When you select a commercial auto insurance policy to protect the vehicles owned by your business, you should generally be looking for a few different types of coverage. This is true whether your business auto fleet consists of a single all-purpose SUV or a massive fleet of cars, vans, semi-trucks, dump trucks, or other vehicles.

Personal/bodily injury liability coverage: If you or an employee is responsible for an accident that results in the bodily harm of others, your commercial auto policy can pay any damages, medical bills, or even legal expenses that arise as a result of the accident. Commercial auto insurance can also cover your employees if they are hurt while operating a company vehicle.

Property damage liability coverage/collision coverage: Since the damages surrounding a vehicular accident are rarely just medical, it’s important to make sure you have liability coverage for both property damage and collision. The former type of insurance, property damage liability coverage, pays for any damages caused to someone outside of your company. If your employee is at fault for an accident, and that accident totals another driver’s car, property damage liability coverage would pay damages to that driver. Collision coverage, on the other hand, protects the cars in your own fleet and ensures that their repairs are covered by insurance if they are damaged in an accident.

Other forms of coverage: Sometimes, vehicles are damaged not by collision, but by other factors, such as vandalism, fire, and more. If your vehicles are damaged or stolen, such claims don’t fall under the injury or collision-based liability provisions of your commercial auto insurance policy. Instead, they are generally covered under what is called “comprehensive coverage,” which makes sure that your fleet is insured against theft and other non-collision damages.

Sometimes, commercial auto insurance policies include coverage for cars not owned by the company, but owned by employees and used for work purposes. For instance, some restaurants have employees make deliveries in their own personal autos; the same thing often happens with salespeople and other on-the-road vendors. In such cases, the cars being driven are not company-owned, but since they are being used for business purposes, the business owner can actually still be held liable for any accidents caused by any field workers using their own cars. Therefore, if your business asks its employees to use their own cars for work-related tasks (other than common daily commutes), you should still consider getting commercial auto insurance, as it can cover your liability for any accidents caused by your employees.

Interested in learning more about the specifics of commercial auto insurance? Call Linares Insurance today and we can tailor a plan for your business!