Can Fleet Insurance be customized?
You need to protect the vehicles that keep your business moving. If you have a fleet of 5 or more cars, vans, or trucks for your business, you will need customized fleet insurance.
Do you have a landscape business, a security business headquartered on Bay Street, or food catering service in Calgary?
Do you have an HVAC business, a construction business, or a delivery business? Do you have a sales team?
If you have a business in Calgary or the surrounding area that uses a fleet, your Western business insurance expert will give you top-notch advice and ways to save on your fleet insurance package.
What is fleet insurance?
Fleet insurance is for business owners who operate a minimum of 5 vehicles and use them only for business purposes.
That makes it easier to cover all the vehicles your business owns with just one policy and potentially give you a discount.
Fleet insurance can be customized to your needs. For example, you can choose to insure all drivers on all vehicles or assign named drivers on your fleet policy.
Don’t be confused because you might also hear it be called fleet auto insurance, business fleet insurance, or motor fleet insurance.
Remember that a commercial auto policy is designed to cover one vehicle that is used for your business.
What types of businesses need fleet insurance?
- Landscaping
- HVAC
- Construction
- Food Service
- Real estate
- Delivery
- Security
- Taxicab companies
- Among others
A fleet insurance package helps protect you from these 3 common claims:
- An employee gets into an accident with a company car, injures another driver and is found to be at fault for the accident. The injured driver sues your business for damages.
- An employee driving one of your company’s trucks is involved in a collision with another driver who does not have any insurance and is at fault for the accident.
- One of your employees is making a delivery and hits a pedestrian.
How much will my fleet insurance cost?
Fleet insurance is typically cheaper than having individual policies on each of your company’s vehicles.
Depending on the size of your fleet, you could save a substantial amount on your insurance premium.
What affects the cost of a fleet vehicle insurance policy?
- Your employees’ or drivers’ driving records and years of experience behind the wheel
- The type of vehicles in your fleet and their value
- Your employees’ or drivers’ ages and genders
- Where your business is located
- Where the vehicles are usually parked
- How many kilometres a year does each vehicle log
- Annual revenue
- Past claims
- Location
Fleet insurance premiums are calculated based on the risk of all drivers. That means that one young or high-risk driver could increase your insurance premium.
At Western, we will save you time and money by doing the insurance shopping for you to find a fleet insurance policy that suits your business at the right value.
As a business owner who operates 5 or more vehicles, here’s an insurance check list:
- Do you have the best business insurance rate for your business?
- Do you have the right amount for your deductible and regularly review to make sure it’s the right amount for your business?
- Is your number of employees up to date?
- How many employees are driving your fleet of vehicles?
- Do you know the value of your vehicles
What is covered by a fleet insurance policy?
Like with personal auto insurance, there are mandatory and optional types of insurance available.
Third-party liability: It is required by law and covers damage or injury caused to others by your company vehicle. It does not cover injury or damage to you or your vehicle.
Uninsured driver coverage: This type of insurance protects you in case an employee who is driving your company vehicle is injured or killed by a hit and run or uninsured driver who is determined to be at fault for the accident. Uninsured driver coverage is also mandatory.
Accident benefits: Accident benefits coverage is mandatory and covers medical expenses, loss of income, and funeral expenses resulting from a collision involving your employee and a company vehicle.
Collision: Collision insurance covers damage to your vehicle caused by a collision. It does not cover legal or medical expenses or damage caused by something other than a collision.
Comprehensive: Comprehensive insurance covers many other types of damage, such as fire, hail, theft, and vandalism. It also covers medical and legal costs.
What kind of fleet insurance policy should I choose?
You will need to decide whether to purchase an any driver policy or a named driver policy.
An any driver policy allows your employees to drive any one of your business vehicles while a named driver policy only allows certain employees to drive certain vehicles.
Typically, an any driver fleet policy has higher premiums but more flexibility.
Employees may be required to have special operator’s licenses depending on the type of vehicle your company operates.
What do I do if my business has a fleet insurance claim?
- Contact your broker immediately. Waiting to file a claim can confuse insurers about the severity of the damages to your business.
- Know your policy so that when you contact your broker you are familiar with what will be covered or not.
- Document the damage. Take photos right away and write down what happened.
- Do not throw away damaged goods after taking photos. Keep the physical evidence so that your adjustor can see it.
- Do not invite lawsuits. Don’t say anything that could be used against you, especially if you aren’t sure what happened.
- Be honest about what your damaged property is worth. Damaged commercial property is generally valued according to its actual cash value or replacement value.
Western Insurance has licensed BUSINESS INSURANCE EXPERTS to get your business the right fleet insurance package. Our experts are available now to help you navigate the business insurance journey to protect your business.
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