Who needs commercial auto insurance?
It’s estimated that one in four workplace deaths are due to motor vehicle accidents. Are you a business owner who uses one or more vehicles during the course of business? Do you often rents or leases vehicles for business purposes? Do your employees use their personal vehicles for business purposes? If so, don’t count on your General Business Policy to protect you in the case of an accident – or worse. Alabama requires a minimum amount of liability insurance on all personal vehicles, so chances are your employees will at least carry some auto liability insurance. But, most commercial policies won’t cover an employee’s personal liability (just company liability), and most won’t reimburse employees for damage caused to personal vehicles used for company business. So, to protect business assets, adding Commercial Auto Insurance to a business policy is a smart move.
What type of commercial auto policy is best?
There are several types of commercial auto insurance policies. The type of vehicle and who’s driving it are important factors in deciding what kind of policy to purchase. For example, some insurers will not cover certain types of vehicles under a standard commercial auto policy. These might include:
- Hazardous Waste Haulers
- Limos and Taxi Services
- Emergency Vehicles
- Driving School Vehicles
- Volunteers Driving Company Vehicles
A typical policy will assist in liability and costs incurred from:
- Damage you or your employees cause to another’s vehicle or property
- Damage or loss to a business’s vehicle or its cargo
- Death or injury of drivers involved in an accident while on the job
- Injury caused by you or your employees to another if an accident occurs on the job
- Uninsured Motorist Protection
Things to think about:
-Employed and self-employed individuals who use their own cars predominantly for business will, in all likelihood, also need commercial insurance.
-Lower your premiums by installing anti-theft devices on your vehicles, hiring employees with clean driving records, offering employees defensive driving courses, and performing routine employee drug and alcohol testing.
-If your vehicle is out of service due to a breakdown, then a temporary substitute vehicle is automatically covered in most circumstances.
-Most Commercial Vehicle policies don’t cover volunteers. If your business works with volunteers who drive company vehicles, additional coverage may be required.
The Liveoak Agency, Inc. will customize a commercial auto policy to fit the unique needs of each business. . Although commercial auto insurance is similar to personal auto insurance, coverage limits are usually higher and there are considerable differences in cost and coverage.