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Personal Auto Insurance
Owner: An individual
Use: Commuting and personal errands
Drivers: You and household members
Limits: Set for personal use
Vehicles: Cars, SUVs and light trucks
What Does Commercial Auto Insurance Cover?
Keep Your Commercial Vehicles Covered: Essential Commercial Auto Insurance Solutions
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Commercial auto insurance, also called commercial vehicle insurance, business auto insurance or commercial car insurance, is a policy for vehicles used for work. It can cover third-party injuries and property damage your drivers cause, plus damage to your own vehicles, depending on the coverages you choose. Personal auto policies may exclude business use, so many businesses that drive for work carry a commercial policy. Tivly matches small businesses with one of 450+ partners that offer commercial auto coverage.
What Is Commercial Auto Insurance?
Commercial auto insurance is a policy for cars, vans, trucks and other vehicles used for business. It can cover third-party bodily injury and property damage when your driver is at fault, plus physical damage to your own vehicles if you add those coverages. It works much like personal auto insurance, but it's built for vehicles owned by a business or driven for work.
What Does Commercial Auto Insurance Cover?
A commercial auto policy is made of separate coverages. Liability is the core; the rest are added based on your vehicles and how you use them.
- Commercial auto liability: can cover third-party bodily injury and property damage when your driver is at fault, including legal defense costs.
- Medical payments or personal injury protection (PIP): can cover medical costs for your driver and passengers, regardless of fault. PIP is required in some states.
- Uninsured and underinsured motorist: can cover your injuries and, in some states, vehicle damage when the at-fault driver has little or no insurance.
- Collision: can cover damage to your vehicle from a crash with another vehicle or object.
- Comprehensive: can cover damage to your vehicle from theft, vandalism, fire, weather or hitting an animal.
- Hired and non-owned auto: can cover liability when employees drive rented vehicles or their own cars for work.
- Rental reimbursement: can cover a rental vehicle while yours is being repaired after a covered claim.
- Gap coverage: can cover the difference between a totaled vehicle's value and what's still owed on its loan or lease.
Tools and equipment that aren't permanently attached to a vehicle usually need inland marine insurance. Cargo you haul for others usually needs motor truck cargo insurance.
Do I Need Commercial Auto Insurance?
Many businesses carry commercial auto insurance when:
- A vehicle is owned, leased or registered to the business
- Employees drive their own cars or rented vehicles for work
- Vehicles carry tools, equipment, products or paying passengers
- The business runs a food truck, delivery service or contracting crew
Requirements vary by state and by how a vehicle is used. Most states set minimum liability limits for vehicles registered to a business, and some clients or contracts ask for higher limits. Your state's insurance department or DMV lists the rules where you operate. Small business auto insurance is often bundled with other coverage, so see small business insurance and what business insurance covers.
Commercial vs. Personal Auto Insurance: What's the Difference?
Commercial Auto Insurance
Owner: A business, or an individual driving for work
Use: Jobs, hauling goods or tools, and carrying clients
Drivers: Employees and other drivers you list
Limits: Often higher, to match business risk and contract requirements
Vehicles: Cars and vans up to box trucks
Personal policies may exclude accidents that happen while driving for business, which is why the distinction matters when a claim is filed. Rideshare and delivery drivers often fall in between; see rideshare and delivery insurance.
What Types of Vehicles Can Commercial Auto Insurance Cover?
Commercial auto policies can cover most vehicles a small business uses:
- Cars and SUVs
- Pickup trucks
- Cargo and passenger vans
- Box trucks and refrigerated trucks
- Food trucks and catering trucks
- Dump trucks
Some vehicles need their own policy. Semi-trucks and heavy haulers usually need commercial truck insurance, tow operators need tow truck insurance, and businesses with several vehicles may look at fleet insurance. Food truck owners can see food truck insurance.
What Affects the Cost of Commercial Auto Insurance?
There's no single price. What you pay depends on:
- The number and type of vehicles
- How far and where they're driven
- Your drivers' records and experience
- Your industry and what you haul
- Your claims history
- The coverages and limits you choose
For more on pricing, see commercial auto insurance cost.
How to Get Commercial Auto Insurance With Tivly
- Tell us about your business and vehicles in the form above.
- A Tivly specialist will reach out to match you with a licensed partner.
- Review your commercial auto quote with one of Tivly's 450+ partners.
Many businesses also carry general liability insurance, which can cover third-party claims that don't involve a vehicle, and garage liability insurance if they work on customers' cars.
Reviewed By: Sarah Reid, Licensed Agent
Frequently Asked Questions
Does commercial auto insurance cover personal use?
Many commercial auto policies can cover limited personal use of a business vehicle, such as driving it home. What counts as permitted use depends on the policy, so check the terms with your partner.
Does my personal auto insurance cover business use?
Personal auto policies may exclude or limit coverage when a vehicle is used for business, such as making deliveries or carrying tools to job sites. Commercial auto insurance is written for that kind of use.
How does commercial auto insurance work?
You choose the vehicles, drivers and coverages on the policy. If a covered accident happens, you file a claim with the insurer, and the policy can cover the costs within its limits after any deductible.
Is commercial auto insurance required by law?
Most states set minimum auto liability limits, and vehicles registered to a business usually need to meet them. Rules vary by state and vehicle type, so check with your state's insurance department or DMV.
Is commercial auto insurance more expensive than personal auto insurance?
Commercial auto insurance often costs more because business vehicles tend to drive more miles and carry higher liability limits. Your price depends on your vehicles, drivers, industry and coverage. See commercial auto insurance cost.