Physical Damage Insurance For Commercial Vehicles
An overwhelming majority of individuals or companies that use vehicles to conduct business must have commercial liability auto insurance according to most states' laws (and even some federal laws).
Still, meeting only the minimum legal requirements may not provide your business with enough financial protection, especially since commercial liability auto insurance only covers injuries and property damage suffered by others in an accident you cause.
Fortunately, several optional coverage types exist to help bolster your commercial auto insurance policy. This includes physical damage coverage.
What Is Physical Damage Coverage?
Commercial physical damage coverage helps cover the cost of repair or replacement of damaged commercial vehicles.
Different types of coverages exist within the commercial physical damage category. They include:
- Collision.
- Comprehensive.
- Fire and theft with combined additional coverage (CAC).
Collision
Collision insurance coverage can help you pay for repairs to your commercial fleet vehicles if it is damaged in a collision, overturn, or roll.
If your vehicle is deemed a total loss by your commercial insurance company, your collision coverage will pay you the estimated current cash value (minus your deductible) of your vehicle in order to help replace it.
If your commercial vehicle is damaged in a collision caused by a driver in a different vehicle, that driver's liability insurance should help cover the costs of your repairs.
Comprehensive
Commercial comprehensive coverage will help pay for the repair or replacement of your commercial vehicle if it suffers damages resulting from certain incidents that do not involve traffic collisions.
Types of damages typically covered by commercial comprehensive coverage include:
- Fire.
- Theft.
- Vandalism.
- Inclement weather.
- Glass.
- Collisions with animals.
Your commercial auto insurance company may cover more or different types of damages with comprehensive coverage. Check with your insurance company to make sure you know what's covered.
Fire and Theft with Combined Additional Coverage (CAC)
Also known as “limited comprehensive" or “specific perils" insurance, fire and theft with CAC is a type of comprehensive coverage designed for certain heavy duty trucks.
Fire and theft with CAC is very similar to standard commercial comprehensive coverage with the exception that where comprehensive covers a broad range of damages, fire and theft with CAC will only cover specific damages that occur from:
- Fire.
- Theft.
- Inclement weather.
- Earthquakes.
- Lighting.
- Explosions.
- Floods.
- Vandalism.
- Collision with an animal.
- Transportation of your vehicle if it results in:
- Stranding.
- Sinking.
- Burning.
- Collision.
Deductibles
Each coverage type in the physical damage category of commercial auto insurance requires you to pay a deductible before you can receive any payments on a claim. Your deductible is essentially your out-of-pocket expenses towards a claim.
When you purchase your physical damage coverages, you will have to select how much your deductibles will be. Your deductible will help determine your overall premium rate.
Choosing a higher deductible often means lowering your premium, but you need to consider whether you'll be able to pay it out of pocket in the event of an incident.
Purchasing Commercial Physical Damage
Physical damage coverages are widely available through most commercial auto insurance companies. When you shop for commercial car insurance quotes, remember to factor in physical damage coverages.
While physical damage coverages are optional, they can be an essential part of any commercial auto insurance policy. Your company vehicles can be very important to your business, and having a strong policy that includes physical damage coverage can ensure that you protect them.
