I read an interesting article in the recent MassAgent newsletter from the Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents:
Question of the Week
Collision Coverage – If Hit by a Stolen Vehicle
Question: We had a prospect come into our office to insure his car. He said recently his car was hit while parked by a car that was stolen and involved in a police chase. He has collision, but when he made his claim through GEICO (former carrier), he was told it was not covered as it was a stolen car and a police chase. Now, I know that GEICO would probably have no one to subrogate against, but I believe as long as he paid a premium to have collision coverage, it should be covered less the deductible. I’ve been an agent for many years, but am I missing a caveat that denies coverage in this circumstance? If so, it’s a new one. Thanks.
Answer
Kathy Cormier: If your customer has first-party coverage (collision), they should be able to collect from their policy. I looked at GEICO’s policy, and they have a modified version of the MAP 2008: https://massagent.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/gecc129849942.pdf. There was nothing that I saw saying they couldn’t collect under collision if damaged by a stolen vehicle. I’m including Irene Morrill, VP of Technical Affairs.
Irene Morrill: And that’s why people shouldn’t be insured with GEICO…they have no one to fight for them. I didn’t see any exclusion for “hit by a stolen vehicle” in the GEICO policy.
The person whose car was stolen is not legally responsible for the actions of the stolen vehicle – if the thief was caught…then the thief would be legally responsible for the damages, but if one buys Part 7 -it doesn’t matter.
I’d tell the client to make an insurance complaint…and say to the company that they are doing so…with the MA DOI – perhaps that will make the company decide to pay.
Filing an Insurance Complaint in Massachusetts
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