Snowplows: Is equipment covered under a business auto policy?
Coverage Q&A: The question asks how collision damage can be covered under an auto policy for a vehicle's "mobile equipment."
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Editor’s Note: Every year, FC&S receives questions pertaining to seasonal risks. We know that when the weather shifts to a colder climate, we are apt to get questions about frozen pipes sooner or later. Now that we are in the heart of the winter season, this week’s question deals with one of our favorite things: snowplow blades.
Question: I am an insurance regulator in Vermont and am hoping for some underwriting clarification on a commercial auto policy.
A claims adjuster is using the ISO CA Business Auto policy language under Part V (Section K. Mobile Equipment, part 6a) to state that while a listed pickup truck is covered for physical damage as a covered auto, the snowplow blade that is attached is not covered for physical damage because it is not permanently attached.
My understanding of that section of the policy is that it’s meant to define which types of “land vehicles” can be considered “mobile equipment,” and which ones cannot and must be listed as a covered auto. The specific reference in subsection 6a to “permanently attached” equipment designed primarily for snow removal seems only meant to further clarify that a land vehicle with a permanently attached snowplow blade cannot qualify as “mobile equipment.” I do not interpret that section as a disqualification to cover any or all detachable snow removal equipment that is used with covered autos.
However, there is some interpretation in the office that a “covered auto and its equipment” means only items that are permanently attached, and equipment, such as a removable plow blade, must be explicitly covered by an endorsement or by inland marine coverage.
The key question here is: If an insured has an ISO Business Auto policy and the listed pickup truck has a permanently installed harness to which a snowplow blade can be attached and detached, how can the policy be written so that there is collision damage coverage that would apply to that snowplow blade? Or does it require an endorsement or inland marine coverage?
— Vermont Subscriber
Answer: This is a revision of our initial answer to this question. Occasionally, the editors get stuck in the trees and can’t see the forest. We get too focused on one part of the policy and not the whole.
While the liability section of the BAP does indeed require that the equipment be “permanently attached,” this requirement is not existent under the physical damage coverage section. Rather, the physical damage coverage reads that the coverage applies to a covered “auto” and its equipment.
In reviewing the physical damage exclusions, the only types of equipment that are excluded are electronics and related. Since there is no specific requirement that the snowplow blade be permanently attached, and there is no applicable physical damage exclusion, the snowplow blade should be covered for physical damage under the BAP, as long as the vehicle to which the plow is attached also carries physical damage coverage.
This article has been updated with a revised answer from FC&S.
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