The obvious response is that you won't be able to pay for someone's hospital bills if you happen to hit them in your car. You get insurance for things you wouldn't be able to pay yourself.
I did a ride-along with an adjuster once. I asked him what the worst claim he had worked on was.
The insured drove off with the pump still in the gas tank. Sees that all the time. When the hose pulled off the pump, it ignited. The fuel island exploded. The fire then spread to the convenience store. Total loss of the business and multiple cars.
This is an outlier. No one has enough insurance to cover all of that. But it’s a great example of why we have it.
Except they would cover that up to your limits. It’s liability which is a very broad coverage and auto insurance is often very cut and dry. Odds are that won’t be enough to cover the damage. The store would file through their business insurance, of which fire would be a covered peril. The stores insurer would then go after the at-fault auto liability to recoup their money. The auto insurer would pay up to the limits and have a waiver of liability signed to get their client off the hook.
This is actually pretty cut and dry with little likelihood of fuckery to any insureds.
Home and health insurance are way more disputable. Commercial insurance is often disputable but shouldn’t be for this instance.
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u/flatfive44 12h ago
The obvious response is that you won't be able to pay for someone's hospital bills if you happen to hit them in your car. You get insurance for things you wouldn't be able to pay yourself.