no help here :{ ). I can't think of something that title would apply
to more than a tank. *I* would crawl under a fence to be close to a
parked tank. Imagine what kids would do to get near it?
As I recall there are exceptions for Farming equipment, however tanks
probably don't qualify. My totally uninformed SWAG is this is a motor
vehicle and must be insured as one.
Call Gulfway. They weren't that up to date on tracked vehicles when I
asked a year ago for a lister, however they called Travelers ( the
carrier they place all the collector/race stuff with ) and were told
'yes, we insure those things'.
Back to Herr's reply: umbrella policies are a great idea, however for
something like this which should be covered by a primary policy they
usually won't 'drop down' to cover a loss from dollar one if something
occurs. They do for some things, like punching out the lowly marine who
claimed army vets are dog meat ( sorry Bruce <G> ) then the sad marine
sues you... but for an auto accident they are intended to be excess
coverage and word their policies with great care.
One last thought ( I know: thank goodness! ) Don't trust your insurance
agent to know the policy. READ it. if you find something you think says
the opposite of what you were told then ask them nicely. Insurance
companies have teams of people who try ( I repeat: try ) to interpret
what a judge or appellate court said as it affects coverage of the
policy. Ins Agents try to keep up but have to sell policies and help
with claims: keeping up with policy wording is not their Primary focus.
It may be you read/interpreted something incorrectly, but then again
I've had to point things out to agents when trying to find coverage for
my old MV's half a dozen times... sort of like having to help the local
DMV when you go to get a new title for your recently purchased historic
vehicle. Because when you DO have an accident ( didn't someone get
injured or killed at an MV gun shoot mid country a couple of years ago?
) the FIRST thing the insurance company will/should do is verify you Are
covered, then see if any exclusions apply. If your agent botched it you
can sue the agent later but you are still on the hook.
Again, sorry for babbling. I dislike it when people pay a lot of money
for coverage but aren't covered for what they thought they were. Killing
all the lawyers would help, but then who would we put in the lagoon at
the far end to attract the sharks when the rest of us what to go swimming?
Regards
Paul
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