Re: Safety Chains
I disagree with your agent, and as a former claim adjuster who handled these claims for a living for many years, I can confidently say that most agents are flat wrong in their understanding about this type of thing most of the time. They're good at selling policies, but they're very poor at interpreting them.<br /><br />I have auto policies in my posession from 7 different major carriers, and EVERY single one of them defines "insured vehicle" to include ANY "utility trailer you own," or any utility trailer you are renting. And utility trailer is defined as "any trailer designed to be towed by a car" sometimes with a weight limit of 10,000 lbs on a few policies.<br /><br />This means that if you're sleeping soundly in bed, and you forgot to put a block under your wheels and your boat/trailer careens down your driveway and slams a passing vehicle, the damage to the other vehicle is fully COVERED because you are liable for not chocking your wheels, and you OWN that particular utility trailer. It makes no difference that it wasn't even close to being hooked up to your vehicle.<br /><br />I need to clarify that these definitions will apply only to the LIABILITY portion of your policy, not the CAR DAMAGES portion...so the damage to your BOAT would not be covered by such a situation, whether it was being towed or not...that's what your boat policy is for. BUT...the damage to your boat TRAILER just might be covered by your car policy, this is gray and varies from company to company.<br /><br />If you want to feel better about this, read the "Definitions" section under the "Liability coverage" portion of your policy (usually this is all found on the first page or two), and look for the definition of "Your insured car." I can pretty well promise you that it will state "any utility trailer you own" as being insured. And it never even mentions whether it's hooked up to the car or not.<br /><br />If your insurance company would try to deny such a claim, they would lose the case very quickly.<br /><br />Here's another kicker. Your BOAT policy will probably NOT cover the liability of damaging another vehicle while being towed. Here's a direct EXCLUSION from my boat policy: "TRANSPORTING WATERCRAFT: We wil not cover any bodily injury or property damage while the insured watercraft is being carried in or upon or while mounted on a trailer attached to or being towed by an automobile or any type of land motor vehicle." <br /><br />Why? Because this is where your car policy takes over.<br /><br />Not that putting better chains on your rig isn't a bad idea anyway!
