Alan,
Thanks for your reply. I think you may not have understood my point.
The point of my message was not to accuse you of anything; you can do
whatever you want. (I was originally going to send this privately but
the message is too important and everyone should understand it.)
My point is that owners should know what they buy (in this case
insurance)and should understand what they may be "getting" themselves
into before they have "gotten" themselves into a predicament.
In the insurance business, like many others, nothing is a problem until
something happens. If you never get into an accident or otherwise never
need to use your insurance, it doesn't make a difference whether you
drive your LBC to work, shopping, to dinner, dancing, every day of the
week year-in and year-out.
Likewise, submit a small claim or even a moderate "property damage only"
claim and the company is unlikely to do much of any investigation beyond
appraising the damage.
On the other hand, I guarantee you that should you injure a doctor,
attorney, or other substantial income earner, who is likely to file a
substantial loss of earnings claim against you in addition to his claim
for medicals, while you are on your way to your "mechanic" or "car
show", you better indeed be on your way to your "mechanic" or "car
show".
Otherwise you are going to have a long lasting queasy feeling in your
stomach if you try to play "cute" with your story. Your story better be
the truth not only because you're going to have to repeat it, but
because the insurance company is not going to quickly write out a check
for $300,000. for an accident on a sunny Thursday afternoon.
If you have never received a "reservation of rights" letter from an
insurance company, believe me, you don't ever want to.
Also, if your classic car carrier denies coverage due to use of the
vehicle outside of the coverage limitations, misrepresentation, etc.
your umbrella liability will not respond until the required underlying
limit of liability has been "paid out".
Example, you are held liable for injuries sustained by your passenger
while going to look at another LBC on Tuesday evening. Six months
later you receive a visit from the Sheriff. He leaves a packet of
papers. We call it a Writ in Connecticut. It informs you that your good
buddy, your passenger, hired an attorney who has filed suit against you
for his lost time from work, let's say he's self-employed and his
business suffers as a result, plus his wife's loss of consortium, pain
and suffering, etc. etc.
So during the course of the trial and through depositions and interviews
with concerned parties, like the seller of the LBC, it comes out that
you were not using the car within the course of the coverage limitations
or warrant of the policy. In Connecticut, you cannot seek coverage from
your standard insurance carrier since you were driving another vehicle
you own and available for your regular use.
So the insurance company is going to be kind and they send you a
reservation of rights letter which basically means: We the insurance
company are going to hire an attorney at our expense to represent you in
this matter but that doesn't indicate that we are going to afford
coverage under this policy.
Judge whacks the gavel $750,000.
Sounds high doesn't it? With all due respect, don't be naive. It's more
common than you think.
Shortly after judgement is rendered, your insurance company informs you
in words that boil down to "No coverage. Outside of the use Limitation.
Please refer to your signature on the app.
So you turn to your umbrella carrier who explains that they are not
obligated to pay until the underlying limit of insurance has been paid.
That could be $100,000 to $500,000 depending upon the insurance company.
Do you have that much spare change in the bank?
So suddenly that Classic insurance policy doesn't look so good. You're
upset, (to say the least). Why didn't they tell me this? You spout "All
these insurance companies are crooks!"
Very simple solution. Read your policy. Follow the changes every year.
If you can understand the policy language, ask your agent or company to
completely explain it to you.
Sorry to be long-winded about this but somebody's going to get
themselves into trouble running around with these limited policies.
Remember, the assets you save may be your own.
Jay Fishbein, CT
AN-5
HAN-6
Innocenti-S
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