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?
Ohio Subscriber
The BAP provides coverage for a theft loss under comp coverage and under specified causes of loss coverage; the PAP provides coverage for a theft loss under other than collision. This can be considered as theft of cars from the insureds and the BAP and PAP will apply to that theft.
Although there may be a question regarding the “accidental'' language of the physical damage insuring agreement, if we look at it from the standpoint of the insureds they did not intend to have their cars stolen. From their points of view it was an accidental loss. And, if the insurers had wanted to have an exclusion about voluntarily parting with the cars they could have put one in. Because there is no exclusion for voluntarily giving up the car and no definition of theft in the either the BAP or PAP, those forms should cover the losses.
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