Commercial auto insurance covers vehicles used for business purposes — work trucks, vans, trailers, and fleets. Personal auto policies explicitly exclude business use, meaning a contractor who uses a personal vehicle for work and has an accident may find their claim denied. Bright Coast Insurance places commercial auto with Progressive, Travelers, Berkshire Hathaway GUARD, Sentry, and specialty carriers for hard-to-place vehicles and fleets.
Any Florida business that owns, leases, or regularly uses vehicles for work needs commercial auto insurance. This includes general contractors with work trucks, roofers with material haulers, HVAC companies with service vans, landscapers with trailers, and any business where employees drive company-owned or personal vehicles for work. Florida's no-fault PIP requirement applies to commercial vehicles as well as personal vehicles.
Florida requires commercial vehicles to carry minimum liability of $10,000 per person / $20,000 per accident / $10,000 property damage. These limits are dangerously low. A single serious accident involving a work truck can easily exceed $500,000 in medical expenses and lost wages. Most contractors and businesses should carry at least $500,000 CSL (combined single limit) or $1,000,000 CSL, especially for vehicles that operate on highways or carry heavy loads.
If your employees drive their personal vehicles for work — making deliveries, running errands, or traveling between job sites — your business is exposed to liability even though you don't own the vehicle. Hired and non-owned auto (HNOA) coverage fills this gap. It is typically added as an endorsement to a commercial auto or general liability policy and is one of the most overlooked coverage gaps for Florida contractors.
Florida commercial vehicles that cross state lines or carry certain cargo types must be registered with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and carry minimum liability limits set by federal regulation — typically $750,000 to $5,000,000 depending on cargo type. Bright Coast Insurance handles DOT filings and MCS-90 endorsements for owner-operators and small fleets.
Combined single limit (CSL) is a single dollar amount that covers all bodily injury and property damage in one accident. Split limits separate coverage into per-person, per-accident, and property damage amounts. CSL is generally preferred for commercial vehicles because it provides more flexibility in how the limit is applied to a complex accident.
No. Personal auto policies exclude vehicles used primarily for business purposes. If you use a truck or van for your contracting business and have an accident, your personal auto insurer will likely deny the claim. A commercial auto policy is required for any vehicle used for work.
Yes. Bright Coast Insurance works with specialty carriers for dump trucks, flatbeds, boom trucks, vehicles with prior losses, and fleets that standard carriers decline. Call (239) 475-0361 for a quote on hard-to-place commercial vehicles.
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