For many companies — especially small businesses — it may not always be clear what types of automobiles are considered “personal” and which ones are deemed to be “commercial” vehicles. Part of the reason for this is that company owners and employees occasionally use personal cars for work-related purposes. However, personal and commercial auto insurance does not offer the exact same type of coverage. Therefore, it’s important to understand the differences between these two forms of protection.
Main Differences Between Personal & Commercial Auto Insurance
According to Statista, nearly 6.7 million passenger cars in the United States were involved in traffic crashes in 2018, compared to 531,000 crashes involving large trucks, 65,000 accidents involving buses, and only 16,000 collisions involving other types of vehicles (e.g. vans). It is imperative that businesses acquire insurance coverage for all of its vehicles. It is also important to understand that personal and commercial auto insurance policies generally provide different forms of coverage. Here are four notable ways in which these two types of insurance differ.
Liability Coverage
Businesses often face many types of potential liabilities. If your company owns and uses automobiles for its daily operations, there is always a possibility that an employee or a customer may sue your organization following an accident that resulted in injuries or property damage (to another vehicle or a building). These types of lawsuits can often be extremely costly to a business, so it’s important to have adequate commercial auto insurance protection. Meanwhile, a personal auto insurance policy will only protect you (as opposed to an entire business) from unanticipated events that might occur in your daily life.
The Name On The Insurance
Another notable difference between personal and commercial auto insurance is the name that is listed on the policy. In the former case, the named insured will generally be an individual, a family, or a couple. In the latter case, the insured party would be an organization. Nevertheless, it should be noted that a commercial insurance policy can have multiple names listed on it. Only named insured drivers may make any changes to an auto insurance policy, and a named insured driver may not be removed from a policy without consent.
Type Of Property Being Insured
On a personal auto insurance policy, the property being insured is typically one or more passenger cars (most insurers allow up to four vehicles on one policy). Meanwhile, a business auto insurance policy can cover an entire commercial fleet of vehicles, including cars, trucks, buses, vans, and other types of automobiles. These vehicles may be used to transport goods or equipment, tow a trailer used for commercial purposes, or to drive clients to a specific location (e.g. limos or black cars). Be sure to ask your insurance company what limits and deductibles their policies have.
Amount & Purpose Of Coverage
The two final primary differences between personal and commercial auto insurance policies are the purpose of these policies and the limits they carry. Commercial policies often carry higher liability limits than their personal auto counterparts do. This is because the risks that come with owning commercial vehicles are typically greater than those that an individual or couple might face while driving.
For example, an employee driving a company-owned van or truck may be rushing to make a delivery and become involved in an accident. Similarly, an employee may be driving a commercial vehicle quickly to get to a meeting on time and crash into another car. Additionally, certain types of commercial vehicles (e.g. limos) may have higher values than personal cars.
Seek Out Commercial Auto Insurance With Southern States Insurance
If you own a company that uses a large number of vehicles for daily operations, then SSI’s commercial auto policies may be highly beneficial to you. Our policies provide auto liability coverage, collision coverage, comprehensive coverage, (covers damage caused by events such as fires and natural disasters), and medical payments coverage. We can also cover several types of automobiles, including taxis, trucks, commercial vans, ambulances, and salesman vehicles. Regardless of the total number of vehicles your business owns, we will work tirelessly to find a policy that fits your budget and needs. Call Southern States Insurance today at (888) 971-6304 or contact us online to request a quote.