Do you run your own business? If so, do you simply run it from your home, or do you have an actual office you work out of, and vehicles that are used by your business? Any business owner who uses vehicles in their business needs to have commercial auto liability insurance, whether they are the only driver of the vehicles or there are employees who also drive them.

Commercial auto liability insurance will protect your business in case you or one of your employees is sued after an auto accident where a vehicle for your business is involved. Without this type of coverage, you won’t have any protection for your company’s assets, and you could end up losing your business or even worse.

Is Commercial Auto Liability Insurance a Legal Requirement?

Whether you own a business or not, if you have a vehicle most states will require you to have a certain amount of liability insurance. In the case of business owners, they must have a certain amount of commercial auto liability insurance, or at least be able to prove financial responsibility in the event of an accident.

If you are insuring a commercial vehicle, don’t forget to ask if you need to have coverage for uninsured/underinsured motorists, which is a requirement in some states. You can also include collision and comprehensive insurance, but this is optional and not a legal requirement. It is just for your own added protection.

How Much Coverage Should You Have?

Even though your state may have a minimal amount of commercial auto liability insurance that is required, you may want to consider having more than this. While it will cost more to increase the amount of liability protection you have for your commercial vehicles, it will really help if you do get sued and the amount you are being sued for is more than what would be covered by a small policy. This is not something that any business owner wants to face, especially owners of small businesses that could face financial destruction in the event of a lawsuit.

Every insurance company is different, which means that they all charge different rates and offer different insurance products. When it comes to figuring out the minimum amount of liability insurance you need to have, in many cases it is at least $50,000 to $100,000 in coverage per vehicle. It is actually recommended that business owners carry more coverage than this. It is not uncommon for many business owners to have between $500,000 and $1 million dollars in commercial auto liability insurance.

Can You Get More Coverage?

Business owners who want to have even more coverage can opt to have a commercial umbrella policy. This is coverage that is over and above what you get from your regular liability insurance coverage. If you want to have additional coverage and not pay a whole lot for it, a commercial umbrella policy may be the way to go. It is inexpensive, and it will provide you with additional coverage should you or one of your employees have an accident while driving a company vehicle for business purposes. This coverage will pay for bodily injury and property damage and other expenses, including the costs that can be incurred if you are sued for more than your insurance would normally cover.

Other Commercial Auto Insurance Coverage

In addition to commercial auto liability insurance, there are other types of coverage you can have that will make sure that there is enough money to pay for any expenses following an auto accident.

Your liability coverage will extend to any vehicles that are owned by the company and used by yourself or employees, including cars, vans, trucks, trailers, etc. Business vehicles can be private passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles and public vehicles (these could include taxis, limos and buses), and coverage will be more expensive than it is for regular family vehicles. Coverage includes:

• Liability Coverage – This covers expenses if you are sued following an accident that is caused by yourself or one of your employees. It will not cover any of your own expenses. You will need to have additional coverage for repairs, medical expenses, etc.
• Physical Damage – This will pay for damages to your company vehicles if they are being operated by yourself or one of your employees and there is an accident where the driver of the company vehicle is at fault.
• Comprehensive Coverage – Other things can cause damage to vehicles besides accidents, including fire, flooding, hail and other severe weather, vandalism, etc. In order to be able to have these damages paid for, you must have comprehensive insurance coverage.

Saving Money on Your Commercial Auto Insurance

If you own a business and you have commercial vehicles, you need to have insurance. This is especially true if your vehicles are used to transport passengers from place to place. In fact, if members of the public are going to be in your company vehicles, you really need to have as much commercial insurance as you can possibly afford. Of course, just because you need to have this coverage it doesn’t mean that you have to break the bank to get it.

You can find all kinds of ways to save money on any type of insurance. All you have to do is ask. Many discounts could be available to you, but you won’t know about them because most insurers aren’t going to be forthcoming with this information unless they are asked about it.

Get Quotes to Get the Best Insurance Rates

In order to make sure that you are getting the best rates for your commercial auto liability insurance, you need to get quotes from at least a few different insurance companies. After all, they are all different, and no two insurers are going to offer the same packages at the same rates. Getting quotes is easy, especially when you let us do most of the work for you. Simply provide us with your zip code, and we will get you quotes for commercial auto liability insurance from national insurers as well as local insurers in your area.