We issue a standard business auto policy to a towing company with the repair plate endorsement (registration plates not issued to a specific auto). AAA is called by a customer with a flat tire. AAA dispatches our insured to go assist with the repair. The Insured takes the commercial auto to the scene and takes a "jack" over to the disabled vehicle. This is a standard jack but clearly NOT attached to the vehicle. It is wheeled over and the driver lifts the truck up and takes the flat tire off. Driver then goes to put on a new tire, realizes the car is not lifted high enough and jacks up a bit more when apparently the customer's hand (for some reason she is assisting) is injured when the car falls off the jack. What policy responds? Commercial auto? or would this more go towards a "garage" policy?
Massachusetts Subscriber
We were provided the endorsement which shows that the registered plates coverage makes any towing vehicle the insured owns or operates a covered "auto". So the question then becomes, is the disabled customer vehicle a covered "auto", which it is not.
The disabled customer vehicle is not a covered "auto" under the policy. The Business Auto Coverage Form CA 00 01 provides liability coverage for sums an insured must legally pay for bodily injury or property damage caused by an "accident" and resulting from the maintenance or use of a covered "auto". Since the description of the loss is not from the insured's covered "auto", but rather from equipment used in their towing operations, then this will be a general liability claim as opposed to an auto claim.
The towing company's agreement to service the disabled customer vehicle qualifies as an "insured contract" under the general liability coverage form CG 00 01, item f. which is a contract or agreement under which the insured assumes the tort liability of another party to pay for "bodily injury" or "property damage" to a third person or organization. Tort liability is liability that would be imposed by law even if there were no contract or agreement.
In this situation, the customer sustained "bodily injury" from the operations of the towing company. Even if there was no contractual agreement, since the equipment that caused the injury was owned by the insured and used in their operations, there should be coverage for the customer's bodily injury.