Lets talk about your truck for all the contractors out there
Does it go on a personal auto policy, or a much more expensive (but also much better and higher coverages) commercial auto policy?
You see, if you don’t insure it correctly, here is what can and often does happen: one day you are driving, just doing your thing, and BAM, car crash.
And the insurance company is like my dude, we pay out claims, but you gave us a legal loophole! You were using your truck for COMMERCIAL use, DENIED, we’ll keep this money, cha-ching!
And usually it’s not your fault, you just didn’t know or maybe your agent didn’t ask the right questions.
So here’s what’s up – here’s how you know whether or not to add your truck to a commercial auto policy, or if you can just keep it on the cheaper personal auto policy.
What are you doing with the truck? Nah, I dont care, for now, how it’s registered. I don’t care, for now, that it’s registered under your business name, or registered for commercial use.
Let’s talk about it. What exactly are you doing with the truck?
Let’s say you use it to get to the job site and back, and we’ll even say you pull a trailer with up to 500 lbs of business tools. (Every insurance company has different guidelines, I’m speaking generally here)
We’ll keep this on a personal auto policy. (but that 500 lbs of business tools wont be covered, we’ll also get you an Inland Marine policy)
Because, you see, that’s all personal use so far. Getting to work and back is personal use, even if you hitch a trailer. Even if it’s registered under your business, because, believe it or not – I have some insurance companies that WILL allow you to put a vehicle registered under a business on a PERSONAL auto policy, so long as you are actually using it for personal use.
Let’s say you use your truck to get to work. Then, when you’re at work, you hitch it to a trailer, you’re a tile contractor. You load up that trailer with tile and drive it down the street, to the next tract home you are working on. BOOM! You crash.
Claim, probably, DENIED. Because that is income-generating activity, and that is commercial use.
OH NO IF ONLY I KNEW I NEEDED A COMMERCIAL AUTO POLICY
(For my customers reading this, if this is you, I do my best to ask the right questions — but if you are worried about possible claims issues for commercial use of your vehicle, text or call me 435-216-1567)