by Guest » Mon May 16, 2011 03:05 am
I deliver books for the library as an employee to seniors in town once every two weeks. about 4 miles. Allstate agent said I was not covered as the car was used for business. What do I need to be covered for this 8 miles a month visiting seniors and bringing them library materials? I understand many public libraries offer outreach services with door to door delivery of materials using staff and personal vehicles. I live in Ohio if that is relevant.
Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 03:32 am Post Subject:
Is the library paying you as an employee to deliver these books? If so, you should be covered under the cities policy. You should ask about this.
Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 11:29 am Post Subject:
Allstate agent said I was not covered as the car was used for business.
Situations such as yours is in kind of a gray area. But I think it's a bit over the top for Allstate to deny coverage for this as "business use" of your auto. It is what most companies would refer to as "incidental" or "occasional" use of your auto in the course of one's occupation.
This is not what most of us would regard as "business use" of an auto -- but it should be disclosed in an application for insurance. There are lots of people across the country who have personal auto policies and who drive their personal vehicle "occasionally" in the course of their employment for the convenience of their employer.
And there are others (like pizza delivery people, traveling nurses, city building inspectors, newspaper reporters, or even self-employed insurance agents) who do it daily as a matter of course. The employer may or may not reimburse them for their mileage. It does not rise to the level of needing a commercial auto policy, but it could require more in the way of premiums to cover the increased risk. It is furnishing one's own vehicle for the CONVENIENCE of the employer (in lieu of, "We need you to do this, so here's our vehicle you can use"). Some of this use goes unreported to the insurance company, and it might not be covered as a result.
When you are driving for the "occasional" convenience of your employer and have an accident payable by your PAP, you can expect that the insurance company will try to recover its losses from your employer, under a legal theory called "culpable negligence". If you are driving your personal vehicle in the course of your employment on a daily basis, then you are, perhaps, more intimately involved in a business use of a vehicle, and would need to be rated differently.
Your use of your vehicle to deliver a few books once or twice a month is about the same thing as your employer asking you to drive down to the donut shop and pick up a dozen glazed once a week. That's what is usually considered "incidental" use. No insurance company would call that "business use" -- except maybe Allstate?
Truly, BUSINESS USE of a vehicle is something more on the order of daily hauling of goods or equipment, such as a gardener who drives around town with his mowers and tools as he goes from one home to another, or the caterer who takes the food, plates, utensils, etc, to the venue for the wedding reception dinner, or the contractor who hauls lumber and other building materials to the job site every day. Those folks really need a commercial auto policy, not a personal auto policy.
The traveling nurse, the city building inspector, the newspaper reporter, or the insurance agent who uses one of the family cars . . . those folks are earning income directly in their trade -- without the vehicle use, there is no income -- it is not for someone else's "convenience", and their vehicle needs to be rated for the percentage of business use. If the business use exceeds 25%, many insurers will charge more for that. If the business use exceeds 50%, some insurers might not cover it. A few insurers don't want any exposure to business use at all. Allstate may be one, GEICO may be another.
It is not the same, however, as driving to or from one's place of employment -- commuting to work (or school). Sure, you earn money because you drive to work, but that's probably not the only way to get there . . . it's simply expedient.
The laborer-employee whose contractor-employer says, "You are required to bring your own tools to the job site every day," and drives a pick-up truck loaded with his own tools, and earns money using those tools, is still not a "business use" of his personal auto, it is simply considered "commuting" to and from work -- he is furnishing the TOOLS, not the vehicle, for the convenience of his employer, and those tools might not be covered under his homeowner's policy, but his pick-up truck will not be excluded from coverage under a PAP.
When the contractor gives him $50 and says, "Stop at the lumber yard on your way home and pick up a box of nails and some 2x4s for tomorrow," that's an incidental use, not a business use. If he was required to do that on a daily basis, it might be different.
If Allstate wants to consider your 8 miles a month as "business use" and not cover it, then look for another insurer. There are hundreds out there who won't -- including GEICO. You wouldn't want to slip between the fingers of those "good hands", or would you?
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