Virily Editor
For some professionals, such as electricians, daycare providers, and carpet cleaners, paying for auto insurance is part of the business’s cost. This is because an outfit must have a commercial auto insurance policy to own and utilize its own vehicles. In such cases, not having coverage is more than a liability; it’s an impossibility. So, in these industries, it should be a little surprising that commercial auto insurance costs are often overlooked. But it doesn’t need to be this way. In fact, there are steps any business can take to reduce insurance costs.
By routinely shopping for insurance and getting quotes from multiple providers, businesses can ensure they are getting the best price possible for commercial auto insurance. Of course, other factors can impact insurance costs, and being familiar with how they may be affected by your industry is crucial to getting the best deal.
Below is a list of eight industries and vocations that often fail to fully realize their commercial auto insurance costs, along with steps that pros in each niche can take to decrease their rates. First, it might be helpful to get a handle on all the different attributes that can impact a firm’s commercial auto policy rates. Doing so will hopefully allow us to understand better how to save money on insurance.
What Contributes to Commercial Auto Insurance Costs?
Everyone wants to get the best deal on insurance as possible. Luckily, any entrepreneur can use a few tricks to decrease the price of their policies. There are a lot of different factors that can impact commercial auto insurance costs, and figuring out which drives expenditures in your industry can be the first step toward reducing them.
The following aspects can impact the cost of a business’s commercial auto insurance:
· The specific industry the business is in. As you will see below, insurance costs can be significantly affected by the type of work a company does. For example, a cosmetologist can have monthly premiums that are less than half of other professionals such as architects.
· The business’s location is important as auto insurance costs vary significantly from location to location. This pricing difference is due to the fact that many insurers use zip code data to determine expected costs for things such as repairs or replacement vehicles.
· Policy limits and specific coverage: The higher the limits and more comprehensive of a policy it is, the more a commercial auto insurance policy will cost. For example, a policy covering a fleet of 20 vehicles with limits in the millions will be much more costly than a policy for one car with limits in the hundreds of thousands.
· A company’s or individual’s claims history can also make a difference when it comes to pricing. In general, fewer past claims are better, and a lack of serious incidents is even better.
· How many policies you have with an insurance provider can be another source of savings. Most insurers will provide discounts to businesses that take multiple coverages and bundle them into a single plan.
· Finally, whether a car is used solely for business purposes, or a mixture of personal and professional use, will change what type of policy may be suitable. (A qualified insurance agent can help you navigate the finer details of this part.)
Daycare Providers
Daycare providers should consider commercial auto insurance, particularly if they transport children regularly as part of the business. Some of the benefits that daycare providers enjoy in terms of pricing are the fact that they have fewer vehicles to insure. However, limits and coverage are typically higher when dealing with insurance for ensuring the care of other people’s children. In general, daycares can expect to pay around $153 a month.
Carpet Cleaners
Many carpet cleaning services own and operate their own fleets of work vehicles specifically designed to help make cleaning easier. This makes the work vehicle a vital part of a worker’s toolbox. Insurance can help protect this most valuable of tools. Carpet cleaners can expect their monthly insurance policy to be approximately $165.
Electricians
Electricians are another member of the trades that often rely on a work truck without ever fully considering the cost of insuring their business’s vehicles. Luckily, as most electricians clearly delineate between their personal and work vehicles, these policies can be relatively easy to figure out. Still, electricians can expect to pay some of the higher median monthly costs of any profession, coming in at approximately $173 a month.
Handymen
A local handyman will often have a few advantages in terms of pricing in that they are usually smaller operations with limited employees and vehicles that need to be insured. In addition, the nature of the work also comes into play, as a handyman is usually employed to take on less demanding tasks than a more specialized tradesman or even a general contractor. In the end, this results in handymen having some of the lowest insurance costs around, averaging around $127 a month.
Painters
If you are a painter with a work van, you already know how important your vehicle can be to the success of your business. More than just a way to get your brushes, paint, and other equipment to a job site, a painter’s truck is also what makes one of the first professional impressions on a client. But, unfortunately, a dinged-up van won’t cut it.
Thus, ensuring the business has the right coverage to handle repairs or replacements of any painters’ trucks makes sense. Fortuitously, quality coverage can be had for reasonable prices, with many painters paying around $145 per month for commercial auto insurance.
Photographers
All manner of professional photographers often overlooks their commercial auto insurance policy. It doesn’t matter if you work primarily in the commercial realm or are a busy portraiture photographer. This is because a photographer is less likely to see a vehicle as necessary for their work.
If they often work out of a home studio, they may rarely need to drive to meet clients or go to shoots. Still, when a car is used as part of a photographer’s business, they will need a commercial auto insurance policy. When shopping for such a policy, it’s good to know that most shutterbugs pay relatively low rates, averaging around $129 a month.
Real Estate Agents
Many real estate agents utilize their personal vehicles for work, while others will be lucky enough to have a company car. This range of work vehicle options can cause real estate agents to be tricky to provide with the proper coverage.
This profession can significantly benefit from professional advice only a dedicated insurance provider can offer. By working together, real estate agents can ensure they get the best price—and the right type—for their commercial auto insurance coverage needs. As a result, real estate agents can expect monthly premiums to fall in the $170-$180 range.
Restaurants
The last industry we will discuss is the hospitality trade, specifically restaurants. And a restaurant commercial auto insurance policy can cover so much more than a delivery driver’s vehicle. Getting a quality commercial auto insurance policy is of the utmost importance if a restaurant does work such as catering, food trucking, or other food service work on the road.
Such a policy is crucial because restauranteurs will want to be able to protect their investments, even when not on their own premises. To do so, restaurants can expect premiums to cost around $220, some of the highest prices around. While this may seem high, the added expense is for a good reason. This is because a restaurant’s coverage typically handles more complex issues such as fires, electrical hazards, and other equipment breakdowns—which can be costly.
It Pays to Pay Attention to Your Businesses Insurance Policies
To summarize, don’t get complacent when paying for a commercial auto insurance policy. While the monthly premiums may be one of the lower regular costs a business faces, an extra $20 or $30 a month can really add up over the years. So, to avoid this, be sure to regularly review your business’s insurance needs and get quotes from other providers to ensure that your current coverage is competitively priced. Any entrepreneur can ensure that their commercial auto insurance policy isn’t overlooked—no matter their industry.
