Commercial auto insurance.

A personal auto policy usually cannot cover a work van, and using one is the most common gap we see in small fleets. Personal policies exclude business use beyond commuting, and a van titled to the business often cannot be written on a personal policy at all. A tech driving a company van to a service call and rear-ending someone is a business claim, and a personal carrier may deny it after the fact. What changes the answer is who holds the title and how the vehicle is used. A sole proprietor’s pickup used mostly for personal errands is the gray area worth a conversation.

Employees driving their own cars for work are covered by their own personal auto policies first, not by yours, and the business is covered only if the policy carries hired and non-owned coverage. When a tech runs a parts errand in his own car and hits someone, the injured driver can sue the business as well as the tech. Hired and non-owned coverage answers for the business in that lawsuit. It does not repair the employee’s car. What changes the answer is whether the endorsement is on the policy and whether the employee’s own policy has enough limit to respond first.

The tools in the van are generally not covered by the commercial auto policy. Auto covers the vehicle and the liability from driving it, and most auto forms exclude the contents. When a tree comes down on the truck overnight, comprehensive pays for the roof and windshield, and the drills inside are a separate claim on a tools and equipment policy, sometimes called inland marine. That is where most fleet claims get confusing. What changes the answer is whether the tools policy covers property in transit and in vehicles, which is a line worth reading before the first theft from a locked van.

Hired and non-owned coverage is the part of a commercial auto policy that responds when the business is blamed for a crash in a vehicle it does not own. Hired means rented or borrowed, and non-owned means an employee’s personal car used for work. If a tech rents a box truck for a weekend job and hits a parked car, hired auto liability answers for the business. It covers the business’s liability, not damage to the rented or borrowed vehicle itself. What changes the answer is whether the endorsement is on your policy at all, because it is not automatic, and whether physical damage for rentals was added.

Listing every driver is the usual expectation, and most carriers ask for a driver schedule with license numbers so they can pull motor vehicle records. A policy written for any listed driver covers the people on that schedule, and some forms extend to anyone you permit to drive. A new hire who starts on Monday and drives a van on Tuesday should be on the schedule by Tuesday. What changes the answer is the carrier’s form and your state, because some policies cover any permitted driver and others only the names on the list, and one poor record can move the whole fleet’s price.

General contractors usually ask for a combined single limit on the auto policy, and they name it in the contract’s insurance section. The certificate then has to show that limit, and larger projects sometimes ask to see an umbrella above it. A bid package for a commercial buildout, for example, lists the auto limit alongside the general liability limit and the workers’ comp requirement. Read that page before you buy so the policy matches the contract on day one. What changes the answer is the size of the job and who is above you, because public work and national general contractors tend to ask for more.