Theft of Proceeds from Auctioned Vehicle

November 18, 2009

We have two insureds that were scammed by a used car dealer. One insured has a commercial auto policy with us and the other insured has a personal auto policy form.
Both insureds agreed to let the dealer sell their cars and for the dealer to pick up the cars and take them to the auction. The dealer then told the insureds that he had a person interested in the cars and advised that he would sell the cars for a set sales price. The dealer then took the cars to the auction, sold them, then took the money from the sale and deposited it into his own account. He then issued checks to the insureds from a different account—one without any funds.
Is this a theft of money or theft of the car so that it would be covered under comp?