This question pertains to BOTH Homeowners AND Auto policies. The OWNER of an AUTO authorizes his good friend to use the Owner's car. The friend has the owner's car in the friend's driveway of his own home. The friend, in error, touches the gas pedal, in lieu of the brake pedal, and causes considerable damage to his OWN home (The friend's home is damaged (caused by the friend) using the OWNER'S car, with the permission of the Owner.)
Questions:
1. Shold the Homeowners policy pay for the damage to the Home, caused by the Owner of the home?
2. Should the Auto policy be responsible for the damage to the Home?
New York Subscriber
Let's look at this a policy at a time. Under the personal auto policy, the friends would be considered an "insured" under that policy since the definition of "insured" includes "any person using "your covered auto"". Coverage for damage to property of others is covered under the liability portion of the policy. However, since the homeowner is considered an insured under the friend’s policy, the exclusion for property owned by that insured applies, so there is no coverage under the auto policy.
Under the homeowners policy, coverage for the dwelling is open perils, and there are no exclusions for damage to the home from vehicles. Therefore, even though the homeowner did accidentally drive into his own home, there is coverage under the home policy for the damages.