Businesses all across Ontario need the right insurance for their vehicles. Cars come in all colors, shapes and sizes and so do commercial insurance policies. We can help insure your vehicle for business use right away. Let’s cut to the chase and get into below what makes up a commercial auto policy and why it’s important.

Proper coverage for your work vehicles is crucial because the regular auto Insurance policy in Ontario is set up for private passenger vehicles. What does this mean? It means the legal wording as to what is covered is focused around personal use, from A to B like a workplace or school use.

Now you might be asking, how much does commercial auto insurance cost in Ontario? 

Believe it or not, in some cases commercial auto coverage is actually lower cost than personal auto insurance. This is because the criteria for work vehicles and drivers who qualify is often stricter. With the insurance carriers focusing on a target class of customers and placing each business type under different areas, they are able to better price risk. Personal auto insurance groups together everyone and their mom (literally) and has to deal with every new driver.

Traditionally, on the commercial side, companies wanted 6 years of prior experience or at least 3 years of driving history. Sometimes, they’ll also require drivers to be 25 or older. This allows for a better understanding of who the drivers are and what their records are like. Think of insurance like credit in Canada. Once you build history and insure for long enough we can tell how you treat the responsibility of driving. In turn, this helps the entire pool of drivers as insurance is a true risk sharing platform in Canada. Now every class of business is different and there are many factors to play into your customized rate here. It’s necessary to chat with a broker like James today to better understand what product or products may fit your needs. In a coverage analysis we can properly propose options for your vehicles, commercial general liability and more.

So can a claim really be denied for not disclosing business use on your vehicle?

It sure can and has been a very hot topic for many different types of drivers in Ontario, Canada. A claims example for an Amazon package driver put them in hot water as delivering goods for profit needs special consideration. We have also seen construction contractors have claims denied due to having trailers, tools and large work materials in trucks not properly insured. Again, commercial insurance comes in all different shapes and sizes but you do need to explore the options for your business before it’s too late.