We are unsure about how to respond to a recent claim. While driving along a country road, the insured lost control of his car and ended up in a ditch. There was no immediate damage to the driver or the car, but our insured burned up his transmission while rocking the car from forward to reverse trying to get it out of the ditch.

The insured argued that the proximate cause of the burned-out transmission was the fact that he lost control and landed in the ditch. Thus, he argued that the damaged transmission should be covered under the policy's collision peril. Is the burned-out transmission a covered loss under the personal auto policy?

North Carolina Subscriber