If you frequently use your vehicle for business purposes, or if your company owns a commercial vehicle in Pennsylvania, you probably need commercial auto insurance. Asides from that the laws of the state make it compulsory, personal car insurance does not cover commercial vehicles. Therefore, business owners in all industries that use vehicles use commercial auto insurance to protect themselves, their vehicles, and their businesses.
This article is a detailed guide showing you everything you need to know as regards commercial auto insurance in Pennsylvania.
- The 6 best commercial auto insurance in Pennsylvania
- What does commercial auto insurance cover in Pennsylvania?
- What Pennsylvania commercial auto insurance does not cover?
- Who needs commercial auto insurance in Pennsylvania?
- What is the average cost of commercial auto insurance in Pennsylvania?
- How to find cheap commercial auto insurance in Pennsylvania?
The 6 best commercial auto insurance in Pennsylvania
- Simply Business: Best brokerage to work with to find cheap coverage
- Progressive: Overall best
- Smart Financial: Best brokerage firm if you prefer working with an experienced agent
- Nationwide: Best for fast online quotes
- Geico: Best for rideshare drivers
- biBERK: Best for low-cost coverage
Simply Business: Best brokerage to find cheap coverage
Simply Business is an insurance broker specializing in small businesses. They has developed a state-of-the-art platform based on its algorithms to connect small businesses with commercial truck insurance at the best price. Their platform makes it easy to compare several quotes from reputable insurers on a single screen.
The firm’s experts have used their experience to ensure you only need to input the necessary information to generate quick and accurate quotes. The process should be quick, even for complex coverage like commercial truck insurance.
Pros
- Fast and easy quotes in about 10 to 15 minutes
- Good customer ratings
- Helps small businesses find cheap quotes and discounts
Cons
- Simply Business can only provide quotes from their partners
Progressive: Overall best
Progressive tops the list of our best commercial auto insurance in Pennsylvania. It also tops the list in terms of truck-specific policies. Generally speaking, this insurer performs above average in all areas. When you check their insurance offering, you will see that their plans are adaptable and accommodating for almost all business types. In addition to that, they provide customized coverage plans as well as numerous discounts to go with their policies. To cap it all, Progressive has an a+ rating with A.M. Best for their financial strength. The BBB has also given them an A+ rating for customer satisfaction.
Pros
- Easy to get a quote online, PLUS you can always work with an agent if you need help.
- Top commercial vehicle insurance company in the U.S.
- Decades of experience in commercial truck coverage.
Cons
- You may need to complete the online insurance buying experience over the phone.
- Progressive doesn’t cover large trucking companies or big fleets.
- If you need more types of business coverage, you can purchase them through Progressive, but other insurers will back them.
Smart Financial: Best brokerage firm to work with if you prefer working with an experienced agent
Smart Financial is a brokerage firm. They have decades of experience helping small businesses find the best commercial auto insurance at the most reasonable rates. Their agents are very experienced and knowledgeable and have been working with thousands of small businesses.
Pros:
- Their agents are very experienced in finding the best commercial auto insurance coverage for small businesses
- They work with more than 20 insurance companies and are able to get quotes from these carriers for you.
- Easy to get and compare several quotes
- If you have difficulties finding commercial auto coverage, their agents will be able to find the right coverage for your business
Cons:
- Quotes are not available online
- If you prefer a particular carrier that they don’t work with, you have to look elsewhere
Nationwide: Best for fast online quotes
Nationwide is another commercial auto insurance recommendation that can replace progressive if you need an alternative. The recommendation comes in easy because of its numerous coverage options, elite customer satisfaction ratings, and strong financial strength. Like progressive, their standard business auto policy covers everything your business needs. They also offer several optional extensions for their standard policy. In terms of customer satisfaction, and financial strength, the company has almost A+ ratings in all their rankings with the A.M. Best. To top it all off, if you participate in their real-time data monitoring program, Nationwide will provide you with substantial discounts.
Geico: Best for rideshare drivers
Geico is our top pick for livery insurance, especially for rideshare drivers. Those are vehicles that companies use for the business of transportation. This includes Uber, Lyft, traditional taxi cab and limo services companies are all examples. Geico is an excellent choice for commercial auto insurance coverage in general, as it scores highly in our evaluation of all key factors. However, Geico stands out in this category due to its unique coverage options for rideshare and livery drivers.
biBERK: Best for low-cost coverage
biBerk provides affordable insurance to small businesses to help them save money. biBERK offers an easy-to-use enrollment process, but its experts can help you figure out policies and coverage. biBERK offers competitive rates for its commercial auto insurance policies. In fact, they claim that they save trucking businesses at least 20% on truck insurance. They also offer other business policies.
biBERK is one of a few companies that offer commercial auto insurance quotes online. Within less than 10 minutes, you can get a quote on their website and if you are happy with the quote, you can buy the policy online as well.
The following is a sample quote from biBerk for a box truck in Chicago.
Pros
- You can get quotes and buy insurance online
- You can file claims online
- Most of their policies are low-cost
- They have a strong financial backing. It is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaways, ie. the same owner of Geico.
Cons
- The policy’s coverage limits may be lower than usual, but they can adjust the coverage limits that work best for you.
What does commercial auto insurance cover in Pennsylvania?
Just like your personal auto insurance, a commercial auto insurance policy protects you from similar costs coming from a collision, medical payments and so on. The only difference that might exist is that unlike personal auto insurance, commercial auto insurance special exclusives, limits and eligibility.
For instance, for many carriers in Pennsylvania, these policies are typically called named driver-only policies. As a result, only drivers listed on the policies can operate the vehicle that is insured. Otherwise, the carrier might not cover for damages in case of problems.
That said, commercial insurance in Pennsylvania might cover the following:
- Bodily injury liability: This coverage will compensate for any form of bodily harm or even death caused by an accident in which you were at fault. The coverage will also provide you with legal representation in such circumstances.
- Property damage liability: this coverage protects you and offers you legal representation if your commercial vehicle accidentally damages someone else’s property.
- Combined single limit (CSL) – Sometimes, liability insurance can include separate limitations for bodily injury and property damage claims. A combined single limits policy provides the same monetary amount of coverage per covered incident, whether it is bodily injury or property damage, and whether it affects one person or multiple people.
- Medical payments liability: this is also called the “no-fault or personal injury coverage.” In Pennsylvania, this coverage pays for the treatment of everyone present in your commercial vehicle incurred as a result of a covered collision, regardless of who is at fault.
- Uninsured motorist coverage: This coverage pays for your injuries caused by an uninsured or a hit-and-run driver. In some cases, it might also cover for property damage and also the underinsured motorist coverage. That would be in a situation where the driver at fault is the person without sufficient insurance.
- Comprehensive physical damage coverage: This coverage pays for damage to or replacement of your car from theft, vandalism, flood, fire, and other covered perils.
- Collision coverage – pays for damage to your car when it hits or is hit by another object.
>>MORE: Why Small Businesses Need Commercial Auto Insurance Coverage?
What Pennsylvania commercial auto insurance does not cover?
Generally speaking, commercial auto insurance in Pennsylvania will not cover any of the following:
- Mechanical breakdowns that occur while on the job.
- Expensive claims or lawsuits that exceed the limits of the policy.
- Damages caused by equipment attached to a covered vehicle
- Damage to or destruction of leased/employee-owned vehicles.
- Any vehicle not covered by the policy is, of course, uninsured.
Basic Commercial Auto Coverage Requirements in Pennsylvania:
The government of Pennsylvania requires that all commercial vehicles carry basic auto insurance alongside medical benefits coverage. In Pennsylvania, the basic commercial auto insurance requirements start at:
- $15,000 Bodily Injury Liability per Person
- $30,000 Bodily Injury Liability per Accident
- $5,000 Per Accident Property Damage Liability
- $5,000 in Medical Benefits
Insurance Coverage Requirements for Rideshare Drivers:
Rideshare drivers are expected to carry higher insurance coverage when they have their TNC apps turned on, but haven’t yet accepted a ride request or picked up a passenger. These minimums are:
- $50,000 For Bodily Injury
- $100,000 For Bodily Injury
- $25,000 For Property Damage
When you have accepted a ride request and are heading to pick up a rider, have already picked up a rider, and/or are in the middle of driving a rider to their destination, you are required to carry:
- $500,000 for Death, Bodily Injury, and Property Damage
- $25,000 Medical Payments for Passengers and Pedestrians
- $5,000 Medical Payments for a Driver
The rideshare company will often provide partial or complete coverage for drivers from the moment they accept a ride request until they drop off a rider.
Other Passenger Carriers Insurance Requirements:
If you are a motorcoach company or transport multiple passengers in a vehicle, you’ll have slightly different commercial auto insurance requirements in Pennsylvania. These can include:
- Passenger Carriers – 15 People or Less: $15,000 Bodily Injury Per Person, $30,000 Bodily Injury Per Accident, and $5,000 Property Damage Per Accident
- Passenger Carriers – 16 to 28 People: $1,000,000 Combined Single Limit Coverage Per Accident Per Vehicle
- Passenger Carriers – 29 People & Up: $5,000,000 Combined Single Limit Per Accident Per Vehicle
Property Transport Carrier Coverage Requirements:
General Freight: $300,000 Liability Insurance for Vehicles Less than 10K Lbs./$750,000 Liability Insurance for Vehicles Over 10K Lbs.
- Oil Transport: $1,000,000 Liability Insurance
- Hazardous Materials: $5,000,000 Liability Insurance
- Household Goods: $750,000 Liability Insurance
- Household goods movers also need to carry $5,000 per vehicle in cargo insurance.
Who needs commercial auto insurance in Pennsylvania?
If your business operates with cars, you need a commercial insurance policy. In general, if you own any of the following businesses, you may benefit from commercial auto insurance in Pennsylvania:
- Businesses that own vehicle fleets.
- Transportation and logistics firms.
- Transportation companies such as charter buses, taxis, and limousines.
- Landscaping, snow removal, and property management firms.
- Businesses that transport their vehicles between multiple locations.
What is the average cost of commercial auto insurance in Pennsylvania?
The cost of commercial auto insurance in Pennsylvania will vary depending on several factors such as your profession, the vehicle type, driver’s history, location, travel radius, and coverage needs.
To have a better understanding, consider the following hypothetical scenarios.
Mr. A runs a waste disposal company. He has a garbage collection truck that moves around in Harrisburg with a driver that has just a year of experience. His driver has also had an accident in his last year of driving.
Then there is Mr. B who runs a Pizza delivery company. Mr. B has a small Toyota corolla with which he runs his business. He has been driving now for 10 years and to date, he has not had any accidents.
With the information above, any carrier will charge Mr. A higher for a premium than Mr. B even if they both go for a $1m /$3m coverage in Harrisburg. That’s because Mr. A does his business under conditions that carry more risk compared with Mr. B. Mr. B might even get a lower price for his premium if he does his business in a less populated area of Pennsylvania like in Wellsboro.
>>MORE: How Much Does Commercial Auto Insurance Cost in Different States?
How to find cheap commercial auto insurance in Pennsylvania?
Here are some tips to help you find the coverage you need at a fair price:
- Shop around for the best value. Get quotes from a few companies or compare the multiple quotes generated by a service like CoverWallet.
- Don’t stop shopping around. Make sure you get new quotes before you renew your policy.
- Take advantage of discounts. If they’re not offered to you when getting a quote, ask about them, whether you’re buying online or through an agent.
Taking these steps will help ensure you’re not paying too much for your commercial auto coverage in Pennsylvania.
