Commercial Auto & Equipment
The truck with your name on the door, the van full of tools, the trailer that sleeps at the jobsite. If a vehicle earns your business money, this is the coverage that keeps one bad afternoon from becoming a closed shop. We read what you have, explain what is missing, and quote only what fits.
Six coverages, in plain English
Most owners do not need all six. The point is knowing which ones your business actually meets, so you are not paying for the wrong ones or missing the one that matters.
Why a personal auto policy usually stops helping once the vehicle is working
Personal auto policies are priced for commuting, errands, and family life. Most personal policies exclude or limit business use: hauling tools or goods for pay, employees behind the wheel, deliveries, or a vehicle titled to a company. When a claim comes in, the insurer asks how the vehicle was being used that day. If the honest answer is "for the business," the personal policy may pay less, dispute the claim, or decline it, and the business itself typically has no coverage at all on a personal policy.
That does not mean every owner with a pickup needs a commercial policy tomorrow. It means the business-use question needs asking, and we read your current policy before recommending anything.
Commercial auto liability
The core of any commercial auto policy, and the piece your clients' contracts usually ask about.
Physical damage (collision & comprehensive)
Repairs or replaces the business vehicle itself.
Hired & non-owned auto
For the vehicles your business uses but does not own: employee cars and rentals.
Inland marine: tools & equipment
The contractor's equipment floater: coverage for gear that leaves the shop.
Cargo & goods in transit
Where relevant: for businesses that move product, materials, or customers' property.
Downtime: rental reimbursement & loss of use
The coverage for the weeks the vehicle is in the shop and the jobs still need to happen.
Coverage descriptions are general. Every policy has its own definitions, limits, and exclusions. We walk yours line by line before you sign anything.
From the owner's chair
Five ordinary Tuesdays. None of them are dramatic until they happen to you.
The pickup with your logo on it, insured on a personal policy
It is your truck, you drive it, and it has always been on your personal auto. Then a fender-bender at a customer's driveway becomes a claim, and the adjuster asks about the lettering on the door and the tools in the bed. Personal policies frequently limit or exclude business use. The moment that gets litigated is the worst moment to learn it.
The employee running to the supply house in her own car
You never told her to speed. She rear-ends someone at a light on the way back with your fittings. Her personal policy responds first, but the injured party's attorney sees your company name on the invoice, and the business is named too. Without hired & non-owned coverage, the business defends that claim out of pocket.
The trailer of tools stolen from the jobsite overnight
Locked, hitched, gone by 6 a.m. The trailer is one loss; the $30,000 of tools inside is the one that stops work. Personal and commercial auto policies typically do not cover the contents. Neither does a standard property policy once the tools left the shop.
The van in the shop for three weeks and the jobs that slipped
The repair is covered. The parts are back-ordered. Meanwhile the van's route still has to run and the crew is on payroll. Owners rarely feel the vehicle loss. They feel the schedule loss.
The client contract asking for $1,000,000 auto liability
The GC's contract, the property manager's vendor packet, the municipal bid: they all want a certificate showing a specific auto limit, and sometimes the client named as additional insured. Your personal policy cannot produce that certificate, and a commercial policy at the wrong limit gets the bid bounced.
Personal or commercial? + The Downtime Meter
First, six taps about how one vehicle is really used. You get an honest read, not a verdict. Then move three sliders and see the revenue that sits at risk while a vehicle is down. Both flow straight into your discovery sheet.
1 Personal or commercial?
Think of one vehicle, the one you are least sure about.
This is a plain-language read on how most carriers view the use, not a coverage decision. Only your policy and an advisor can tell you what is actually covered.
2 The Downtime Meter
Your numbers, your business. Nothing here is a premium.
3 vehicles × $900/day × 10 days
One vehicle alone: $9,000 over the same 10 days.
A starting number, not advice. An advisor sizes it for real. Repairs, parts delays, and your season all move it.
- Rental reimbursement / loss of use: a substitute vehicle so the route keeps running during a covered repair.
- Hired & non-owned auto: liability behind the rental or borrowed truck you use in the meantime.
- Tools & equipment floater, so the gear inside a stolen or wrecked vehicle is replaced, not just the vehicle.
Your read and your downtime number carry into the sheet so we can start from where you already are.
Tell us about the vehicles. We quote it for you.
Five minutes, skip anything you do not know. A licensed advisor reads it, calls or emails with follow-up questions if any, and shops it. Nothing is bound online.
What you see here is not the whole shelf.
Some carriers ask us to present their products one-on-one instead of on a website, and new ones join the lineup all the time. An advisor can pull up every product that could fit your needs, including the great options that are not listed here.
Let's protect your business.
Tell us about the trucks, the tools, and the crew. A licensed advisor builds the coverage that fits and shops it for you.
*Plans, benefits, rates, and provider networks can change at any time. Speaking with your agent is necessary to verify the most up-to-date information before making any decision.