Commercial Auto Insurance
If you or your team drive for work, learn how commercial auto insurance looks at vehicle ownership, drivers and daily use, and what to share for a quote.
Protection for business on the road
Commercial auto is for the vans, trucks and cars your business owns or leases, and for the people who drive them for work. Its liability part responds when a work vehicle injures someone or damages their property, and physical damage coverage, if you add it, is written to repair or replace the vehicle after a covered accident. Contractors, delivery businesses, caterers and owners hauling tools in a pickup are the usual buyers.
Start with your vehicles and drivers
Tell us which vehicles you use, who drives them and what a typical workday involves. Deliveries, service visits and transporting equipment can create different insurance needs, and the drivers on your payroll belong on your workers’ compensation policy too, since a crash can injure your own driver.
How much is commercial auto insurance for a small business?
Commercial auto for a single light vehicle starts lower than many owners expect. Published premium data from national small-business insurers shows annual premiums from under $375, and a typical California figure of about $154 a month, roughly $1,850 a year, as of 2026. That median comes mostly from very small businesses running one or two vehicles with clean drivers and standard liability limits. Established operations with several vehicles, more drivers or heavier trucks commonly pay well above it, and the top of the published spread passes $16,000 a year. None of these figures is a Mithril1 quote; all come from published industry data.
Insurers price commercial auto per vehicle, then adjust for who drives, how far the vehicles travel and what they carry. One large commercial auto writer’s data on new policies written in 2025 puts the median at $207 a month per vehicle for business autos whose drivers have no violations, $203 for contractors and $821 for for-hire transport trucks. A service business running three vans at the business-auto median works out to 3 × $207 = $621 a month, or about $7,450 a year. A single for-hire transport truck at its median comes to $821 × 12, about $9,850 a year.
The premium rises with drivers who have tickets or accidents, newly hired or inexperienced drivers, a wider radius of operation, heavier or more valuable vehicles, physical damage coverage on new vehicles, past claims, and liability limits set high by a client contract. Dense urban garaging adds to it too. It falls with clean driving records, written rules for hiring drivers and for who may use each vehicle, higher comprehensive and collision deductibles, and a vehicle use and radius that are described accurately. Collect each vehicle’s details and every driver’s name with the quote checklist, and contact Mithril1 for a figure built on your own vehicles. For the driver checks, garaging and deductible choices underwriters weigh, read how to save on commercial auto insurance.
Umbrella limits above your commercial auto policy
A serious vehicle accident can produce a claim larger than the liability limit on a commercial auto policy, which is why fleets, delivery businesses and contractors with heavy trucks often look at a commercial umbrella. It sits above the auto liability limit and is designed to add a further layer once that limit is exhausted. Trailers, box trucks and long highway routes are the usual reasons the question comes up.
Shipper agreements, public-agency contracts and some commercial leases name a combined limit that a standard auto limit does not reach on its own. An umbrella usually stretches across general liability and employer’s liability too, so the extra amount works for the whole business rather than the vehicles alone. Have your vehicle schedule and current declarations page ready, since the umbrella is quoted against those underlying limits.
Trades and services that live on the road
Plenty of businesses spend more time in a vehicle than at a desk. Food trucks cook where they park, landscapers haul mowers and trailers, and handymen drive between jobs all day. Our guides for food trucks and landscapers show how driving fits the wider picture of the business. Amazon Delivery Service Partners running van routes have their own page on Amazon DSP insurance.
Repair shops add another twist with test drives and pickups, and dog walkers may transport pets between homes and parks. The handyman guide is a good example of describing travel between jobs so the policy reflects a real workday. Note every vehicle, every driver and what each one carries, and the quote will follow.
Owned, hired and employee vehicles
Commercial auto conversations sort vehicles into three groups. Vehicles titled or leased to the business are the clearest: each one goes on a schedule with its details and drivers. Vehicles you rent or borrow for a job are hired autos. Cars and trucks your employees own and drive on errands for you are non-owned autos, and they bring liability questions of their own.
An owner who drives a personal pickup to job sites belongs in this conversation too. Personal auto policies are written around personal driving, so describing the business use, from hauling tools to visiting customers, lets us look at the options that fit the way the vehicle actually works.
What to have ready for a commercial auto quote
A vehicle schedule and a driver list are the two documents that shape this quote. Pull them together first, then add how each vehicle earns its keep.
Routes, radius and what rides along
Business driving looks different from city to city. A delivery van working SoMa and the Financial District spends its day in dense traffic and tight loading zones, while a truck based in Stockton runs longer highway routes between distribution centers. Telling us the typical radius and the roads you travel frames the whole conversation.
Cargo and tools are a separate question from the vehicle itself. A contractor’s tools in the truck bed, a caterer’s food in transit and a customer’s goods on a delivery each deserve a mention, so ask how property carried in the vehicle is handled alongside the liability side of the policy.
A few useful answers
Common questions
What should I have ready for a quote?
Prepare vehicle details, driver information and a description of how each vehicle is used for work. Include your current coverage if available.
Can commercial auto include physical damage to my vehicles?
Yes. Comprehensive and collision can be added to repair or replace your vehicles after a covered loss; we request both with the liability side, and the insurer sets the price after reviewing the vehicles.
What if employees drive their own cars for work?
Ask about hired and non-owned auto liability, which addresses business use of vehicles your company does not own, from an employee’s car on an errand to a rental truck. Our hired and non-owned auto guide explains how it sits beside the employee’s own policy.
Should a sole owner who drives a personal truck for work mention it?
Yes. Hauling tools, visiting job sites or making deliveries in a personal vehicle is business use, so describe it and we can review the options together.
What is a garaging address?
It is where each vehicle parks overnight. List it for every vehicle on the schedule, even when several share one yard.
When should I report a new vehicle or driver?
As soon as it joins the business. Keeping the schedule current means the policy reflects who is actually on the road.