Hazards Covered (Excerpted)

As was indicated earlier, the BAP tracks fairly closely to the personal auto policy. This discussion of the policy should, therefore, be read together with the preceding topic. There are some differences due to the nature of the risk involved, and these are discussed below.

Trailers

Liability insurance is extended to apply automatically to trailers with a load capacity of 2,000 pounds or less.

Mobile Equipment

While the policy does not, with the exception of the use of symbol 19, provide liability on mobile equipment (described below) as such, it does cover liability from such equipment while it is being transported on an insured vehicle. Mobile equipment is spelled out in some 50 categories, e.g., bulldozers, farm machines and forklifts designed for use primarily off the roads; vehicles mounted on crawler treads; vehicles, whether self-propelled or not, maintained to provide mobility to permanently attached equipment such as air compressors, pumps, and generators, including spraying, welding, building cleaning, geophysical exploration, lighting, and well-servicing equipment, etc.

Contractual Liability

The policy covers all rental and lease agreements involving automobiles, except those rented with a driver and those made with a motor carrier. As a consequence, when an employee rents an automobile on behalf of his or her employer and agrees under contract to assume liability for its use, the policy automatically covers this exposure. Outside of this extension, the business auto policy closely follows the commercial general liability (CGL) policy in covering only an insured contract as defined. (Discussed in the Commercial General Liability topic under Commercial General Liability–Hazards Not Covered–Assumed Liability.)

Loading and Unloading

A CGL policy covers liability to the point where an individual picks an item up to place it in a motorized vehicle. The BAP covers the loading process and the unloading process. Once an item has been unloaded at the destination, the BAP coverage ceases and a CGL takes over.