9 Reasons You Might Need Commercial Car Insurance

Even if you’re a one-person shop, if you use your vehicle for business-related activities you might need to secure commercial car insurance. You do not want to find out after it’s too late that you don’t have proper coverage. Ensure you have commercial automobile insurance on your vehicle if you use it for any of the nine following things.

1. Are You the Pizza Guy?

If you use your vehicle to deliver pizza or any other goods, such as materials, newspapers, other food items, or supplies, you need to insure your car or truck under a commercial policy. If you use your vehicle to pick up goods for your business, you should also look into a commercial policy. According to CarInsuranceCheap.net, what you do might affect your auto insurance coverage rates.

2. Are You Shuttling People?

If you are using your personal vehicle as a taxi service, you must also secure a commercial policy to protect you and your passengers. In the event you are involved in an accident, your personal coverage will not protect you as well as a commercial policy will, and read the fine print if you’re an Uber or Lyft driver, because their policies are limited.

3. Who Owns Your Car?

Many businesses purchase automobiles to add assets to their books and realize tax benefits. If you are driving a car that is owned or leased by your company or the company for which you work, make certain the vehicle is protected under a business auto insurance policy. A commercial policy will protect the company, not just the driver, in the event of an accident.

4. This Includes Vehicles Registered Under a DBA

This includes vehicles that have a DBA, or Doing Business As, included on their registration papers. Should you be involved in an accident and the other party decides to sue, he or she can go after you and your DBA. You might lose your personal and professional financial solvency, so it’s best to ensure you have proper insurance coverage.

5. Do Your Employees Drive Your Car?

As innocent as this might seem, tossing the keys to your personal vehicle to your administrative assistant so she can go pick up the week’s office supply order from the store might cost you your company in the end. She is running an errand for your business. Unless she is listed as an insured driver on the car, there could be business liability issues should she have a wreck.

6. Do You Rent Out Your Cars or Trucks?

It doesn’t matter whether they are cars, moving vans, or trucks, if you lease or rent out your vehicles, you must carry commercial business insurance. The type of insurance you must carry depends on the size of the vehicle. For example, a rental car will require less coverage than a large moving truck. Nonetheless, you can’t rent them out if they aren’t covered properly.

7. Are Your Vehicles Heavy?

There are weight restrictions on personal and commercial auto insurance coverage. If you have a fleet of pickups, SUVs, vans, or trucks, and each vehicle weighs more than 10,000 pounds, you must insure them under a commercial policy. If they are rated to haul loads that weigh over 2,000 pounds, the same holds true. The heavier the vehicle, the more damage it can cause in an accident.

8. Is Your Vehicle Specially Equipped?

Weight is not the only consideration. You may also face a need to secure business automobile insurance if you operate catering or cooking trucks, snowplows, vehicles for the disabled with hydraulic lifts, racing equipment vehicles (including car transport), vehicles with altered suspensions, or any other specially-equipped car or truck that serves a business-type need.

9. Construction Vehicles

If you have a vehicle that has ladder racks, permanent toolboxes, or storage for construction or maintenance equipment of any kind, and you use this vehicle in your construction or maintenance business, you’ll need commercial car insurance. This includes gardening, glass and mirror transport, or any other instance where a vehicle is equipped to store or haul goods related to an industry.

Don’t make the mistake of having inadequate or wrong insurance coverage. If you use your car for your business, make certain you do not need to carry a commercial policy. Besides, if you do, you’ve just given yourself a tax write-off with your insurance premiums!