The world has changed in the past year, and businesses have had to adapt to keep up. If staying afloat has meant offering delivery, you’re not alone. While it’s a good business decision, it also opens your business and your employees up to additional liability. Auto accidents are a very real concern for delivery drivers.
If you foresee delivery as a long-term strategy for your business, you need a commercial auto insurance policy.
Your General Liability (Usually) Won’t Cover You
For most businesses who added delivery as a response to COVID-19, most relied on personal vehicles to do it. Maybe you drive your vehicle, or your delivery person drives their vehicle. Either way, you need liability coverage for the potential of an accident and the lawsuit that will likely follow.
Don’t rely on a standard general liability policy to cover you, though. Most don’t include coverage for accidents involving a personal vehicle. A temporary solution is to add Hired Auto and Non-Owned Auto (HNO) to your policy. It offers limited liability coverage so it’s not a great long-term solution.
Commercial Auto Insurance Offers the Most Protection
For liability coverage only, HNO might get the job done to protect you and the business from a lawsuit after your delivery driver is involved in an accident. But there are a lot of other expenses beyond just that. Without the right insurance policy, that’s coming out of your pocket. A commercial auto insurance policy offers the best, most robust coverage for any vehicle used in your business.
A commercial auto policy includes the following types of coverage:
- Bodily injury liability
- Property damage liability
- Medical payment coverage
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage
- Comprehensive coverage
- Collision coverage
If that looks a lot like a personal auto insurance policy, you’re right. There are key differences, though. Commercial auto policies tend to have much higher limits, offer different types of eligibility for claims, and more robust coverage.
In most cases, though there are some exceptions because of the pandemic, personal auto insurance won’t cover a claim from the business use of a vehicle. If delivery service has become part of your business strategy, a commercial auto policy needs to become a necessary expense.
Have questions about your liability coverage? Need a quote for a commercial auto policy? Contact Charlotte Insurance today!