When small business owners who have their home-based enterprises think of buying a new car that is to be used by the business, they always confront with the dilemma whether they need individual or commercial vehicle insurance. In many cases the coverage provided by personal policy carried by business owners provide just the right amount of coverage to have the vehicle protected. Still, for home-based businesses the picture might be quite different
Insurance experts agree that it depends on the exact purpose of your vehicle’s use in the business. If you’re a real estate broker, for example, and simply drive to work from home, taking clients with you on occasion then you don’t need commercial auto insurance since your personal policy will be enough to cover any costs. However, if you have a regular delivery of products with your car or take passengers all the time as a part of your job then you will have to purchase commercial auto insurance, since the vehicle will be regarded as a part of your business assets and has to be covered respectively.
For home-based enterprises it’s very important to have the third party liability limits in check in order to assure that both personal and business assets are covered properly. Because of this, the amount of your liability coverage and your deductible are the main variables that will determine the cost of auto insurance for your business. The larger is the amount of coverage and the lower is your deductible, the more you will have to pay for insurance in premiums. And don’t forget about your yearly mileage, driving record and the list of persons who will operate the vehicle – these factors will also affect your insurance premiums.
In order to lower the risk for your business, your liability coverage limits should be higher with a commercial insurance policy as compared to an individual policy. As a business, you may be subjected to larger claims, because the other party involved in the accident can follow you both as an individual and as a business. Because of such vulnerability, car insurance quotes for commercial auto insurance tend to be higher when compared to individual policies with the same coverage amounts.
In case your business involves taking a lot of equipment with you while you’re driving the car, and you also have a homeowners insurance policy, your equipment will have a certain amount of coverage. Still, in case if the value of the equipment is rather high, your car and home insurance policy can provide too little coverage, so you’ll have to buy a rider and get additional coverage amount for your equipment. A typical business owner insurance policy will cover damage and liability in the amount of up to $10,000. If this is not enough to replace your equipment in case it gets destroyed, then you definitely have to buy more coverage.
Commercial auto insurance goes by the same rules as any other form of insurance. If you want to get better rates, you should check car insurance quotes and do some comparison shopping with different companies. However, keep in mind that you will have to get car insurance quotes with respect to your higher liability limits. Don’t strip down the policy to the bare minimum as your business may depend on it.