Coverage Corner

MORE ABOUT MOWERS

By Bill Wilson, CPCU, ARM, AIM, AAM

In my first two columns, I discussed a couple of important insurance contract interpretive principles, “RTFP!” and “Entirety of Contract.” Both deal with the critical importance of actually reading the policy in its entirety to determine whether there is coverage for a claim.

In the last issue, I illustrated the meaning of “Entirety of Contract” using an actual claim involving damage to a lawn mower. Now that we are in full mowing season, I thought I would address the issue of liability coverage for the use of riding lawn mowers.

My research tells me that over 2 million riding mowers are sold annually and that the useful life of a riding mower is at least 10 years, over which the potential for accidents due to lack of maintenance or equipment failure escalates. According to the Consumer Product Agency, there are about 80,000 injuries annually involving mowers, about 10% requiring an emergency room visit, with 21% resulting in amputation. In other words, injuries are not uncommon and can be severe, testing the limits of many homeowners’ policies.

An even bigger potential problem is a riding mower accident that is excluded by a homeowners’ policy. How homeowners’ policies cover (or don’t cover) liability for riding mower accidents can vary significantly from one insurer to another. In fact, coverage can vary considerably from one ISO HO 00 03 policy edition to another.

The most recent editions of the ISO HO 00 03 are 1991, 2000, 2011, and 2022. Each of these policies has a “motor vehicle” exclusion, and each has exceptions to that exclusion that grant coverage. For example, losses arising from the following motor vehicles are covered, absent any other exclusions, if the vehicle is:

1991: “Used to service an ‘insured’s’ residence.”

2000: “Used solely to service an ‘insured’s’ residence.”

2011: “Used to service a residence.”

2022: “Used solely to service a residence…[or] “A riding mower that, at the time of the ‘occurrence’, is being used to mow a lawn.”

The 1991 edition provides the broadest coverage. As long as I use the riding mower at any time to service my residence, I’m covered anywhere I use that mower within the coverage territory, even if I’m using the mower to pull a flatbed trailer full of toddlers on Halloween, as a neighbor used to do.

However, insurers considered this coverage too broad, so ISO changed the wording in 2000 so that the riding mower had to be used solely to service the insured’s residence. If the insured ever used the mower off their premises, they had no coverage while doing so, nor would they ever have coverage again since that vehicle would never again have been used solely to service the insured’s residence.

I once asked ISO what would happen if I bought a new mower and replaced the old one. That question never got a conclusive answer, but presumably, I’d now have coverage since that new mower was now being used solely to service my residence.

In fact, I assisted on a claim once where the insured bought a new mower and brought it home. Before he had a chance to use the mower, it was stolen from his driveway overnight. Initially, the adjuster denied the theft claim (under an identical Coverage C property exclusion) because the lawn mower had never been “used” at all to service anything.

Following the 2000 change, the Big “I” national technical affairs committee began to advocate for a return to the old language because the coverage pendulum had swung too far in the other direction. So, in 2011, ISO removed the “solely” language but still limited coverage to use in servicing a residence.

Do you have any customers that use their riding mowers for more than servicing a residence? My bet is you have hundreds that do. So, the Big “I” technical affairs committee continued to petition ISO to moderate the language.

The result is the 2022 edition that reinstated the “solely” language (Yikes!) but did add coverage while the mower is being used to mow any lawn. However, the coverage still only applies during “use.” What if someone is injured while repairing the vehicle or a child falls off when the vehicle isn’t being used?

What’s interesting is that you can operate an ATV on an insured location or borrow one and kill someone while operating it anywhere. Likewise, when using a borrowed jet ski or a rented boat with dual Yamaha 250 hp outboards.

So, if a customer asks you if they have coverage for their riding mower, how do you answer that?

Bill Wilson, CPCU, ARM, AIM, AAM is the founder and CEO of InsuranceCommentary.com and the author of seven books, including “When Words Collide…Resolving Insurance Coverage and Claims Disputes.” He can be reached at Bill@InsuranceCommentary.com.