10/21/2009

Things never happen until they do...especially in the insurance business.  Recently long-term clients of Guthrie Insurance Brokers received notice of a potential lawsuit against them.  Back in ’06 they decided to scrap one of their cars but ended up selling it for a modest sum to an unknown buyer.  It was paid for in cash and the ownership was signed and handed to the purchaser.

 

Flash forward to this year when our client received an unexpected notice.  This vehicle was involved in an accident involving a pedestrian who sustained very serious bodily injury and a lawsuit is pending.  The driver, who was the “purchaser” of this vehicle never insured it, nor even bothered transferring the ownership.  MTO records indicated the vehicle as still owned by our client!  Insurance had been cancelled 3 years earlier leaving our client with the potential responsibility of allowing an uninsured vehicle to be operated and failing to properly transfer ownership.

 

Legal counsel has been engaged and at this point the outcome is not known.  Please remember it is the owner’s responsibility to arrange for the orderly transfer of ownership, whether it is a car, boat or whatever, and failing to do so can have very dire consequences.   Ryan Guthrie - CIP, CAIB.

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