Commercial Auto Insurance

Car wrecks or a variety of other vehicle hazards might lead to vehicle damage, injury costs and potential legal fees. If a business’s vehicle is one of those involved in this type of accident, then the business might have to look for a way to afford the costs of recovery. Commercial auto insurance is designed to cover vehicles of any shape or size when they are used or owned by businesses. With coverage in place, the business can avoid significant financial losses and be better able to cover the expenses of the loss.

Commercial auto insurance might include both vehicles owned by businesses and privately owned vehicles used for business purposes. Vehicles that qualify for a policy might include:

• Employees’ personal cars that they use as part of their work.
• Company cars that someone drives both while on and off the job.
• A personal vehicle that qualifies as commercial due to its weight.
• Vehicles driven for rideshare companies.

Commercial auto policies offer a variety of coverage options that apply to different costs accidents or other hazards might cause.

• Bodily Injury Liability Coverage: Coverage will pay for injury costs of others if an accident is the insured driver’s fault. It will not pay for the costs of passengers in the insured vehicle.
• Property Damage Liability Coverage: When the insured is at fault for a wreck, this coverage can compensate other people for their property damage.
• Personal Injury Protection (PIP) Coverage: Coverage will pay for the insured driver and their passengers’ injury costs regardless of who is at fault in an accident.
• Comprehensive Coverage: When an unexpected event like fire, theft, vandalism or weather damages the car, then this coverage can pay for the repairs or replacement.
• Collision Coverage: After a car wreck, this coverage can pay for damage to the insured vehicle.
• Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage: If another party is at fault for a wreck, but they lack liability insurance, this coverage helps the insured driver pay for their damage costs.
• Hired/Non-Owned Auto Coverage: Drivers who use a vehicle for business but do not own the car need this coverage. It will extend commercial auto liability protection to this vehicle.
• Gap Coverage: Coverage will help the owners of leased or financed vehicles pay off the difference between the value of their car and the value of a loan if they total the car.

Drivers can also choose to buy a variety of supplementary policies like inland marine insurance. It covers property damage to items like business equipment, customer cargo or other items transported in a commercial vehicle.

Each policyholder’s unique risk factors will impact how much their insurer must charge them to absorb the risk of issuing them a policy. The average commercial auto policy costs about $900 - $1,200 per year.

The factors that might influence your policy costs include:

• The number of cars you insure
• How many drivers you employ
• Your selected coverage limits
• The location of the business
• How often someone drives a company vehicle

For assistance finding the best rate, ask your Smart IFS agent to help you compare policies. Numerous insurers offer various commercial auto insurance options. We can help you find one that offers optimized coverage that will always provide both adequate protection and affordability.

Both state and federal law require most commercial vehicle operators to buy certain amounts of insurance. The requirements might vary based on the vehicle’s weight, its use and the cargo it carries.

Policyholders should always augment their required coverage with other perks that will offer them enhanced coverage. If you choose to buy higher coverage limits, then you might have help available even following the costliest accidents. Given that there are a lot of traffic and accident risks in and around St. Louis, you’ll want coverage that will leave you prepared to handle any eventuality.

Rideshare insurance is a special type of commercial auto coverage that is designed to help drivers who work for rideshare companies like Uber or Lyft. Usually, you can add it to your personal auto policy, and it will protect you from the time you turn on your rideshare app until you finish work for the day. Though many rideshare companies offer supplementary insurance, this coverage might still prove inadequate on a driver-by-driver basis.