Kinda quieted down on here since the holidays are over, so............
I was reading an article about a dealership in Texas was robbed twice in one week. I'm sure the dealer had insurance. I live in Illinois and having insurance is required to get a dealer licence, but what most vehicle owners incorrectly assume is that their vehicle is covered by the dealer's insurance.
WRONG! The dealer's insurance covers his (his is being used as non-sexual pronoun referring to all dealerships) vehicles, a person test riding one of his vehicles, another vehicle damaged by one of his vehicles and/or persons injured by his vehicle. If his business is robbed, burns down, is swamped by a flood, is the victim of an act of God or any circumstance beyond his control, he is not liable for your vehicle.
It is the owner's responsibility to have insurance on their vehicle. Vehicle owners may be liable for damages to any property and injuries to any person that occurs from the operation that vehicle whether under their direct supervision or not.
So if you surrender your quad to someone to be worked on, whether that person is a licensed repairer or not and during the process of determining and/or fixing the problem, the vehicle causes damage and/or injury to any property and/or person(s), it is the owner of the vehicle who is liable.
I (a registered repairer of motorcycles, ATV's and recreational vehicles) found this out when my trailer, with someone else's Polaris 500 with no front wheels and chained to the trailer, with the trailer hitch locked and parked under a security light (no surveillance camera) was stolen. I called the police and then my insurance company. My trailer was covered, but the 4-wheeler was not. Then the insurance company explained why the quad was not covered. I, as probably most everyone else, had assumed my insurance covered everything on my property and/or in my care. WRONG again!
I had a lengthy discussion with my insurance company wanting to know just what my insurance covered and why. To make it simple, it would be like buying insurance on a car you don't own. My insurance covers what is mine, those in my employ, anyone upon my property and anyone whom I allowed to operate one of my vehicles, but anything on my property that belongs to someone else has to be covered by THEIR insurance.
So, if you drive into a car dealership and hit one of their cars on display, your insurance covers your and their property. If you have taken your car to dealership and a mechanic drives your car out of the service bay and hit's one of their cars, their insurance will cover their car and your insurance will cover your car. If the dealership allows a customer to test drive a car and they hit your car, the dealer's insurance covers their car and your car.
If a meteor falls out of the sky and hits your car while it is setting on the dealers lot before or after being serviced or while you are just shopping, your insurance covers your car. It's complicated, but the insurance companies have it all covered, but only if you have insurance on your vehicle.
Here's another scenario that actually happened to a friend of mine: he had his CR125 dirt bike in his dad's garage. The water heater malfunctioned and set the garage on fire. The bike was destroyed along with the riding mower, the small boat, the boat trailer, some bicycles and all the other shit people put in their garages. His dad's insurance covered the riding mower, the boat, the bicycles and all the other stuff in the garage. His dirt bike and the boat trailer were not covered. The insurance company determined the bike to be a "vehicle" and needed it's own insurance. The homeowner's insurance did not cover the boat trailer, but his car insurance did because he had a rider to cover the trailer. Without the rider, the trailer was not covered unless it was attached to the car and whether the trailer was attached to the car or not, the boat was covered under the "recreational equipment" definition in the homeowner's policy.
So, if you don't have at least fire & theft insurance on your quad - get it! If it's available, get full coverage. Buying a new quad is a major investment when you are self employed and living off $1500 a month Social Security, but for those making $4000 a week, don't bother - you won't miss the money until you injure someone else and have to pay their medical bills and living expenses for the rest of their life.
Having insurance is kinda like having a fire extinguisher or a concealed carry gun - you hope you never have to use it, but you are sure glad to have it if you need it.
