What is Fleet Insurance?
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 fleet for your landscape business in the Bayview Village area or your security business headquartered on Bay Street? Do you operate a food service business in the Summerhill area with 5 or more vehicles?
Do you have an HVAC business on Chester Hill Road, or a construction business located on Eglinton West? Do you have a fleet for your delivery business at Bloor and Yonge? Is your sales team on Eastern Avenue dependent on your fleet of cars?
No matter your Toronto location or fleet-using business, 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?
Third-party liability: This covers damages and injuries to others if one of your drivers or employees is at fault for a car accident. It includes coverage for your legal expenses if you’re sued after an accident. In Ontario, all fleet insurance policies must include a minimum of $200,000 in third party liability coverage.
Accident benefits: You must have this coverage in Ontario. It covers medical expenses, loss of income, or funeral expenses as a result of a collision involving a company vehicle and one of your employees.
Uninsured and underinsured auto: If one of your employees is injured or killed by an uninsured driver or due to a hit-and-run, uninsured and underinsured auto will cover the cost of damages or loss.
Comprehensive coverage: It protects your vehicle against damages resulting from anything other than a collision or accident, such as theft, vandalism, or fire.
Collision or upset coverage: Collision coverage helps pay to repair or replace your business vehicle if it’s damaged or if it’s a total loss resulting from an accident with another vehicle, whether you are at fault for the accident or not.
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 actually worth. Damaged commercial property is generally valued according to its actual cash value or replacement value.
Western Financial Group 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.
Please share this article with your friends
Talk to an Insurance Expert
Call Us Now 888-595-3104