Semitrailer Included as “Any Auto” in Garage Policy?

Q

A garage policy insured was using one of his trucks to pull a customer's semitrailer from one lot to another when the trailer came loose and struck a car in an intersection. The liability insurance is written with coverage keyed to symbol 21, “any auto,” but we are having difficulty with subparagraph C of Section I, Covered Autos. This says that any liability insurance also applies to (1) small trailers and (2) temporary substitute autos.

An adjuster says that subparagraph C limits the garage liability coverage to small trailers only and that there is no coverage for this semitrailer accident. Can you help us refute that position?

South Carolina Subscriber

A

With liability coverage keyed to symbol 21, the insured is protected against claims for bodily injury or property damage or both involving “any auto.”  By definition in the insurance contract, “auto” includes trailers and semitrailers. Consequently, the extension in subparagraph C to small trailers and temporary substitute autos does not apply in this particular situation.

If the garage policy were written with liability coverage restricted to certain autos—e.g., owned private passenger autos (symbol 23), or specifically described autos (symbol 27)—then subparagraph C provides the liability coverage extension to trailers with a load capacity of 2,000 pounds or less. This is so because a trailer, even though it is included within the definition of “auto,” is not reasonably seen as a private passenger auto; and (presumably) a trailer is not usually included when the insured chooses to use the specifically described designation for covered autos. But, if liability coverage is written to apply to “any auto,” then subparagraph C is not brought into play, and cannot be used to limit the liability coverage that the insured has purchased.

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