Commercial Auto Insurance

Who needs commercial auto insurance

If your business uses vehicles for any commercial purpose — deliveries, service calls, transporting equipment, or hauling materials — you need commercial auto insurance. Personal auto policies exclude business use, which leaves the business (and often the owner personally) exposed after an accident.

• Service and repair companies
• Contractors with work trucks and crew vehicles
• Delivery and courier services
• Inflatable and party rental companies hauling with trailers
• Landscaping, lawn care, cleaning, and janitorial businesses
• HVAC, plumbing, and electrical businesses
• Any business with company-owned vehicles or employees driving for work

What a commercial auto policy covers

• Liability — bodily injury and property damage you cause to others in an accident involving a business vehicle. The core of the policy and what contracts and certificates almost always reference.
• Physical damage — comprehensive and collision coverage to repair or replace your own vehicles after accidents, theft, vandalism, or weather damage.
• Uninsured/underinsured motorist — protects your people and your vehicles when the at-fault driver has little or no insurance.
• Hired & non-owned auto (HNOA) — liability arising from vehicles you rent or from employee-owned vehicles used for business. A frequent gap in delivery and contractor programs.
• Medical payments — smaller no-fault medical limits for occupants, where applicable.

One boundary worth knowing: the auto policy covers the vehicle and your liability from operating it. The tools, equipment, and cargo inside the vehicle are usually insured under inland marine or motor truck cargo coverage instead. We quote the two together so a theft from a parked van does not fall between policies.

Commercial auto built around your industry

We are a specialty agency, not a commodity auto shop. The vehicle schedule is only half the underwriting story — what the vehicles do is the other half, and that is where we win accounts.

Elevator contractors

Service routes, on-call response vehicles, and parts trucks with high tool values. See commercial auto for elevator contractors for how we pair the auto policy with the rest of the elevator program.

Inflatable & party rental operators

Box trucks and trailers hauling bounce houses, slides, and event equipment between venues — trailer liability follows the tow vehicle, and physical damage on the trailer itself is easy to miss. Part of our inflatable and party rental program.

Contractors' work trucks

Crew trucks, dump trucks, and equipment trailers scheduled alongside GL and workers comp so certificates for GCs come from one office. See contractors insurance.

Used car dealers & dealer plates

Dealer-owned vehicles, dealer plates, and test drives are a garage-policy problem, not a standard commercial auto problem. See used car dealer insurance for the right structure.

Delivery & service vans, small fleets

Last-mile delivery, mobile service businesses, and fleets from two vehicles to fifty — consolidated schedules, driver lists, and renewal dates. Start with the commercial auto application and attach your vehicle schedule.

How commercial auto is priced

Commercial auto premium is built from a handful of rating inputs, and knowing them explains most quote-to-quote differences:

• Operating radius — local, intermediate, or long-haul. Radius is often the single biggest lever on the rate.
• Vehicle type and weight — a half-ton pickup, a box truck, and a dump truck carry very different rates even at the same limits.
• Drivers — MVRs, age, and experience for everyone behind the wheel.
• Loss history — three to five years of loss runs shape both price and carrier appetite.
• Limits and deductibles — $1M combined single limit is the common contract requirement; physical damage deductibles tune the premium.

State matters too: the same fleet prices differently across state lines because liability rules, required coverages, and litigation environments differ. That is why we quote from a complete submission rather than a two-field form.

Certificates for contracts

GCs, venues, and lenders routinely require proof of commercial auto with specific wording — additional insured, waiver of subrogation, primary and non-contributory. We review the contract language before binding so the certificate matches what the contract actually demands, and certificates typically issue promptly once the policy is bound. See certificates for how requests work.

Where we write commercial auto

First Commercial is a Florida-based specialty commercial agency licensed in 14 states. Florida is our home market for commercial auto; multi-state accounts are quoted subject to state availability — start your application or call and we confirm your state in minutes. The service areas page shows the current availability picture by state and product.

Florida business? This hub covers commercial auto generally — for no-fault and PIP rules, named-storm considerations, and typical Florida limits, read the Florida commercial auto insurance page, or the deeper commercial auto guide for Florida businesses.

Frequently asked questions