Intentional Damage not Covered by PAP
Under the physical damage section of the personal auto policy, there does not seem to be a specific exclusion for damage intentionally caused by or at the direction of the insured. Our claim question is as follows: our insured in his statement to the police stated he was attempting to commit suicide and ran his car in to a telephone pole. He did not die, but his car was totaled. The insurer is attempting to deny the claim under the physical damage collision insurance because it was not a “loss” to an insured vehicle, defining a loss as “direct and accidental loss of or damage to an insured car”. Since the insured was attempting to commit suicide, the insurer is saying that even though there is not a specific exclusion under physical damage for damage intentionally caused by the insured, the damage to the insured's car would not be covered because the damage was not direct and accidental since the insured was intentionally attempting to commit suicide. If the company wanted to exclude damage intentionally caused by the insured, it could have added an exclusion specifically excluding damage intentionally caused by the insured. Since the insurer did not add such an exclusion in the physical damage insurance provisions, it is our feeling the claim should be covered. Do you agree?
New York Subscriber
We agree with the insurer. The key point is the wording in the insuring agreement, that is, the insuring agreement has to be met before consideration of any exclusion. And in the PAP, the insuring agreement for the physical damage section states that the coverage is for direct and accidental loss. If the loss is not direct and accidental, the insuring agreement is not met and there is no coverage. In this instance, the insured intentionally caused his own loss; there was nothing accidental about it. It may be that some court would say the insured was intentionally trying to kill himself, but not intentionally trying to destroy his car. But, that argument is ignoring the fact that driving a car into a telephone pole at a speed fast enough to kill oneself has the natural and direct consequence of damaging the car. So, we do not see any coverage in this instance.