There’s a lot of confusion when it comes to the insurance industry within the automobile arena. This area of insurance has many sub-sections, since there are all sorts of vehicles on the road today.
Personal Lines
Personal lines mostly consists of cars and trucks that are suitable for personal use. These policies are pretty basic and simple throughout the industry. If you’re using the truck for only personal use, then it would be considered within the personal lines section.
There are a lot of different items that can be added to a policy, but the basics of
the policies are pretty standard. You can add all kinds of coverage to your policy like collision/theft, glass coverage, etc.
Everyone needs basic liability to be legal on the road. This type of insurance covers the other party involved in an accident, so this is a must have when driving. It’s the law.
Collision, or theft, is optional. Depending on the amount you paid for your car, should really determine if you add collision to your policy. Otherwise, depending on the cost to add it to your insurance policy, it really depends on the cost of the coverage.
Commercial Lines
Next on this blog, we’re going to talk about the other sector of automobile insurance is commercial lines. This covers all types of work/business vehicles. These are vehicles that are used primarily for business. The driver is allowed to use it to get to and from the office, or a job, not for personal off hours.
There are so many different types of vehicles that can be used for business, since there hundreds, if not thousands, of different type of industries. These might consist of utility trucks, work vans, a limo, bus, tractor trailer, taxi, etc. I was talking to the owner of the limo company HuntingtonLimousines.com, and he has limos, buses, cars and work vans. So it can be an assortment.
It’s important for a company to have all of their vehicles insured. If there was some sort of an accident on a job, it’s important to be covered, and cover the employee that was in the vehicle.
It’s imperative to protect your business and your assets from a lawsuit. I’ve seen too many companies work with uninsured vehicles, and the end up paying big time in the end. Some even going out of business because they can’t afford the lawsuit.
If you own a business, make sure all of your policies are up to date. The last thing you want is there being a lapse in your insurance, and you think everything is fine.. and then one of your employees gets into an accident.
This can go either way in the courtroom, so it’s better to nip it before it gets to this point. I would recommend having the policies on auto-renew so you never run into the situation where there would be a lapse leaving you in this situation.
I’ve seen this happen to a limo service, Huntington New York area. So be careful and make sure to take all preventative measures and cover all of your bases.
I hope this help clarify some of the basics about personal lines vs commercial lines. There are may people that confuse these too, especially owner operator type business owners.
It’s better to be safe then sorry, ask your agent if you’re not sure about something. If you want to contact us, we’d be happy to chat.