Commercial auto insurance
Coverwatch places commercial auto for businesses that put vehicles on the road, from a single work van to a for-hire fleet. We structure it to match your contracts and the filings you owe, and to respond when a claim lands, not just clear a checklist.
- FMCSA-ready for trucking and for-hire filings
- Hired & non-owned for employee personal cars
- 60+ carriers shopped for your fleet
At a glance
- What it covers
- The vehicles your business owns or drives and the harm they cause other people on the road.
- What it doesn't
- The goods loaded inside the truck and injuries to your own driver or employees.
Trusted by 60+ carrier partners
What does commercial auto insurance cover?
Commercial auto insurance covers the vehicles a business owns, leases, or uses for work. It pays the bodily injury and property damage your driver causes other people, plus physical damage to your own vehicle, medical payments, and uninsured motorist claims. It does not cover the cargo inside the truck or injury to your own employees.
How we get you covered
We take commercial auto insurance to 60+ markets, build it to fit your business, and keep it compliant.
Read your risk
We map what could actually go wrong in your operation, where a claim would come from, and who would bring it.
Shop 60+ markets
We take your risk to the carriers that know your class and make them compete on price and terms.
Build the endorsements
We add the endorsement wording that decides whether the policy responds to a claim, beyond the base form.
Keep you compliant
We handle the COIs, additional-insured certs, and renewals, so you are never the one chasing paperwork.
Who needs commercial auto
Any business that puts a vehicle on the road for work, whether it owns one van or runs a for-hire fleet. What changes by category is the limit you'll be asked to carry, the filings you owe, and the exclusions to watch.
Trucking
For-hire and private motor carriers, where the FMCSA federal minimum and the MCS-90 endorsement decide whether you can legally haul. Cargo is a separate, almost always required, coverage.
Semi-truck
Highest-severity vehicle class. Long-haul radius and weight push limits to $1M and beyond, with a BMC-91 filing and an MCS-90 endorsement for operating authority.
Box truck
Local and regional delivery. For-hire box trucks still owe an FMCSA filing once they cross state lines for a fee.
Dump truck
Construction-site exposure and loading incidents drive claims; often paired with general liability on the same job.
Tow truck
On-hook and garagekeepers exposure sits alongside auto liability, since the towed vehicle is in your care.
Contractors
Trades that run work vans and pickups between the shop, the supply house, and the job site, often with tools and crew aboard.
General contractor
Trucks and trailers moving between sites; a general contractor's contract usually sets the auto liability floor and additional insured wording.
Plumber
Service vans carrying tools and parts. Physical damage matters when the vehicle is the business.
HVAC
Vans and box trucks hauling equipment; loading and unloading at customer sites is a common claim point.
Garages
Repair shops and dealers that drive customers' vehicles and run test drives, where dealer plates and customer cars create exposure a standard form does not reach.
What's covered, and what isn't
In the policy
Auto liability for bodily injury and property damage
The core grant. When your driver causes an accident, the policy pays the other party's injury and property damage claim plus your legal defense. This is the part most contracts and every state financial-responsibility law require you to carry.
Physical damage: comprehensive and collision
Repairs or replaces your own vehicle. Collision pays for a crash or rollover; comprehensive pays for theft, fire, vandalism, flooding, and hitting an animal. Both carry a deductible and are optional unless a lender or lessor requires them on a financed vehicle.
Medical payments and personal injury protection
Pays medical bills for your driver and passengers after an accident, regardless of who was at fault. Personal injury protection, required in no-fault states, extends this to lost wages and related costs up to the limit you select.
Uninsured and underinsured motorist
Steps in when the at-fault driver has no insurance, too little, or flees the scene. It pays your injury and, in some states, property damage claim that the other driver should have covered but cannot. Many states require it on commercial policies.
Hired and non-owned auto
Extends your liability to vehicles you rent or hire, and to employees driving their own cars on company business. It pays your company's liability above the driver's personal policy, but does not repair the rented or personal vehicle itself.
Not in the policy
The freight or goods being hauled
Damage to the cargo loaded in the truck, whether you own it or are carrying it for a customer, is not an auto claim. It needs its own coverage.
Covered by Cargo & Transit
Injury to your own driver or employee
When your driver is hurt in a work accident, their medical bills and lost wages are a workplace-injury claim, not a third-party auto liability claim.
Covered by Workers Compensation
An incident at your premises, not the vehicle
A slip in your lot or harm caused by your operations away from a covered auto is a premises and operations claim, not an auto claim.
Covered by General Liability
A judgment above your auto liability limit
When a serious bodily-injury verdict exceeds the limit on your auto policy, the excess is not paid by the underlying policy.
Covered by Commercial Umbrella
Personal-use-only driving
A vehicle driven purely for personal errands, with no business use, belongs on a personal policy and is not what a commercial auto form is built to cover.
Covered by a personal auto policy
Claims commercial auto pays
At-fault accident with bodily injury
Your driver runs a light and injures occupants of another vehicle. The policy pays their medical claims and your defense. A serious injury suit, especially against a truck, can exhaust a low limit before the case settles.
$100K–$1M+
Vehicle collision and physical damage
A covered truck or van is wrecked or stolen. Collision and comprehensive repair or replace it after the deductible, keeping the vehicle that earns your revenue on the road.
$10K–$150K
Employee driving a personal car on business
A staffer runs an errand for the company, causes a crash, and the injured party sues the business. Hired and non-owned auto answers the company's liability above the employee's personal policy.
$25K–$500K
Cargo-area or loading incident
A load shifts or falls during loading and injures a bystander or damages their property. The auto liability responds to the third-party harm; the damaged freight itself is a separate cargo claim.
$25K–$500K
Ranges are typical defense and settlement bands for these claim types, not a quote. Actual exposure depends on vehicle class, radius, driving records, and limits.
How much coverage you need
There is no standard limit. Two things decide what you actually need, and you carry whichever is higher.
- What your largest contract or the FMCSA requires
- A state financial-responsibility law sets the legal floor, but a shipper, broker, lessor, or general contractor usually sets a higher one in writing. A for-hire trucker is bound by the federal minimum, which starts at $750,000 and climbs to $5,000,000 for certain hazardous loads.
- What a serious bodily-injury accident costs
- Severity sets the ceiling. A multi-injury crash, especially one involving a heavy truck, can produce a verdict well into seven figures. Size to a realistic worst case, not the average fender-bender, and add an umbrella when the exposure outgrows the primary limit.
- FMCSA (for-hire general freight)
- $750,000
- Shipper or freight broker
- $1,000,000 auto liability
- State financial-responsibility law
- 30/60/15 (varies)
The federal minimum a for-hire interstate carrier of general freight must file before operating authority is granted, under 49 CFR Part 387.
Standard broker-carrier and shipper contracts require $1M combined single limit plus additional insured status before they tender a load.
Every state sets a statutory minimum for vehicles registered there. California's commercial minimum is 30/60/15; some states are as low as 25/50/25.
- Combined single limit
- $1,000,000
- Split limits (BI per person / per accident / PD)
- $250K / $500K / $100K
- Physical damage with deductible
- ACV less deductible
- Medical payments
- $5,000 per person
- FMCSA / MCS-90 minimum (for-hire trucking)
- $750,000–$5,000,000
One pooled number that pays both bodily injury and property damage from a single accident, in any combination. Most commercial policies and nearly every business contract are written this way because it is the simplest to satisfy.
Three separate caps instead of one pool: the most paid for any one injured person, the most for all injuries in one accident, and a separate ceiling for property damage. State minimums are usually quoted in this form, such as 30/60/15.
Comprehensive and collision pay the actual cash value of your vehicle after you pay the deductible on each loss. A higher deductible lowers the premium but raises what you pay out of pocket on every claim.
A small no-fault sublimit that pays medical bills for anyone in your vehicle after a crash, regardless of fault, without the delay of sorting out liability first.
The federal floor a for-hire motor carrier must carry before it gets operating authority. The MCS-90 endorsement on the policy guarantees the public that the carrier will pay up to that minimum even if the policy would otherwise deny; the insurer separately files a BMC-91 with the FMCSA as proof of that coverage to activate the authority.
Endorsements that close the gaps
The base form is the start. These add-ons are where the policy gets built to fit your business.
Hired and non-owned auto (HNOA)
Extends liability to rented vehicles and to employees driving their own cars on company business. Often the only auto coverage a business with no owned vehicles actually needs.
Motor carrier endorsement
MCS-90Required for for-hire interstate trucking. The MCS-90 is an endorsement attached to the policy that guarantees the carrier pays up to the federal minimum, even on a claim the policy would otherwise exclude. The endorsement itself is not filed with the FMCSA; separately, the insurer files a BMC-91 (or BMC-91X) with the FMCSA as proof of coverage to keep your operating authority active.
Additional insured
Names a shipper, broker, lessor, or general contractor on your policy so they accept your certificate and release the load or the job.
Waiver of subrogation
Stops your insurer from recovering against a contracting party after a claim. Many shipper, lease, and contractor agreements require it as a condition of doing business.
Drive other car
Extends coverage to owners or executives who drive vehicles the business does not own, closing a gap a commercial policy alone leaves open for them.
Questions buyers actually ask
Commercial auto covers vehicles used for business, while a personal policy covers driving for everyday life. The difference is not just the label. A commercial form carries higher liability limits, covers heavier vehicles and trailers, and can name employees as drivers, while a personal policy often excludes business use outright. If an employee causes an accident on the job and the vehicle is on a personal policy, the claim can be denied. Any vehicle owned by the business, used to carry goods or people for a fee, or driven by employees as part of the work belongs on a commercial auto policy.
Hired and non-owned auto, often written as HNOA, covers liability for vehicles your business uses but does not own. The hired part applies to vehicles you rent, lease, or borrow; the non-owned part applies to employees driving their own cars on company business. It pays the injury and property damage your driver causes other people, above the driver's personal policy, and answers a lawsuit that names the company. It does not repair the rented or personal vehicle itself, which stays with that vehicle's own physical damage coverage. Many businesses with no owned vehicles carry HNOA as their only auto coverage.
Usually yes, through hired and non-owned auto coverage. When an employee drives a personal car for work and causes an accident, the injured party can sue the business, not just the employee. The employee's personal policy pays first up to its limit, but it does not protect the company, and a personal insurer may deny a claim it learns was a business trip. Hired and non-owned auto fills that gap. It covers the company's liability above the employee's personal policy. If your team runs errands, makes deliveries, or visits clients in their own vehicles, this coverage protects the business from a claim it would otherwise fund itself.
A for-hire interstate motor carrier must carry a federal minimum of public liability insurance and prove it before the FMCSA grants operating authority. The floor is $750,000 for general freight, $1,000,000 for many oil and hazardous materials, and $5,000,000 for certain bulk hazmat, under 49 CFR Part 387. The insurer attaches an MCS-90 endorsement, which guarantees the public that the carrier will pay up to that minimum even on a claim the policy would otherwise deny, and files a BMC-91 with the FMCSA to confirm it. Without the filing on record, the authority is not active and the carrier cannot legally haul loads.
Two inputs set the number, and you carry the higher. The first is the floor in your largest obligation, which is a state financial-responsibility minimum, a federal FMCSA minimum for trucking, or a shipper, lessor, or general contractor requirement in a contract. Many business contracts begin at $1,000,000 combined single limit. The second is what a serious accident in your operation could actually cost. A multi-injury crash involving a heavy truck can produce a verdict well into seven figures, far past a $1,000,000 primary limit. Most fleets carry $1,000,000 underneath and add a commercial umbrella for the catastrophic claim. Take the higher of the two numbers.
No. Commercial auto covers the vehicle and the harm it causes other people, but the freight or goods inside the truck are a separate exposure. Damage to a load you are hauling, whether you own it or carry it for a customer, is paid by motor truck cargo or transit insurance, not the auto policy. The auto liability does respond if a falling or shifting load injures a bystander, because that is third-party bodily injury, but the damaged freight itself is not. A carrier that hauls goods for others should carry cargo coverage alongside commercial auto, because shippers and brokers usually require both before they tender a load.
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