Auto Loss Claims Prove Worth of Insurance

Rough Notes, Jun 2005

FROM Luman K. Babcock, secretary of the Casualty claim division of the Aetna Affiliated Companies, comes the following selection of recent Automobile insurance claims handled by those companies which convincingly illustrate the value of several coverages:

AUTOMOBILE LIABILITY. We covered a small garage and sales agency in Indianapolis. Liability limits-$10,-000 one person, $20,000 one accident. Employe was testing a car which he had been adjusting. Struck another car in which a bank executive was riding, under circumstances which indicated the employe xvas to blame. Claimant died as a result of injuries. The case was settled for $8,000. Premium for policy amounted to $51.00 annually.

AUTOMOBILE LIABILITY. We covered an automobile owned by a mine superintendent residing near Wheeling, W. Va. Liability limits-$25,000 one person, $50,000 one accident. Assured drove his car at a high rate of speed late at night over a hard surface road, ran in ditch, killing two occupants outright, and severely injuring the other two. This case will likely cost us our policy limit of $50,000. In one case, we have outstanding against us a verdict of $25,000, plus expenses of $1,500. Annual premium amounted to only $26.46.

PROPERTY DAMAGE. Here is a case where a Ford automobile owned by a housekeeper at Hartland. Wisconsin, insured at a premium of S25.56, struck a 10-ton truck at an intersection. Damage was very conservatively appraised at and settled for 52,500.

THEFT LOSS. We insured a 3-ton Reo truck for a transfer company working exclusively for a large grocery concern, for a premium of $29.40. This premium also provided Fire coverage. Notwithstanding the fact that this truck had the name of the owner and the grocery concern painted on the sides of its panel body, it was stolen and probably used for a time by bootleggers, and then abandoned and burned. We paid $2,000 to settle this loss.

FIRE LOSS. We insured a 5-ton Autocar truck for a trucking concern, with headquarters at Summerville, Mass., for a premium approximating $25.00. Truck was loaded with groceries when it caught fire from an unknown cause, resulting in total loss, for which we paid $3,100.

COLLISION LOSS. We insured a Lincoln sedan for a vice-president of a Florida bank against all insurable hazards for a premium of $146.28. Assured's car skidded on wet pavement, striking a culvert in the road, causing substantial damage. The case was settled for 52,400.

Mr. Babcock continues: "Prompt, efficient service is secondary only to adequate protection. Because of our nation-wide service facilities it is possible for us to have a claim representative at the scene of any accident or loss within a few hours after we receive notice. Added to this, there is the army of more than 25,000 Aetna agents who know how to proceed to aid a policyholder in a strange land.

"In some states, on Compensation lines especially, it is often necessary for a policyholder to require protection for as long as fifty years. We have, in our files, numerous Automobile cases that have been pending in various appellate courts for upwards of twelve years. There are many legitimate reasons for delaying disposition of litigation for anywhere from five to ten years."

London and Lancashire Indemnity

From the claim files of the London & Lancashire Indemnity come the following automobile loss claim payments:

This assured, a bricklayer foreman, a