As a businessowner, you need insurance coverages for the cars, trucks, vans or other vehicles you use in your business as you do for vehicles used for personal travel. Your Businessowners Policy (BOP) does not provide any coverage for vehicles, so you must have a separate policy.
Liability Coverage
Your commercial auto may meet an accident resulting in damaging someone’s property or causing bodily harm to someone. You then become liable for their repair & medical costs respectively.
Bodily injury liability (BIL) covers you when you or one of your employees cause bodily injury to another party while using one of your covered vehicles, and property damage liability (PDL) covers you when you or one of your employees cause property damage to another party while using one of your covered vehicles.
Physical Damage and Collision Coverage
Your commercial auto can be damaged by fire, theft, vandalism or either can collide with a fallen tree causing damage to your vehicle.
Commercial automobile insurance protects against vehicle theft and physical damage including vandalism, certain weather events or an impact with another object
Accident With Uninsured Motorist Coverage
About one in eight drivers in the United States are uninsured, according to the Insurance Research Council. When they cause accidents, they might not be able to pay for damages.
Your policy’s uninsured motorist coverage makes sure your business doesn’t have to pay for the resulting medical expenses or vehicle repairs.
Roadside Assistance Coverage
Your commercial auto can breakdown and you might need a roadside assistance immediately.
Protects you when problems arise that are not typically handled under your commercial auto policy. This could include being locked out of your car, dead batteries and flat tires.
Auto Loan / Lease Coverage
Your commercial auto can meet an accident before your loan repayment. You can then become liable for the loss incurred.
This covers the difference between the unpaid amount on the loan or lease and the actual cash value of the vehicle, if your vehicle is a total loss after an accident
Environment damage Coverage
Your diesel cargo van overturns, spilling fuel onto the highway and a nearby grassy area. You discover that the government requires testing for environmental damage.
Commercial auto policy can help if fuels or lubricants from one of your company’s vehicles cause damage.
Whether you use your own car or a fleet of pickups, box trucks and even trailers to get the job done, you need to stay financially protected by getting the commercial auto insurance coverage for liability, personal injury/medical, collision and more — to keep your business moving forward. Plus, if your employees use their own vehicles to perform deliveries, make sales visits, or run errands for your business, you could be liable for any accidents they cause. The line between a personal vehicle and a commercial vehicle is sometimes unclear, we have shared the difference between them below.
If you’re a sole proprietor who owns a vehicle used primarily for business, you may need this policy. A commercial policy typically has higher liability limits than personal auto insurance.
For small businesses, the line between what is considered a personal vehicle and a commercial vehicle is often blurry. Sometimes small business owners and employees use their personal vehicles to travel to job sites, transport equipment or deliver goods.
Personal auto insurance policies almost always exclude business use. That means you’re not covered if you get into an accident while driving for work (with the exception of your commute).
The main difference between personal and commercial auto insurance is who owns the vehicle. If your business owns a vehicle, it must be covered by commercial auto insurance.
Commercial auto insurance covers accidents that occur while you or your employees are driving a company vehicle. While both personal and commercial auto policies pay for legal and medical bills related to auto accidents, commercial auto insurance usually covers higher claims, different types of vehicles, and more complex legal issues.
A commercial policy typically insures all the business’s employees as additional insureds, which means every employee with a valid license can use the vehicle.
It might be time to switch insurers whenever the service that your existing insurer provides doesn’t meet your needs. For example, if you have a poor claims experience or an unexplained rate increase, it might be time to consider other options
If you cancel a previous policy before a new policy is effective, you could run into some serious financial problems.
Contact us today to help you with multiple options to choose from.