Month: January 2014

If you own a company in Coppell, Texas, you may already have a business policy. With that policy you are usually covered for theft of equipment and inventory, liability against claims of injury by customers and for the actions of your employees while at work. If you also have business insurance that covers your company-owned vehicle, you will be covered if one of your employees gets into an accident while driving the car or truck for business purposes.

When employees use their personal auto during their lunch break to go out to get a bite to eat or run some personal errands, they are not normally covered by your commercial insurance policy. Even if they are doing company business like dropping off the mail, their personal auto insurance coverage will be the primary coverage against which a claim will be filed.

If your employee gets into an accident while returning from lunch and it results in liability that is in excess of your employee’s personal auto insurance limits, your Texas commercial policy may cover the additional amount of liability above the maximum amount covered by the employee’s policy.

So, for example, if your secretary gets into a horrible accident and kills the other driver and the courts find that she was negligent and awards the family of the decedent $500,000, the first claim would be against your secretary’s personal auto insurer. If her liability coverage topped out at $300,000, your commercial auto policy would then be responsible for the remaining $200,000.

Commercial insurance policies vary greatly in the amount and type of coverage they provide. If you are running any type of business, you should have the right kind of insurance. As your independent agent here in Coppell, we can see to it that you are fully protected against both the small and large things that can go wrong on any given day. Please give us a call and an independent agent will sit down with you and find you an affordable policy to meet your business’s insurance needs.

As an employee of a company, you may be asked to drive a commercial vehicle or to run errands for the company in your vehicle. When you drive for business purposes in Coppell, Texas, your personal auto insurance may not provide protection against accidents. Fortunately, you may be covered for the accident when you are driving for the business.

Commercial Plans

Although your personal insurer may not offer coverage while you are driving a company car or when you are driving your vehicle for the business, your employer may have coverage for the car.

Any automobile that is owned by the company should be covered with a commercial plan. That means that any employee who drives the vehicle is covered by the company’s insurance rather than a personal policy. If you cannot make a claim on your policy, then ask your employer for the insurance information associated with the company plan.

Variation between Companies

An employer may have coverage available, but the amount of protection and the details of any policy may vary. In most cases, the employer will pay for the repair costs and property damage through a business policy.

Your medical bills may or may not be covered under the basic auto plan. If that is the case, then you may be able to make a claim on worker’s compensation or a similar plan rather than the auto plan to pay for your medical bills.

Your personal auto insurance is not appropriate when you are involved in an accident while driving a company car. The company is held liable for the accident, even if you were negligent. Contact us to talk to an independent agent to learn more about your auto policy.