Commercial Auto Insurance for Texas Businesses

Usually only for ordinary commuting and incidental use. Personal auto forms commonly limit or exclude business use, and they exclude delivery and livery outright. If the vehicle is titled to the business, carries tools, product or people for the business, or is driven by an employee, a commercial auto policy is the correct form. The question is decided by ownership and use at the time of loss, not by the type of vehicle.

Hired and non-owned auto liability, often shortened to HNOA, protects the business when a vehicle it does not own is used for business. Hired covers rented, leased or borrowed vehicles. Non-owned covers employee-owned vehicles used on company business. A business with no vehicles at all still has this exposure the moment an employee drives to a client or picks up supplies, and HNOA is frequently the only auto coverage that business needs.

The employee's personal auto policy responds first, up to its limit. Beyond that limit, or where the personal policy excludes the use, the injured party can pursue the employer for the employee's negligence in the course of employment. Non-owned auto liability is what stands behind the business at that point. This is why many employers set a minimum personal liability limit for employees who drive for work.

Symbols on the declarations page define which autos a coverage applies to. Symbol 1 is any auto, the broadest. Symbol 2 is owned autos only. Symbol 7 is specifically described autos, meaning only what is scheduled. Symbol 8 is hired autos. Symbol 9 is non-owned autos. A policy written on Symbol 7 with no Symbol 8 or Symbol 9 leaves rented and employee-owned vehicles uninsured, which is one of the most common gaps in the line.

Carriers pull motor vehicle records on listed drivers, then rate by vehicle type and gross vehicle weight, business use class, radius of operation, garaging location, limits and deductibles, and three to five years of loss history. Frequency of small claims usually moves renewal price more than a single large loss. Driver eligibility criteria and an annual motor vehicle record review are the levers a business controls directly.

Generally no. Auto physical damage insures the vehicle, not its contents. Tools, equipment, materials and installed property normally belong on an inland marine or contractors equipment policy, and stock or product in transit belongs on a cargo or transit form. This is a frequent and expensive assumption after a vehicle theft.

In Texas uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage must be offered and can only be rejected in writing. It responds when the at-fault driver has no coverage or not enough to pay the loss, which matters because the business bears the cost of injuries to its own drivers and passengers when the other party cannot. Rejecting it should be a deliberate decision, not a default.

It varies by customer and project. What matters as much as the number is whether the contract also requires additional insured status, primary and noncontributory wording or a waiver of subrogation on the auto policy, and whether an umbrella must sit over the auto policy to reach the required limit. Send the insurance requirements section before you sign and we will map it against the current policy.

On a policy written with specifically described autos, an unscheduled vehicle may have no coverage. Most policies include a newly acquired autos provision with a reporting window, commonly thirty days, but relying on it is risky because the window and its conditions vary. The safe practice is to report acquisitions and disposals as they happen rather than at renewal.

Yes. Send the declarations page, the vehicle and driver schedules, the loss runs and any contract that specifies auto limits. We will check the symbols actually written, whether hired and non-owned are covered, whether the units and drivers on the policy match the ones on the road, and whether the limits satisfy the contracts you have signed. Call (469) 756-8776 or book a review.