By Daniel Mathieu
Every year you pay for your personal car insurance, every year you have no claims but you continue to pay because you know that the second you stop paying there is going to be a claim. Same goes for your business; you make sure workers compensation is in place, you make sure the property and liability coverage are in place. One day you decide to go drop off some samples for a client at their business in the middle of the day and then it finally happens, the accident that you've been planning for. Now it finally feels like all that money spent is worth it since the coverage will step in and cover you, but wait, ABC insurance company says that it's not going to be covered due to it being in the course of business????
Here lies the tricky part of auto coverage; one of the biggest exclusions on every personal auto policy I have seen is "business use". Seems impossible since most people are using their car to get to their place of business right? Here comes the fun insurance technicality that has probably pissed off countless people... the inclusion does not apply to going to and from work but certain activities during the course of business could be completely excluded.
If you end up hitting a tree and causing a few hundred dollars' worth of damage it might not raise any eyebrows with your insurance carrier. On the other hand, if you get into a major accident where there is hospitalization, totaled vehicles and the potential for a major, major claim you bet your bottom dollar any insurance company out there is going to do their due diligence to figure if they have to pay this claim.
All of this can be resolved by speaking with your current personal insurance agent and describing exactly how your car is being used. Yes this could turn into a higher premium but you could be avoiding a $100,000 claim that isn't covered.
Being a business owner you must also look out for how your employees are being insured. If this same scenario happened to one of your employees and their personal auto policy excludes coverage, you better believe they are going to be looking at your business for coverage or for reimbursement for the amount they had to pay out. On the other side of it if the claimant hires an attorney, they are going to find the deepest pockets to go after. Guess what? That's you Mr. Business Owner.
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