If someone buys stolen property question

[Genie+]

The tip said it wasn’t him but I would guess that the police know the truck description and can match that to him.

I told my husband not even a week ago to move the trailer to our house so it wouldn’t get stolen. Between that and the insurance failure, I’m trying really hard not to coulda/shoulda/woulda. It doesn’t do me any good. I’m spiraling on this so I need to cut my loss and move on. It’s just going to eat me up.

Bought it for $8500. Replacement value is $14,000

Hang in there. This isn’t necessarily over yet. Good luck.

 

[TLSnell1981]

The police can only ask permission to look at it.

We have the thief on video camera. Unfortunately, no license plate is visible but he has a distinctive truck. Now that we have the exact time, my husband is going to try and track down other cameras along the route that may have video. Maybe we can get a license plate.

The guy who called in the tip is meeting up with the guy who bought it so maybe we’ll get useful information. My husband drove to the buyer’s property and it’s not visible from the road.

We had a four wheeler stolen several years ago. We knew who took the ATV. It had been customized and was quite distinct. The thief sold the vehicle the day they absconded with it and was caught on camera. We took the them to small claims court and won.

 

[lifesavacation]

Hang in there. This isn’t necessarily over yet. Good luck.

Thank you. I appreciate that. I am not very hopeful the police will do much. My husband contacted a business down the road from us to ask if we could view their video cameras. They had a 180K excavator stolen from their property not too long ago. Caught it on video. Saw the ad for it and got the phone number and name of the thief and the police didn't want to pursue it. Another one of the businesses my husband visited yesterday reviewed their video footage for us and actually spotted someone stealing their yard equipment on the footage. This is so out of control.

 

[tvguy]

Thank you. I appreciate that. I am not very hopeful the police will do much. My husband contacted a business down the road from us to ask if we could view their video cameras. They had a 180K excavator stolen from their property not too long ago. Caught it on video. Saw the ad for it and got the phone number and name of the thief and the police didn't want to pursue it. Another one of the businesses my husband visited yesterday reviewed their video footage for us and actually spotted someone stealing their yard equipment on the footage. This is so out of control.

Police had the video and didn't want to pursue it? How is that even possible? That would be a slam dunk here. They even had a team here that does nothing but handle construction equipment theft.

 

[lifesavacation]

Police had the video and didn't want to pursue it? How is that even possible? That would be a slam dunk here. They even had a team here that does nothing but handle construction equipment theft.

The guy was towing it out of town to sell it to someone else when the company called him. The police said they were unsure who’s jurisdiction it was.

The company convinced the guy that the police were on the way and he better pull over and unhitch it. They ended up getting it back.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

I'm not much help, but the police here are similarly unhelpful. It is very frustrating when the system seems to help the thieves instead of property owners.

 

[tvguy]

I'm not much help, but the police here are similarly unhelpful. It is very frustrating when the system seems to help the thieves instead of property owners.

Well, here the issue isn't the cops, it's the law. If the loss is less than $950 the cops won't come because the District Attorney won't prosecute because the voters said such petty crimes are not worth the time to prosecute.

 

[rigs32]

It's also staffing. Even in areas where funding hasn't been cut, younger people don't want to go into law enforcement at the same levels. Couple that with increasingly onerous requirements placed on prosecutors, you can only work so much unpaid overtime before having to make tough choices about which crimes to invest resources into.

 

[lifesavacation]

Question regarding the insurance. When we bought the trailer, my husband asked our insurance agent whether the trailer was covered on our existing policies and he was told we were covered through our comprehensive coverage. Since that’s obviously a failure on the agent, do you think we have any recourse? It was in a phone call so no written documentation unfortunately.

I‘m grasping here. I know

 

[china mom]

Question regarding the insurance. When we bought the trailer, my husband asked our insurance agent whether the trailer was covered on our existing policies and he was told we were covered through our comprehensive coverage. Since that’s obviously a failure on the agent, do you think we have any recourse? It was in a phone call so no written documentation unfortunately.

Towed vehicles are covered under your towing vehicle's insurance while they are being towed. Parked trailers may fall under your homomers policy.

 

[lifesavacation]

Towed vehicles are covered under your towing vehicle's insurance while they are being towed. Parked trailers may fall under your homomers policy.

Our insurance agent is saying the contents would be covered but not theft of the actual trailer.

We have a long relationship with the agency so I guess we’ll see. This a last ditch, desperate attempt. We have always told them that we want every kind of insurance to cover everything. We’ll gladly pay for layers and layers of insurance so this is a definite failure.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Question regarding the insurance. When we bought the trailer, my husband asked our insurance agent whether the trailer was covered on our existing policies and he was told we were covered through our comprehensive coverage. Since that’s obviously a failure on the agent, do you think we have any recourse? It was in a phone call so no written documentation unfortunately.

I‘m grasping here. I know

I'm not sure depending on how long ago it was but agents usually carry Errors and Omissions insurance policies on themselves.

HOWEVER, as an insured it is ultimately your responsibility to read the terms of your policy. Typically speaking it would go over things like GVW for trailers if they were considered personal property covered or needed a rider (meaning added onto the policy in specific terms), the usage of the trailer (which sounds like business for you) and if it could be covered under the product you have or needed to be covered under a commercial policy. Also things like where was it principally garaged at (at usually policies have a small percentage of coverage for items stored off premises to the property location the insurance policy is covering).

And coming at it from the experience I have it's not always the agent's fault in these things. Sometimes the insureds are not honest (and I'm not saying that's you just putting that out there) in what items they have and what they are used for. And sometimes it comes down to not knowing what questions to ask.

An insured could say "we have a trailer can it be covered" but no further in-depth questions having been asked to actually say that it could be covered. I'm not saying don't explore going back to the agent in terms of an errors and omissions claim they would have on their side but don't just automatically go to that now because the insurance company is saying it can't be covered. So many times things were covered and it was the insureds "fault" if you want to say it that way. Although I'm not saying this is necessarily applicable to you personally.

 

[lifesavacation]

I'm not sure depending on how long ago it was but agents usually carry Errors and Omissions insurance policies on themselves.

HOWEVER, as an insured it is ultimately your responsibility to read the terms of your policy. Typically speaking it would go over things like GVW for trailers if they were considered personal property covered or needed a rider (meaning added onto the policy in specific terms), the usage of the trailer (which sounds like business for you) and if it could be covered under the product you have or needed to be covered under a commercial policy. Also things like where was it principally garaged at (at usually policies have a small percentage of coverage for items stored off premises to the property location the insurance policy is covering).

And coming at it from the experience I have it's not always the agent's fault in these things. Sometimes the insureds are not honest (and I'm not saying that's you just putting that out there) in what items they have and what they are used for. And sometimes it comes down to not knowing what questions to ask.

An insured could say "we have a trailer can it be covered" but no further in-depth questions having been asked to actually say that it could be covered. I'm not saying don't explore going back to the agent in terms of an errors and omissions claim they would have on their side but don't just automatically go to that now because the insurance company is saying it can't be covered. So many times things were covered and it was the insureds "fault" if you want to say it that way. Although I'm not saying this is necessarily applicable to you personally.

I get it.

We have the following policies:
Earthquake
Flood
Homeowners
Umbrella for both personal and business
Watercraft on our 2 boats
Auto
Business Liability
Auto Coverage for Business
Employee Insurance so that if we're ever sued for discrimination or whatever it's covered
Life insurance
We insure every shipment of equipment on it's own policy over 5K
We have coverage on our commercial buildings
I carry an insurance policy on my wedding ring and it's probably only worth 3K.
We also have an ATV with it's own coverage.

We have seriously never scrimped on insurance. We've always told our agent to cover us for everything.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We have seriously never scrimped on insurance. We've always told our agent to cover us for everything.

I don't doubt that one bit but if it's one thing I've learned it's that there will always been an opportunity for things to get missed or crossed in communication.

On the one hand the public does expect insurance agents to look out for them and the good ones will (and I imagine you've had a good one so far) but on the other hand the public is also really responsible too on their end.

I'm more just more speaking to the viewpoint of it's not covered it should be on the agent then since you asked. That's a gut reaction many of us would probably have and sometimes it really does lie with the agent but the majority of the time..eh...unfortunately no.

As far as your ring generally policies are written where if the jewelry item is below a specified $ threshold it's covered (generally speaking here) without being actually specified the exact item but if over a threshold it needs to be scheduled (that's basically saying adding a rider) onto the policy. The value often determines whether an appraisal is needed. I'm glad you have that covered

 

[lifesavacation]

I don't doubt that one bit but if it's one thing I've learned it's that there will always been an opportunity for things to get missed or crossed in communication.

On the one hand the public does expect insurance agents to look out for them and the good ones will (and I imagine you've had a good one so far) but on the other hand the public is also really responsible too on their end.

I'm more just more speaking to the viewpoint of it's not covered it should be on the agent then since you asked. That's a gut reaction many of us would probably have and sometimes it really does lie with the agent but the majority of the time..eh...unfortunately no.

As far as your ring generally policies are written where if the jewelry item is below a specified $ threshold it's covered (generally speaking here) without being actually specified the exact item but if over a threshold it needs to be scheduled (that's basically saying adding a rider) onto the policy. The value often determines whether an appraisal is needed. I'm glad you have that covered

The personal department has said it's definitely not covered. Commercial department is still reviewing so hopefully they can find a way to cover it. The agent said it wouldn't be covered for theft but they're looking into it.

We once had a 200k piece of equipment get totaled during delivery. Thankfully, we always cover equipment during transit. We've never had a theft/accident/damage and not have it covered until now.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The personal department has said it's definitely not covered. Commercial department is still reviewing so hopefully they can find a way to cover it. The agent said it wouldn't be covered for theft but they're looking into it.

We once had a 200k piece of equipment get totaled during delivery. Thankfully, we always cover equipment during transit. We've never had a theft/accident/damage and not have it covered until now.

That would be so great for you if the commercial lines would cover it, fingers crossed for you!

And my goodness that would have been such an expensive loss there if that piece of equipment damaged during delivery hadn't been covered

 

[tvguy]

I don't doubt that one bit but if it's one thing I've learned it's that there will always been an opportunity for things to get missed or crossed in communication.

Ran into that years ago at the first TV station I worked at. One of the company vans burned up. Insurance promptly sent a check for $7,500, the high blue book value for a Ford E-350 van of that age and mileage. Chief Engineer almost had a stroke, because it was a satellite van built on an E-350 van and it was worth......and INSURED......for $300,000. The broker that sold the policy got involved and he had dotted all the "I's" and crossed all the "T's" in writing the vehicle description at the time the policy was issued, and despite a brief silence on the part off the insurance company, they paid the full insured value of the van.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Ran into that years ago at the first TV station I worked at. One of the company vans burned up. Insurance promptly sent a check for $7,500, the high blue book value for a Ford E-350 van of that age and mileage. Chief Engineer almost had a stroke, because it was a satellite van built on an E-350 van and it was worth......and INSURED......for $300,000. The broker that sold the policy got involved and he had dotted all the "I's" and crossed all the "T's" in writing the vehicle description at the time the policy was issued, and despite a brief silence on the part off the insurance company, they paid the full insured value of the van.

That would be what I would have run into called "customized equipment" which actually isn't all the uncommon although the most usual application is vans or vehicles for disabled individuals because ramps and modifications can easily add up. I want to say the coverage started at like $10K (don't quote me on that) and then if you had more you needed to add that onto the policy and state what it was.

So I guess what I would have to go back to that for the broker that wrote the policy would be with the modifications written out. Descriptions don't actually mean anything really if it's above the amount included in the policy. It would need to be properly accounted for on the policy. Descriptions are good for the usage of replacing and being more specific in what is being insured. It doesn't mean anything for instance to describe a $10K ring if it's not actually insured separately on the policy assuming the company requires a $10K ring to be separately scheduled. Obviously in your example it was paid out. But that would be a case where people would need to ensure things are properly accounted for.

I wouldn't necessarily vouch for the claims agent but I could see where they could have missed even if they shouldn't have if there was say "customized equipment" added on. Another common terminology used is an endorsement.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Question regarding the insurance. When we bought the trailer, my husband asked our insurance agent whether the trailer was covered on our existing policies and he was told we were covered through our comprehensive coverage. Since that’s obviously a failure on the agent, do you think we have any recourse? It was in a phone call so no written documentation unfortunately.

I‘m grasping here. I know

I'm not sure but all of our vehicles AND trailers have a separate policy. I pay a fortune in insurance premiums but c'est la vie.

 

[easyas123]

Police had the video and didn't want to pursue it? How is that even possible? That would be a slam dunk here. They even had a team here that does nothing but handle construction equipment theft.

Yeah, if one of our excavators was stolen and I reported it to our insurance agent they'd be all over the cops for what is going on with the case before they paid out.