Chapter 04-059

2004 -- S 2106 SUBSTITUTE A

Enacted 06/11/04

A N A C T

RELATING TO LIABILITY INSURANCE -- RENTAL VEHICLE COVERAGE

Introduced By: Senators Bates, and Walaska

Date Introduced: January 14, 2004

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Chapter 27-7 of the General Laws entitled "Liability Insurance" is hereby

amended by adding thereto the following section:

27-7-6. Rental vehicle coverage. -- For liability assumed under a written contract,

coverage shall be provided under the property damage liability section of an insured’s private

passenger automobile insurance policy. Property damage coverage shall extend to a rented motor

vehicle, under ten thousand (10,000) lbs, without regard to negligence for a period not to exceed

sixty (60) consecutive days.

     SECTION 2. Section 27-8-1 of the General Laws in Chapter 27-8 entitled "Casualty

Insurance Generally" is hereby amended to read as follows:

27-8-1. Types of insurance authorized for domestic fire and marine insurance

companies. -- Every insurance company incorporated by or under the laws of this state, and now

or after this authorized to transact the business of fire or marine insurance, or both, may, in

addition to the business that it is now authorized by the provisions of its act of incorporation to

do, make insurance:

      (1) On dwelling houses, stores, and all kinds of buildings, and on household furniture

and other property, against direct and indirect loss or damage including loss of use or occupancy

by fire, heat, smoke and smudge, lightning, windstorm, tornado, cyclone, earthquake, volcanic

eruption, hail, frost or snow, weather or climatic conditions including an excess or deficiency of

moisture, flood, rain, or drought, the rising of the waters of the ocean or its tributaries,

bombardment, invasion, insurrection, riot, civil war or commotion, military or usurped power,

vandalism, malicious mischief, sabotage, sit down and other strikes, acts of destruction by order

of any military or civil authority done to prevent the spread of a conflagration, epidemic or

catastrophe, or short circuits of electrical current or static electricity or any other electrical

disturbance, and by explosion, whether fire ensues or not, except risks pertaining to employer's

liability and worker's compensation; also against the legal liability of the insured, and against the

loss, damage, or expense, incident to a claim of that liability, arising out of the loss or destruction

of, or damage to, the property of any other person; also against loss or damage caused by

burglary, robbery, theft, pillage, looting, larceny, or any attempt at this, whether caused or arising

at the time of or in connection with fire, windstorm, or any other casualty insured against or

otherwise;

      (2) Against loss or damage, by water or other fluid or substance, to goods or premises of

any kind arising from the breakage or leakage of sprinklers, pumps, or other apparatus erected for

extinguishing fires, or of other conduits or containers, or by water entering through leaks or

openings in buildings, and from the breakage or leakage of water pipes, and against accidental

injury to sprinklers, pumps, apparatus, conduits, containers, or water pipes, and against the legal

liability of the insured, and against the loss, damage, or expense, incident to a claim of that

liability, arising out of the loss or destruction of, or damage to, the property of any other person;

      (3) On vessels, boats, craft, aircraft, cars, automobiles and vehicles of every kind,

cargoes, goods, merchandise, freights, and other property against loss or damage by all or any of

the risks of lake, river, canal, and inland navigation and transportation and all goods, freights,

cargoes, merchandise, effects, disbursements, profits, moneys, bullion, precious stones, securities,

chose in action, evidences of debt, valuable papers, bottomry and respondentia interests, and all

other kinds of property and interests in them, in respect to, appertaining to, or in connection with

any and all risks or perils of navigation, transit, or transportation including war risks, on or under

any seas or other waters, on land or in the air, or while being assembled, packed, crated, baled,

compressed, or similarly prepared for shipment or while awaiting shipment, or during any delays,

storage, transshipment, or reshipment, including marine builder's risks and all personal property

floater risks;

      (4) On persons or to property in connection with or appertaining to a marine, inland

marine, transit, or transportation insurance, including the liability for the loss of or damage to

either, arising out of or in connection with the construction, repair, operation, maintenance, or use

of the subject matter of that insurance, but not including life insurance; but, except as specified in

this section, this shall not mean insurances against loss by reason of bodily injury to the person;

      (5) On precious stones, jewels, jewelry, gold, silver, and other precious metals, whether

used in business or trade or otherwise and whether those stones and metals are in the course of

transportation or otherwise;

      (6) On automobiles and other vehicles whether operated on rails or otherwise, airplanes,

seaplanes, dirigibles, or other aircraft, and elevators and other conveyors, and the breakage of

glass in them, whether stationary or being operated under their own power, which shall include

all or any part of the hazards of fire, explosion, transportation, collision, and the loss by legal

liability for damage to property resulting from the maintenance and use of automobiles and other

vehicles, airplanes, seaplanes, dirigibles, and other aircraft, and elevators and other conveyors;

      (7) On or against loss or damage to property resulting from the maintenance and use of

automobiles and other vehicles whether operated on rails or otherwise, vessels, elevators and

other conveyors, and aircraft, and on or against loss by burglary, larceny or theft, vandalism, or

malicious mischief, or by the wrongful conversion, disposal, or concealment of automobiles, and

other vehicles, whether held under conditional sales contracts or subject to chattel mortgages, or

any one or more of those hazards, but shall not include insurance against loss by reason of bodily

injury to the person; and

      (8) Against loss of or damage to any property resulting from any cause which is a proper

subject of insurance; provided, that before any company shall assume risks other than those

enumerated in this section it shall first obtain the approval of the insurance commissioner; and.

(9) For liability coverage assumed under a written contract under the property damage

section of an insured's own private passenger automobile insurance policy, which property

damage coverage shall extend to a rented motor vehicle without regard to negligence for a period

not to exceed forty-five (45) consecutive days.

     SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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LC00019/SUB A

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