Here’s Why Your HVAC Company Needs Commercial Auto Insurance

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is one of those industries that everyone relies on. Every physical structure needs a mechanism for temperature control and ventilation, and experts are always needed to ensure things get done right.

But HVAC is also an industry rife with a lot of risk—that’s why insurance plays such a big role in running a successful company.

Whether you’re just starting an HVAC company or you’re hoping to make sure you have all the coverage you need for your existing business, it’s important to understand the types of insurance that are necessary for protection.

Commercial auto insurance is one of the most important keys to ensuring that your HVAC company is protected in the event of accidents.

What is Commercial Auto Insurance?

Commercial auto insurance, like the insurance you get for your personal vehicle, ensures that you’re protected when you’re out on the road. It provides protection like:

• Liability insurance, which will cover the cost to other drivers when you or your employees get into an accident;
• Comprehensive insurance, which will replace both your vehicle and the other one involved in the accident;
• Medical coverage that will take care of hospital costs, ambulance costs, and any injuries sustained during an accident;
• Uninsured motorist coverage, which protects you and your employees if you’re not at fault during an accident, but the person who is at fault doesn’t have insurance coverage or a way to pay for the accident.

The difference between commercial and personal liability insurance is simple: Personal auto insurance covers you when you’re driving to private destinations in your own vehicle. Commercial auto insurance, on the other hand, protects both you and your employees any time you’re driving a company vehicle or using a personal vehicle for transportation related to your daily job duties, whether it be picking up materials at the local home improvement store or driving from one job site to another.

Protecting Your Company

You’ve spent a great deal of time and energy building your company and its assets. Accidents, unfortunately, can destroy more than just a company vehicle in the blink of an eye. If the personal coverage on the vehicle isn’t adequate to the expenses incurred during the accident, the victim can turn to the company to help cover the remaining expenses—and for a small business, the impact can be devastating.

Commercial auto insurance, on the other hand, ensures that you’re protected so that if accidents do occur, you won’t have to worry about watching the company go under.

Physical damage protection on your commercial auto insurance policy adds another level of protection that you should also consider: it covers your vehicles when they are damaged by vandalism or by natural disasters in your area. This helps ensure that no matter what’s going on around vehicles that are an important asset to your company, you can rest assured that they’re protected.

Ensuring Employees are Protected

Do employees ever drive company vehicles? Have you ever tossed your keys to an employee on the clock and sent them to pick something up or take care of a task for you? Do your employees use their personal vehicles to carry out job-related tasks during the work day?

Do you know whether or not your employees carry adequate insurance to provide coverage in the event of an accident?

When you send employees to take care of tasks while they’re on the clock, you’re responsible for them and for any accidents that occur on their time. Commercial auto insurance ensures that employees—and therefore, your company—are protected no matter what happens while they’re out driving. This also ensures that you won’t be blindsided at the wrong moment by an employee who has let their own insurance lapse just before an accident occurs.

Keeping up with all the insurance required for your HVAC company to operate effectively can be a challenge. Whether you need a commercial auto insurance policy that will help protect your company and your employees in the event of an accident, or you’re looking for a better way to handle the other insurance policies that are your responsibility, contact us. We’ll work with you to make sure that your company and your employees are covered.