Rana Law Group Newsletter

• Does My Insurance Coverage Follow the Driver or the Vehicle?
• 10 Mistakes NOT to Make After a Work Injury
• Just for Fun: Tarun Smokes Ribs

1. When Bob drives the Impala, his auto insurance covers him for an automobile collision.  This is your standard situation contemplated by the auto insurance company when a person signs up for insurance.
2. Bob gets into an accident in a rental or borrowed vehicle (such as a one-time use vehicle).  In most situations, Bob’s insurance company should cover the accident because the insurance will follow Bob since he is a named insured.  In both situations, Bob’s insurance will step in and provide liability (bodily injury) coverage.  Whether the car is covered will depend on whether there is comprehensive (full) coverage.  If not, hopefully Bob purchased the optional rental insurance or, if borrowing someone else’s car, that person has full coverage for permissive users.
3. Bob’s Impala is stolen and the thief causes a wreck.  In this situation, typically Bob’s insurance will not extend coverage, assuming Bob called and reported the vehicle stolen.  This is unfortunate for a victim if he or she is hit by the thief – Bob’s insurance will likely deny the claim.  That is why it is important to have your own auto insurance coverage, which will step in to provide coverage.
4. Bob gives permission to his friend Chuck to use the Impala for an errand and Chuck gets into an automobile collision and it is Chuck’s fault.  Bob’s insurance will cover Chuck because he was a permissive user of Bob’s Impala. The catch is this must be an infrequent use of the car by Chuck.
5. If Bob regularly lets Chuck use his car, that may not be covered because now we get into a situation where Bob should have added Chuck to Bob’s insurance policy.  In essence, two people are getting the benefit of only one person paying insurance and the insurance companies do not like to be underpaid.  This regularly comes up when we have the owner of a car getting insurance but not adding other household members, such as a family member or roommate who has regular access to the vehicle. This is a big no-no and is the quickest way to get an insurance company to deny the claim.
6. If Bob (or Chuck) uses his car for Uber/ Instacart/ Door Dash, that may also not be covered under a standard insurance policy.  One of the questions asked is if you will use the car for rideshare or delivery.  If yes, then the person needs to get special or additional insurance, not just the regular insurance.  If the person is not honest and later discloses he was using the car for delivery/rideshare, a regular policy may exclude coverage and deny the claim (it depends on the language in the policy, but policies have it as an exclusion).
7. Bob moved to another state and did not get around to updating his insurance company before a crash.  This is a real issue because insurance is priced differently in each state.  The insurance company will likely deny coverage initially and require additional investigation.  We had this situation come up and, while we ultimately obtained a good resolution for our client, the situation was much more difficult than simply updating coverage with the client’s insurance.

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