Mr. Cantrell owned a mobile home. At the time the mobile homeowners policy was issued, it was located in a mobile home park with clear access to a fire hydrant. However, during the policy term, Mr. Cantrell moved the home to a two-acre tract of land in another county. The setting may have been more picturesque but it was a mile away from the nearest fire hydrant.

Three months after the move, the mobile home and its contents were destroyed in a fire. Nationwide, his carrier, denied coverage because the mobile home wasn’t where the policy said it should be! Mr. Cantrell disagreed because there was no condition in the policy stating that he couldn’t move his home. He felt that the location information was for identification purposes only since the policy stated that the residence premises was located at the mailing address, unless otherwise shown. The defined term “residence premises” did not require that it be situated at any specific location.

The courts ruled that the wording was imprecise enough to rule that a reasonable man, such as Mr. Cantrell, could conclude that a mobile home could be moved without affecting coverage.

Click here for more detail on this court case.

Do you regularly double-check your customer’s Declarations? The information that appears there is what makes the policy unique to your customer. This is also the place where most mistakes occur. The information cannot be “close.” Most policies constantly refer back to the Declarations, so the information there must be correct. One of the problems in reviewing a Declarations is that each carrier seems to use its own version. However, reviewing the ISO recommended wording may be helpful as a reference.

Click here for an analysis of one of ISO’s sample Declarations.

Have you asked your customer his or her name lately? We get used to calling our insureds by name, such as Mary, Jim or Barney, and may forget that the insurance contract is not so friendly. Only the insureds named on the Declarations having an insurable interest are covered. If the name changes from Mary and Jim Humphries to Humphries LLC, and the insurance policy is not changed, Mary and Jim will be very disappointed when the building owned by Humphries LLC burns down and coverage is denied.

The general information section of the Commercial and Personal Lines survey questionnaire could be used to update your customer information – just to make sure.

Click here to review a:
general information commercial lines survey questionnaire
—or—
general information personal lines survey questionnaire.

Communication is always important. A website or newsletter article may be just the thing to bring an insurance issue to your customer’s attention and eliminate coverage gap. E-marketing is designed to provide that “reminder” and help the customer understand that a problem may exist that you may be able to solve.

Click here for an e-marketing article
on mobilehome coverage.

The PF&M Sample Insurance Proposal language for the following sections
has recently been updated:

Have you found what you need in the Producer OnLine? Is there a classification to add to the Producer's Commercial Lines Risk Evaluation System or a subject that you would like to see covered in PF&M?  Contact us now.

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