Business Automobile Coverages (Pennsylvania)

Whether its a dump truck, taxi, delivery vehicle, salesman's car, snowplow or tow truck, we can provide a competitive quote on your commercial vehicles.

Liability
Provides coverage to the insured should the insured become legally responsible for damages to another party because of an auto accident. The agreement also provides for defense costs coverage in case the insured is sued by the injured party. These coverages are subject to certain exclusions that are listed on the policy, and to a limit of liability that is shown in the declarations.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage
This coverage is optional for the insured and offers compensatory damages payments to an insured who is injured through a motor vehicle accident with an uninsured motorist.

Other than compensatory damages, such as punitive damages are excluded, and are not covered by the policy.

A key element of the uninsured motorists coverage insuring agreement is that the operator or owner of the uninsured motor vehicle must be legally responsible to pay for the insured`s damages.

Underinsured Motorist Coverage
Promises compensatory damages because of bodily injury sustained by an insured and caused by an accident arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of an underinsured motor vehicle. It should be noted that the insurer pays only after the limits of liability under any applicable bodily injury bonds or policies have been exhausted by payment of judgments or settlements, or a tentative settlement has been made between an injured insured and the insurer of the underinsured motor vehicle.

Underinsured motor vehicle is defined as "a land motor vehicle or trailer of any type to which a bodily injury liability bond or policy applies at the time of the accident buts its limit for bodily injury liability is less than the limit of liability for this coverage." This, in effect, allows an insured to recover, up to the limit of liability scheduled for underinsured motorists coverage, the difference between his or her actual damages for bodily injury and the amount of the liability insurance carried by the at-fault driver.

Tort Options
In the state of Pennsylvania, you the insured have the option of picking Full Tort (which does not limit your ability to sue for pain & suffering), and Limited Tort, which greatly effects your ability to sue. With Limited Tort, you are not permitted to sue for pain & suffering, unless you are injured by an out-of-state driver, someone who is intoxicated or driving under the influence, or someone who does not have insurance.

  • Full tort: Can sue for all damages and economic and non-economic losses, including pain and suffering
  • Limited tort: Can collect for economic losses only.
There is a premium savings for picking Limited tort, however, it is our opinion that the premium savings do not justify the sacrifice of coverage. In every personal injury cases, an injured person is always permitted to collect for economic losses such as medical bills, lost wages, and property damage to his or her car, regardless of whether the person has limited or full tort insurance.

In order to collect compensation for pain and suffering, however, you must overcome the limited tort threshold through one of these three recognized exceptions:

  • You can prove serious injury such as death, permanent loss of bodily function, or disfigurement that is the result of the accident.
  • Your accident was caused by a drunk driver who was convicted of driving while intoxicated (DUI) or accepted Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD).
  • Your accident was caused by someone who does not have insurance.
  • Your accident was caused by someone who was driving a car registered out-of-state.

First Party Benefits
Medical Payments per Person
Provides medical expense coverage for you and family members injured in an auto related accident. For coverage to apply, the vehicle doesn`t even have to be moving for coverage to apply. Your policy provides for any medical expenses regardless of who is at fault.

You have a choice of the following:

  • $ 5,000 per person
  • $ 10,000 per person
  • $ 25,000 per person
  • $ 50,000 per person
  • $100,000 per person
Work Loss Benefits
Pays 80% of actual loss of gross income and reasonable expenses actually incurred for hiring a substitute to perform services the injured insured can not do. You have a choice of the following:
  • No Benefits
  • $ 1,000 per month / $ 5,000 maximum
  • $ 1,000 per month / $ 15,000 maximum
  • $ 1,500 per month / $ 25,000 maximum
  • $ 2,500 per month / $ 50,000 maximum
Funeral Expenses
Expenses that are directly related to the funeral, burial, or cremation of the deceased insured and are covered up to 24 months from the date of the accident in which the deceased was injured. You have a choice of the following:
  • No Benefits
  • $ 1,500 per person
  • $ 2,500 per person
Accidental Death Benefit
Paid if bodily injury causes the death of the named insured or any family member within 24 months from the date of the accident.

You have a choice of the following:

  • No Benefits
  • $ 5,000 per person
  • $ 10,000 per person
  • $ 25,000 per person
Combined Benefits
No specific dollar amount is shown on the schedule for medical expenses and work loss benefits. Under this combined benefits plan, funeral expenses are limited to $2,500, but the accidental death benefit limit can be scheduled. Finally, the combination plan allows the scheduling of a maximum limit of liability for the total of all combination first party benefits.

You have a choice of the following:

  • $ 50,000 Limit/$ 2,500 funeral expenses/$ 10,000 accidental death
  • $ 100,000 Limit/$ 2,500 funeral expenses/$ 10,000 accidental death
  • $ 177,500 Limit/$ 2,500 funeral expenses/$ 25,000 accidental death
  • $ 277,500 Limit/$ 2,500 funeral expenses/$ 25,000 accidental death
Comprehensive / Other than Collision
Loss caused by the following...
  • Missiles or falling objects
  • Fire
  • Theft or larceny
  • Explosion or earthquake
  • Windstorm
  • Hail, water, or flood
  • Malicious mischief or vandalism
  • Riot or civil commotion
  • Contact with bird or animal or
  • Breakage of glass
If breakage of glass is caused by a collision, you may elect to have it considered a loss caused by collision.

Collision Coverage
Collision means the upset of your covered auto or a nonowned auto being operated by you, or their impact with another vehicle or object (except an animal).

Towing
Pays the costs incurred each time the covered auto or any nonowned auto is disabled. The disablement can be for any reason and the amount paid is the amount scheduled on the endorsement. The insurer will only pay for labor performed at the place of disablement. Repair work at the garage after the car has been towed there is not covered.

Usual coverage amounts are...

  • $ 25
  • $ 50
  • $ 75
  • $ 100

Rental Reimbursement
When you need to rent a car, after your vehicle was damaged due to a collision or other covered peril, such as fire, flood, or theft, this coverage will provide a specific amount per day, for up to 30 days, to cover the expense of a rental car, until your vehicle is returned to service.

Only provides coverage for 30 days.

Drive Other Car Coverage
The business auto, truckers, and garage policies can be arranged to include coverage for hired or borrowed automobiles. Although other persons are also considered as insureds while using such autos with the permission of the named insured, they are not covered for the use of autos that they themselves may hire or borrow on their own.

For example, an officer of a corporation insured under a business auto coverage form will have no insurance under the policy while using an auto that he borrows for his personal affairs, even if the policy covers hired or borrowed cars. The reason is that the business auto policy covers persons other than the named insured for the use of covered autos owned, hired, or borrowed by the named insured. The same is true of the garage policy and the truckers policy.

These provisions are especially likely to pose problems when the named insured furnishes a covered auto to some person who has no other auto insurance, perhaps an executive officer or his family members, a sales representative, or some other employee of the named insured. Because the person may well qualify as an insured under the employer`s policy with respect to the furnished auto, it might be wrongly assumed that the person will also be an insured for the use of other autos. As discussed above, that is not the case.

Liability, medical payments, uninsured motorists, or physical damage coverages of a business auto, truckers, or garage policy can be extended by endorsement to provide coverage to the individual named in the endorsement. Note that the endorsement can only be used to extend coverage; unless the named insured`s policy carries collision coverage, for example, that coverage cannot be provided in the endorsement.

As for liability insurance, the endorsement provides that any auto not owned, hired, or borrowed by the named insured is a covered auto while being used by the individual named in the endorsement or by his or her resident spouse. The definition of "auto" follows that of the business auto and truckers policies: "a land motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer designed for travel on public roads but not mobile equipment".

The endorsement does not provide liability coverage for resident relatives other than the individual`s spouse. If coverage is desired for a resident relative other than the spouse, the relative must be named in the endorsement. Although the endorsement excludes the use of autos owned by the individual or any member of his household, there is no exclusion of an auto furnished or available for the regular use of such persons, as in the personal auto policy.

The endorsement does have the usual exclusion found on auto policies of any auto used by the individual while working in an auto business "the selling, servicing, repairing, or parking of autos".

As for the medical payments and uninsured motorists coverages, the endorsement grants insured status to:

  • The individual named in the endorsement.
  • The individual`s spouse if residing in the same household.
  • Resident family members.

The coverage applies while occupying any auto not owned by the named insured or, while pedestrians, when struck by an auto. As in drive other car liability coverage, there is an exclusion of any auto owned by the individual, his or her spouse, or any family member of either.

If physical damage coverage is provided through the "Drive Other Car" endorsement, it applies to private passenger types in the care, custody, or control of the individual that are not owned by the named insured, the individual, or a family member of the individual. It also applies to private passenger autos that are not used by the individual or his or her spouse while working in an auto business.

In all cases, the drive other car coverage includes coverage for the spouse for no additional charge.

Nonowned Autos Only
Symbol 9: nonowned autos is used to provide liability coverage for the use of autos that the named insured does not own, lease, hire, rent, or borrow that are used in connection with the named insured`s business. This may be an auto owned by an employee of the named insured or by partners or members of their households, or by anyone else, such as a friend of the named insured’s who offers to use his own car to run an errand for the named insured.

Hired Auto Coverage
Hired Auto provides excess liabiilty coverage for a non-owned, unlisted vehicle the insured has leased, hired, rented, or borrowed.

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