Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine September 2022

S tate, National, Chapter News State national Chapter News

Understanding the Commercial Auto Policy

Nick Hall Cross Pointe Insurance Advisors

Many of you are probably purchasing Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage, or Hired & Non-Owned Auto Insurance on your Auto Policy now, but do you know what you are buying? This month I wanted to dive a little deeper into the coverage parts on a Commercial Auto Policy so you can make a more educated decision on which coverages to buy. Auto Liability – Provides Protection from financial loss arising out of 3 rd Party Property Damage or Bodily Injury from an accident in which the Policyholder is at fault. In Arkansas every vehicle is required to have at least $25,000/$50,000/$25,000 in Liability Insurance. Meaning: o $25,000 in Bodily Injury Coverage per Person o $50,000 in Bodily Injury Coverage per Accident o $25,000 in Property Damage Coverage Those requirements are super low! Next time you drive down the road take note of some of the other vehicles and what you think they may be worth. $25,000

in Property Damage is not sufficient to replace the majority of vehicles out there. On top of that, have you been to the hospital recently? $25,000 in Bodily Injury coverage can run out really fast after an accident that results in someone being hospitalized. In the Commercial world, the majority of policies are written on what is called a Combined Single Limit – Typically $1,000,000. This means that the limits are not split by each person, each accident, and bodily injury vs property damage. If you have a $1,000,000 Combined Single Limit, your policy will pay up to $1,000,000 per accident no matter which of those buckets it falls into. I point out the low limit requirements because we know that there are a lot of vehicles over the road that only purchase the bare minimum, or worse, don’t have coverage at all. That leads us into our next coverage line item.

Oops!?!