The Case of the BAP Gap

Once again it was time for the Insurance Winter Summer Games, an odd mix of athletic competitions between insurance athle-agents. Every year I attend to score a gold medal in archery. And every year I lose to Bob “Straight Arrow” Winslett.

But this year was going to be my year. I paid for personal archery lessons. I watched “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” 37 times. And I surgically enhanced the knuckles on my right hand so that I can release the nock more smoothly.

Still, with those advantages surely giving me some extra “oomph,” I couldn’t hit the red center during my practice rounds. Maybe it was the five mile per hour wind coming in from the southeast. Maybe it was the cute twins waving at me from the front row. Or maybe my confidence was falling faster than my 401(k).

As my last practice shot struck the outer ring, I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard, “Nice shot, Ace.”

I turned to see Ollie, a fellow insurance man and old buddy from Boy Scouts. Ollie went on to become an Eagle Scout, while I was asked to leave the organization after confessing my love for Elton John. His music, that is.

Ollie was always one to cut to the chase. He used to skip to the last chapter of books instead of reading them entirely, which always made him wonder why anyone liked the Bible.

Following suit, he skipped past exchanging pleasantries with an old friend and cut straight to the quick. “So Ace, I’ll help you with your archery technique if you help me with an insurance quandary.”

“Shoot,” I said.

“I can’t. You have the bow,” he said and quickly moved on to his dilemma. “So my customer has a business auto policy with Symbol1 for liability and Symbol 7 for physical damage. One of their autos will be in the shop for two weeks for repairs and I want to make sure there are no gaps in coverage.”

“Always be prepared,” I said, as the scars of my Boy Scout dismissal began to throb to the beat of “Crocodile Rock.”

“Exactly,” he shouted. “Since they will rent a vehicle during this time, it will be a temporary substitute auto and the BAP responds for liability and physical damage claims, right?”“Why are you asking me?” I said.

“Because,” Ollie said, “you used to know more than our scoutmaster. And it cost Master Scout Peterson his life.”

As a boy, I had told my scout master that keeping a crocodile as a pet would come back to bite him, but back to the problem at hand. “Ollie, about your customer’s BAP, I have some good news and bad news.”

What answer is Ace aiming for?

For help solving this mystery and to check your solution against Ace’s, click here.

Jonathan Hermann (hermannism@gmail.com) is an IA contribution editor.