KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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more on employer liability for employee vehicles used for work / another insurance question / more on additional insured
July 11,  2017
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more on employer liability for employee vehicles used for work
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Ken,
    You had published an article recently talking about getting insurance coverage for the event where an employee is driving their personal vehicle during work hours and gets into an accident. 
I have been working with my insurance company trying to get this coverage and this is the response I got back:
    "We do not have a way to cover an employee vehicle for comp or collision by way of endorsement.  Adding the Employee as Insureds endorsement only extends liability to that employee should they get sued for an accident while driving for the insured.  Hired and non-owned auto only covers the insured for liability exposures that their drivers create but does not cover the employees property (in this case their car).  I’m not aware of any policy with any insurance company that provides this since the policy owner has no insurable interest in the employees vehicle, but rather only their liability in the actions the employee takes while driving while in the course of employment."
    Any advice on this?
Respectfully,
Megan Ingala
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Response
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    So the insurance will cover the employer if the employer gets sued, but won't cover the employee for collision or property damage to the employee's car.  The employee should have coverage for that from the employee's own policy.  
    Question I have for the insurance brokers is, is the employer liable to repair the employee's vehicle and cover the employee's property damage if the accident occurs while the employee is working?
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another insurance question
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Ken
    My agent no longer writes auto policies through my current carrier. The only commercial auto policy I can get at a reasonable price is through a company that insists on my E/O and general liability policy also
    I do not want to leave SARRG.
    What else is there for AUTO?
    The Hartford wants a 5 vehicle fleet, Progressive wants more for two than.   I am paying my present carrier for 2.  Loss runs 10 years are  O
Joel Kent
FBN
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Response
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    Zero loss runs?  A home run for your carriers so far.  Well, no good deed goes unpunished, so not surprised you're getting dumped.  
    You should try and stay with SARRG.  It's rates are lowest or close to it and it's Claims Department, headed by Administrator Bart Didden, simply the best.  But you will have to get your auto insurance elsewhere.  Some of the brokers on The Alarm Exchange have expertise beyond the alarm industry and should be able to find you an auto policy, even commercial.  Give them a try.
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more on additional insured from June 21, 2017 article
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Ken
    In response to Jean Levenson's question, "Has anyone noticed a significant change.....in adding additional insured[s]?  Security America Risk Retention group - SARRG has not changed its criteria or position on this topic since our inception in 2003.
    We do however include language on certificates that this additional insured status is only granted for activities of our insured while on the premises.   
    Here is the example, we have a company that has been with SARRG since 2005 from California. They complied with the General Contractor/Builder (and large national company who builds residential developments) to be listed as an additional insured on the alarm company's policy. Ten years later the home owners started filing construction defect claims, but none of the claims made list any complaint against the alarm system or any of the low voltage work that the alarm company may have done. Roofing, counter tops, flooring, windows, all the high ticket items that the home owner would like to have replaced new.
    But because our early certificates did not have the limiting language the alarm company is brought into the case, suffers a portion of the defense costs and may be subject to contributing to any settlements.
    Additional insured status has its place, but so does a properly written certificate that makes certain what coverage is afforded, AS WELL as the alarm contract from an alarm industry expert such as Ken Kirschenbaum and www.alarmcontracts.com 
    It is this attention to the details that SARRG customers have come to demand and expect from SARRG. Everyone else get large loss runs and premium increases when they get caught up on the construction defect treadmill. This is a very lucrative business for law firms because if they are not chasing ambulances, trip and falls or asbestos deaths, it's construction defects.
    The contract requirement never discusses the depth beyond the contractor's actions as a requirement because that would have heightened the issue years ago. So they would like certs to be wide open but in the end are happy to get one that is restricted without a hassle.
    Insurers that don't care about their risks, program or insured's loss runs just issue blankets, because its the odds game, how many out of what they issue will result in a claim anyway. 
    We do however include language on certificates that this additional insured status is only granted for activities of our insured while on the premises.  This may not be consistent with the contractual undertaking.  The additional insured needs to comply with the contract requirement. How do you reconcile that?  The parties may not  notice the deficiency until there is a claim and it's too late
    For me its important because my claim losses runs at half the industry averages because we want good contracts. I pay many claims and I defend many claims. There is a time to settle and a time to defend, for me its a long term view of protecting the industry and its Rights to use a contract to shift losses to those that are responsible.
Bart A. Didden, Executive Claims Manager
Security America Risk Retention Group - SARRG
Security America Risk Purchasing Group LLC - SARPG

877-872-1266
bdidden@securityamericarrg.com 
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Response
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    Bart got his plug in the previous response before I opened this comment, but it shows how he deserves the plug.  He cares about the industry and so does SARRG.  
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
516 747 6700
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com
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