A rider is a paper attached to a document that amends the document. In an automobile insurance policy, a rider can modify the conditions of the insurance policy. It can increase or decrease the policy's benefits. It can add exclusions from coverage, like a crime exclusion clause. The use of the rider means that the entire policy does not have to be rewritten if a change needs to be made. Riders are also known as endorsements, slips, or rubber stamps. |
Cancellation of Auto Insurance for Misrepresentations in Application
While an insurer may sometimes cancel a policy for misrepresentations made during the application process, the insurer's right to do so may be limited by legal principles that take into consideration such things as the nature and extent of the misrepresentations made, the insurer's own diligence in determining the true facts of the situation, and the consequences for innocent third parties who have in effect placed their reliance on the insurer's action in issuing a policy whose issuance it has now come to regret. |
Underinsured/Uninsured Motorists Exhaustion Requirements
Underinsured motorist and uninsured motorist provisions in auto insurance policies often contain language stating that the underinsured or uninsured motorist coverage will not become available until the policy limits of all insurance policies that are applicable to the accident have been exhausted by the payment of judgments or settlements. Such exhaustion requirements are included in the policy because of the substitute or supplemental nature of the coverage and the understandable desire of the insurer to assure that all other available coverage has been applied before it is obligated to pay benefits under the underinsured or uninsured motorist provisions of the policy. |
Obligation to Cooperate in Motor Vehicle Insurance
Most automobile insurance policies have a clause that requires an insured to cooperate with the insurance company. The cooperation clause, also known as the cooperation and assistance provision, requires an insured to act in a manner that does not obstruct an insurance company's handling of a claim against an insurance policy. Further, the cooperation clause seeks to stop insureds and claimants from acting together against insurance companies. To breach the cooperation clause, an insured's obstructive conduct must be willful and must prejudice the insurance company. |
Automobile Fire Insurance
While the popular impression of the flammability of motor vehicles may be exaggerated due to such things as the manner in which they are portrayed on television and in the movies, cars and trucks do contain flammable materials, and they obtain their motive power through the use of flammable fuel. As a result they occasionally catch fire, causing damage to themselves and to objects around them. Fire coverage under policies of motor vehicle insurance has been devised in order to reimburse vehicle owners for the loss and damage sustained in such incidents. |