Transportation Industries That Need Fleet Insurance

Your small business has continued to grow, so has the number of work vehicles parked in the company parking lot. You have a business insurance plan, but you’ve realized it’s time to expand it to include commercial auto insurance — you need to protect your fleet, after all! When you visit CoverHound to search for and compare commercial auto insurance quotes, know that you are making a smart business decision. Couldn’t every business do with a little more protection? Here some transportation industries that could do with fleet coverage.

Commercial Auto Insurance: An Overview

Commercial auto insurance, or fleet insurance as it’s called, is similar to your personal auto insurance policy. State laws determine what type of policy you should carry and it offers liability coverage, including bodily injury and property damage. Fleet insurance even covers equipment and merchandise damage should it be destroyed or lost in an accident or act of vandalism.

What some business owners get wrong is that personal auto insurance and commercial auto insurance are interchangeable; they are not. If one of your employee’s is driving to a customer’s home to provide a service using one of your vehicles and gets in an accident, your insurance company has the power to deny your accident claim? Why can they do that? Because the vehicle was not listed as a work vehicle on your private insurance plan; it was being used for another purpose not listed in your contract.

Under state law, all actively driven vehicles on the road must have some form of liability protection. This means that your vehicle fleet must be insured.

Fleet Insurance: Saving Money

Owning and running a vehicle fleet is expensive. Fuel alone represents about 60 percent of a vehicle fleet’s total operating cost, with fleet maintenance coming to a cool cost of 10 percent. With 70 percent of costs going to keeping the fleet in good working order, it only makes sense (and because it’s the law) to invest in commercial auto insurance. If one or more of your vehicles were to be involved in a traffic collision, you only have 30 percent (if that) left in your fleet budget to pay for repairs.

The typical private auto accident claim for property damage comes to $3,231 for property damage and almost $16,000 for bodily injury. Mind you these numbers are just an average; the cost could be more. Not taking into consideration the merchandise or equipment being hauled in the vehicle that can be damaged or destroyed, can your fleet budget cover the loss(es) of the vehicle and equipment without having you go over budget? If you’re just getting your business established, you probably can’t. You might be wondering if you really need fleet insurance. Maybe your business only uses a couple of cars and they’re used by you and your business partner. If you are using the vehicles for the transferring of product or services, you need fleet insurance. Here are some industries that need—no, require—fleet insurance:

− Rental car companies

− Catering companies

− Delivery companies

− Shuttle services

− Moving vans

− Plumbing services

− Door-to-Door sales

These are just a few business-types that need fleet insurance. If your business meets any of the above criteria, it’s time to get your free commercial auto insurance quote with CoverHound.