Small businesses need several different types of insurance coverage. One of these is car insurance, which for small businesses can be a curse or a gift depending on who your insurance agent is. There are several considerations for you when it comes time to obtain auto coverage for a small business.
The first thing you need to consider is the type and number of vehicles your business owns. The more you own the more auto coverage you will need to have. Some vehicles like work vans, 15 passenger vans, and some forms of SUVs may have higher rates associated with them. This is because they have higher centers of gravity than most cars which makes them more susceptible to flipping over. Business auto coverage is similar in many ways to personal coverage which means that many of the rules are the same. Newer vehicles will be more expensive to insure than older ones. You should try to avoid exotic cars and ones that have difficult to find parts.
The next thing you need to do is estimate approximately how much auto insurance coverage your business is going to need. This is a very important consideration before you meet with any insurance agents. This will help you avoid getting stuck with expenses and coverage that you don’t really need. Think about how much travel your business requires. As an example if you have a delivery service you will obviously need more coverage than a restaurant that doesn’t deliver.
The next step is to shop around for insurance coverage. You should familiarize yourself with different insurance companies and agents that are local to you. One important thing to keep in mind when you start meeting with insurance agents is that they are basically sales people. Some of them may not be thinking in terms of your company’s best interests or may only tell you partial truths. One common half truth that an agent might tell you is that the state won’t allow them to write policies for over a certain dollar amount. The truth is $1,000,000 is what the standard coverage amount is. It is possible that a smaller agent may not be able to write a policy over a maximum amount. So if you needed, for example, coverage of $2,000,000 because your company’s business centered around driving, a dishonest agent might only tell you a half truth and try to convince that you didn’t need the extra coverage. An honest agent will give you the truth and will offer you different solutions like buying auto insurance that has excess coverage which will meet your business needs. Make certain that read you policy thoroughly to make sure that your company’s risks and needs are thoroughly covered under the insurance policy.
If, on the other hand, as a result of your assessment of your business needs you realized that you do not have a high auto liability due to the fact that your business doesn’t own any vehicles, you might want to consider adding a non owned and hired auto endorsement onto you general liability insurance policy.
