Small business auto trade insurance
If you work in trades involving automobiles or the auto industry, there may be times when you need to drive cars that don’t belong to you. For example, moving new stock at a car dealership or test-driving a customer’s vehicle after having performed some service or maintenance on it.
Driving cars in this manner for business purposes clearly cannot be allowed under a normal private auto insurance policy, however it would be impractical, if not impossible, to add named vehicles to any type of policy in the course of your normal days. of work.
For this reason, there is a special class of commercial auto insurance called commercial auto road hazard insurance. The coverage provided by this policy complies with the Highway Traffic Law to allow the policyholder to ‘drive any vehicle’ in the course of his business, and if he wishes, also for social, domestic and pleasure purposes.
A trade car policy offers the most flexible driving cover available and almost all schemes can be tailored to the road hazards of a particular car trade.
Road hazard insurance is calculated differently than private car premiums, where a car’s declared value is used for rating. In a road risk policy, the merchant sets a level of compensation or amount that he wishes to cover for driving other vehicles. This could be as little as five thousand for a part-time used car dealer or mechanic up to one hundred thousand for a valet at a Ferrari dealership, for example.
A prestige car new car dealer would need a policy that would not only cover the cost of replacing a new car in the event of it being cancelled, but also an extension to cover members of the public who test drive the car accompanied by a driver. designated. However, a home-based used car dealer or mobile mechanic would only need basic roadside hazard coverage with perhaps an extension to tool coverage. Many road hazard policies vary in what is considered basic coverage, and auto dealers should be aware of additional coverages, such as legal protection and windshield coverages, just as they would with a normal auto insurance policy.
Auto dealers with facilities such as front yards or shops will require what is known as a combination auto dealer policy. This is simply a basic traffic hazard policy that allows employees and designated drivers to drive any vehicle combined with other risks that an auto dealer might face, such as liability and property damage.
Liability insurance forms the basis of a combined auto dealers policy, particularly product and liability, which covers your business against claims from members of the public to whom you have supplied services or parts or who have been injured while They visited their facilities.
If you hire people in shops, garages, offices or on the road in commercial vehicles or vans, you are required by law to have current liability insurance coverage. This coverage protects your automotive business against claims by employees and personnel who may suffer an accident at work and claim you in court.
Comprehensive combination auto trade insurance policies offer auto dealers buildings and contents commercial property insurance coverage for garages, workshops, office contents, machinery such as car lifts and compressors and tools, shop and stock coverage.
Additional options such as business interruption insurance are available to cover catastrophic situations such as a fire where you may lose all your stock, or a group personal accident which will cover staff members against accidents and sickness.
Anyone who works in the automobile industry can apply for a commercial auto insurance policy. Policies are available to auto dealers, auto valets, parking attendants, mechanics, auto body shops, service shops, and auto parts shops, to name just a few eligible trades.
Auto trade coverage is available to all small businesses, including sole proprietorships without premises and people who work from home and part-time.