Tuesday 31 October 2017

An Overview of Commercial Vehicle Insurance

Vehicles plying on the roads are classified as private or commercial and basis the classification the rules and regulations governing their maintenance as well as on road permissions also vary. Insurance is another important aspect that is different for commercial and private vehicles and you cannot take a commercial vehicle on road without having proper insurance for the same. So, let’s try to understand the scope of commercial vehicle insurance.


What is the difference between commercial and personal auto insurance?

A vehicle that has been registered as commercial and is used for profit generating activities like carrying passengers or goods needs to have commercial insurance and one that is used for personal use and not for any profit generating activity needs to have personal auto insurance.

While with a personal auto insurance only you are safeguarded from the liabilities arising out of an accident involving your vehicle, when you have commercial auto insurance in place, you and your business, both are safeguarded from such liabilities.

What are the specialized coverage plans that come only with commercial auto insurance?
When you are buying a commercial vehicle package policy, you can check for the following add on benefits:

Coverage for hired vehicles: A business owner may not always use or have his/her own vehicle for transportation of goods and may use a hired vehicle for the same. The commercial auto insurance should offer coverage even for the borrowed vehicle carrying your goods.

Coverage for destruction or theft of equipment in the vehicle: Commercial vehicles are mostly fitted with sophisticated devices like GPS trackers which if stolen or damaged may need you to spend extensively on the repairs. As such, you must go for an auto insurance that gives coverage for such incidents too.

Lease or loan defaults: Many a times, commercial vehicles to be used as cabs or delivery vans are bought on loan by individuals and their ability to repay the loan mostly depends on the kind of business they are getting using that vehicle. As such there could be many slack phases for such people. Therefore when buying commercial vehicle insurance, it is good to go for one that offers coverage for loan or lease defaults too.

What are the benefits of buying commercial vehicle insurance?
  • Commercial auto insurances have limits that are way higher than the personal auto insurance policies. As such, they can effectively cover financial liabilities arising out of accidents involving a commercial vehicle.
  • The commercial auto insurance not only pays for the damages caused to the vehicle o the third party, it also reimburses you for the damage caused to any equipment that you may be carrying in your commercial vehicle so you can replace or repair them as needed.
  • The commercial auto insurance will also give adequate cover for your employee driving the vehicle in case he/she get hurt in an accident involving the vehicle.
When you have commercial auto insurance, you become eligible to take vehicles on lease from various lessees as with most of them your having a commercial insurance becomes a mandatory as well as primary requirement.

Therefore, now that you know all about the various benefits associated with having commercial auto insurance, never settle for personal auto insurance for your commercial vehicle as by doing that you expose yourself and your business to unnecessary risks.

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