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Your Dad should already have the truck and trailer in the body shop getting repairs if not, call Progressive and have it done immediately. Progressive should pay for the damages done to the trailer and the truck. They should also pay for the watermelons, a rental truck, and a trailer if your dad uses them for work. If he is unable to work because he does not have a vehicle or a trailer, they should compensate him for that as well.

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Insurance Agent

by Nate W

1 month ago

Asker's Rating: 

This is sort of tricky. Is the Allstate policy for a personal auto policy or a commercial auto policy? If personal, they may only cover the damages to the truck only. Since your dad was hauling watermelons, it could be considered in the course of business and could be excluded, since a personal auto policy has a exclusion in the policy for business use. But his main advantage was that he was hit from behind, so the other guy would be held responsible. It would be best to go thu Progressive for the damages to the truck, trailer and the loss of cargo (watermelons). They will also be responsible for a rental truck plus a trailer if this is used in his business while in the shop for repairs and to continue to work. Make sure he has all receipts of the total amount of lost watermelons, cost he paid and cost he was to sell. He may need prior records to back this up. Another consideration they maybe responsible for is his lost income, but that is hard to prove, and most likely need his tax records and other documents. Since this is Florida, the minimum coverage used to be $10,000, so hopefully this guy has more than the minimum If not, then if the damages are more than $10,000, including rental, lost wages etc, that is all he can get. So he needs to clarify with Allstate if they will cover anything else but his truck and have them explain why. If for instance the other guy only has $10,000 liability coverage, it would be best to have Allstate do his truck and try to go after Progressive for the balance. good luck

by lucy- 1 month ago

Does your dad have a BUSINESS USE policy with Allstate? And, darned tootin', if dad didn't BUY coverage for the trailer, he doesn't GET coverage for the trailer, under his own policy. And his STOCK certainly isn't covered under his AUTO policy, he'll need to look at his BUSINESS INSURANCE to see if he has any coverage for stock in transit. I'd strongly suspect that dad was running his auto insurance on a personal auto policy. He was using the truck for business purposes. That voids his coverage. Although you might want to blame Allstate, dad is actually committing insurance fraud by doing this - and NOW it's catching up with him. Allstate has the right to cancel this policy, for material misrepresentation - dad not telling them this is a business vehicle. Progressive won't pay more than the property damage limit of coverage that their insured had. In Florida, the minimum limit of property damage coverage - which, btw, is NOT required by law to carry - is $10,000. So it's possible that the other guy doesn't have insurance to cover the damage, either.

by mbrcatz- 1 month ago