As a business owner you might think that your commercial auto policy covers all of the supplies and tools in your truck and as such may currently be underinsured. Here are some things you might need to have to be fully covered for your vehicle, tools, supplies and any modifications to the vehicle that aren’t covered by a basic commercial auto policy.
Your basic commercial auto policy is meant to cover just that, your commercial vehicle but it isn’t intended to cover the contents inside of the vehicle. In order to have propper coverage for your tools in the vehicle you may want to ask your agent if you should have something called an inland marine policy, this would cover all of your tools no matter where they are including in your vehicle.
Another option you may want to ask your agent if you have, or need to have, is an endorsement on the policy which will cover any supplies you may have in the truck as well as things left at any job site. If your business transports things like piping or lumber which may be taken from jobsite to jobsite or even left at one for multiple day’s usage, this endoresement may be worth asking about. Normally things like that aren’t covered by your commercial policy once it’s taken off your business’s property unless it’s additionally insured for while it’s in transit or at the job site.
One more thing that’s worth checking into with your agent is whether or not any permanent installations you may have in your vehicle are covered. Permanent installations meaning things live shelving, racks or anything similar which does not come standard on all vehicles. Your company may not know you have them because they aren’t standard and therefore you may be underinsured or not covered at all for a loss of those installations.
If anything written here concerns you because you feel you may be underinsured or just simply want to reach out and make sure that you are in fact covered in the way you want to be please feel free to reach out to our Commercial Lines Representatives or any of our four locations and someone would be happy to take a look at your coverage with you.
Commercial Lines Department;
Kathy Duignan in our Rhinebeck Office
(845) 876-7035
OR
Kathy Haight in our Millerton Office
(518) 789-3633