Ramey King Insurance
Commercial Auto Insurance in Texas
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What is commercial auto insurance?
Businesses that operate vehicles face potential risks including accidents, theft, or damage. Commercial auto insurance may help protect Texas businesses that have their own vehicles against such risks.
Commercial auto insurance generally offers custom coverage for business-owned vehicles. Moreover, businesses can also obtain it for non-owned vehicles that they use.
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Which businesses in Texas need to have business auto insurance?
Any business that operates vehicles typically requires business auto insurance. Texas law broadly mandates coverage for most businesses that own, rent, lease or use employee vehicles.
Texas's minimum coverage requirements are commonly referred to as 30/60/25 coverage. This refers to coverage minimums of:
- Bodily Injury Liability in the amount of $30,000/person and $60,000/accident
- Property Damage Liability in the amount of $25,000/accident
Most businesses that purchase insurance opt for limits that are much higher than these, and coverages in addition to these three. The state's minimum requirements provide only basic protection.
Typical Coverages
What coverages does a business auto insurance policy offer?
Business auto insurance policies can offer a range of protections, enabling businesses to customize coverages to suit their specific needs. Common protections include:
- Personal Injury Protection: Generally covers expenses related to injuries to occupants in a company vehicle. Often simply called “PIP.”
- Liability Coverage for Bodily Injury: Generally covers injuries to individuals outside a company vehicle (e.g. other drivers, other vehicles' passengers, pedestrians).
- Comprehensive Protection: Generally covers non-collision damage to a company vehicle (e.g. damage from weather-related events, vandalism, animal impact).
- Collision Protection: Generally covers damage to a company vehicle caused by a collision with at least one other moving vehicle.
- Gap Protection: Generally covers the financial gap when a total loss leaves a business responsible for an outstanding loan or lease balance.
- Coverage for Property Damage Liability: Generally covers third-party property damage caused by an accident.
- Coverage for Uninsured and Underinsured Motorists: Generally covers accidents involving drivers who lack adequate insurance coverage.
Do lenders require that businesses have business auto insurance?
When businesses lease or finance vehicles, lenders often require certain coverages to safeguard their interest in the vehicles.
Comprehensive and collision coverage are typically mandatory so that the lender is protected if the vehicle is a total loss. These usually pay up to a vehicle's value if it were to be sold before the collision damage occurred.
Gap coverage is usually also required, so any difference between the outstanding balance and the value of the totaled vehicle is covered.
What is a hired and non-owned commercial auto policy?
Businesses that use but do not own vehicles, like those that rent vehicles or have employees drive their personal vehicles, typically need liability coverage for when these vehicles are used.
These situations can occur when restaurants have delivery drivers use their personal cars, when chains have employees drive products between locations using their personal cars, or when broken-down trucks are temporarily replaced with rented ones. There are, of course, many other similar situations where a non-owned car or truck might be used.
A hired and non-owned commercial auto policy normally provides liability coverage for situations such as these. This often gives businesses the liability protection they need for employee and rented vehicles, without having to pay for additional coverages that aren't required.
How can businesses get commercial auto insurance for their vehicles?
If you require assistance with insuring commercial vehicles registered in Texas, get in touch with the independent insurance agents at Ramey King Insurance. Our agents will work closely with you to ensure your business's vehicles are properly protected whenever they're on the road.
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