Having an appropriate insurance policy can make a huge difference when it is about protecting your assets. It is especially true when you use your vehicle for business purposes.
Whether you have a small business or an established company, commercial auto insurance is necessary to reduce the risk of the potential loss. The policy caters to the needs of a business or company rather than personal needs.
Not having commercial car insurance may leave you vulnerable to financial risk and loss. Keep on reading if you’re unsure how commercial auto insurance works for you and what happens if you don’t have one.
Commercial Auto Insurance- An Overview
Whether you’re an estate agent driving clients to showcase a property or a contractor supplying goods, using a vehicle for business purposes requires commercial auto insurance. As mentioned above, the commercial insurance policy fits the business’ needs and helps it protect the assets.
However, the terms and conditions in commercial car insurance may vary from company to company. Understanding what the policy includes is essential to know how it is different from personal insurance. Also, it helps you determine what happens if you use a vehicle for work without commercial insurance.
These are coverage components of commercial car insurance for your small business:
- Injury or physical damage to you, your drive or passenger, including lost wages and medical expenses
- Liability for loading when delivering products to your customers and business events
- Coverage for a replacement car when you’re replacing your commercial car so you can continue working-you can avail it in personal insurance policies.
Note that if you use your commercial car in other states, you may need to buy additional coverage to ensure that you and you get coverage during the trips.
What Happens When You Don’t Have Commercial Auto Insurance
No Liability Coverage
Let’s admit collisions or accidents don’t just affect cars or vehicles. They often cause costly damages to nearby buildings and properties. In such incidences, you need an insurance policy that can offer you comprehensive protection if you or your employed driver damages property or vehicle.
When you don’t have commercial auto insurance, you don’t get any liability coverage for damage caused to someone’s property. That means you have to pay for the damages you or your driver has caused to someone else’s property.
You Need to Pay for the Vehicle Repairs
When it comes to collision protection, you have to pay for car repairs for not only your vehicle but also the ones you hit. It is because personal auto insurance doesn’t reimburse policyholders for vehicle repair costs they need after a car crash.
In other words, not having commercial car insurance means there is no coverage or extra protection layer for an underinsured and uninsured motorist.
No Coverage for Legal Expense
Collisions or accidents often result in physical harm and costly medical expenses for you and the people involved in it. Although some personal car insurance policies offer some protection for medical expenses and lost wages, they might not cover you for legal expenses.
This is when you need commercial auto insurance to bear the expenses of a lawsuit or legal charges filed against you.
You Don’t Get Comprehensive Coverage for Unrelated Damages
As mentioned above, accidents and car crashes are not the only sources that can damage your vehicle you need to consider. While personal insurance includes statutory benefits for accidents, it doesn’t offer you comprehensive protection for unrelated damages such as theft, vandalism, and floods.
What Happen When You Have Commercial Auto Insurance
Since you know now what happens when you don’t have commercial auto insurance, let’s walk you through how having this policy benefits you.
Offers Protection beyond Your Personal Car Insurance
The feature distinguishes commercial auto insurance from personal insurance. With personal insurance, you don’t have adequate coverage for accidents that happen while you’re driving for work.
Put simply, in the absence of your commercial car coverage, you have to pay out of your pocket if employees meet an accident while picking up goods, making deliveries, or performing essential business functions.
Optional add-ons for Safety
This is another feature that makes getting a commercial auto insurance policy crucial. In addition to standard protection for accidents, commercial car insurance allows you to customize the terms to meet your business needs.
Common insurance add-ons commonly referred to as endorsement include coverage for vehicle replacement, roadside assistance, rental reimbursement, towing reimbursement, and auto loans.
