In the Halloween hearse case, why is the claim covered?

• A. The vehicle is registered as a road vehicle
• B. The hearse is in dead storage
• C. The injury occurred on a public street
• D. The owner has auto coverage

Answer: (B)

The key idea is that auto policies often cover a vehicle even when it isn’t being used, as long as it’s in storage. When a vehicle is kept in a secured, non-operational state—often described as “dead storage” or “laid up”—the policy can still respond to certain losses or damages that occur while it’s parked. In the Halloween hearse case, the hearse wasn’t on the road; it was in storage, yet the claim arose from a loss tied to that stored condition. Because the vehicle qualified as being in dead storage, the loss falls under the coverage provided for stored vehicles, making the claim covered. The other points (registration, where the injury happened, or merely having auto coverage) don’t alone explain coverage in this stored-vehicle scenario.