What is Commercial Utility Trailer Insurance?
Commercial utility trailer insurance is a specialty cover taken out by businesses as a protection from unexpected events involving their commercial utility trailers. When you purchase said insurance on a utility trailer, you are assured of compensation in the event that the commercial utility trailer is damaged, lost, or is liable for the injuries and property damage of others.
Unlike a personal tool trailer insurance, commercial utility trailer insurance is more comprehensive as it offers different kinds of business insurance policies. Consider getting this if you’re making money by:
The features of commercial equipment trailer insurance differ from one carrier to the next. Nonetheless, these are the most common business insurance policies you can avail:
General liability insurance
Product liability insurance
Commercial property insurance
Workers compensation insurance
Trailer interchange insurance
General Liability Insurance for Commercial Utility Trailer
The primary coverage that's part of the commercial utility trailer insurance is liability insurance. This liability coverage provides financial protection in the event that, as the owner of the trailer, you cause any accident or injure anyone. The coverage pays the victim's medical bills as well as any other additional costs that are as a result of the accident. Further, the policy will pay for any legal defense in the event that you end up haggled in a lawsuit.
You can get more protection from general liability insurance by including additional coverages to its terms. These are:
Advertising injury coverage-With advertising injury coverage, general liability insurance will cover settlements, attorney fees, administrative costs, judgments, and other related expenses if your utility trailer business is sued for copyright infringement, slander, or libel
Rented premises liability coverage-You can add this to general liability insurance if you’re renting a space for your utility trailer business. When the rented space is damaged, rented premises liability coverage will reimburse the owner
For utility trailer businesses, general liability insurance provides a $1 million-$3 million per occurrence limit with an aggregate of $3 million-$4 million.
Professional Liability Insurance for Commercial Utility Trailer
A professional liability policy can be added to commercial utility trailer insurance if you’re using a utility trailer to transport cargo.
Professional liability insurance will pay for indemnification and defense costs if clients sue for negligence because of:
Insurance companies allow utility trailer businesses to get a professional liability insurance that offers a $1 million per occurrence limit with an aggregate of $2 million.
Some insurance companies give you the option of buying professional liability insurance as an occurrence or claims-made policy.
Occurrence professional liability insurance provides protection regardless of when you decide to report a covered peril. On the other hand, claims-made professional liability insurance only provides protection if you report a covered peril at the time it happened.
Many experts treat general liability and professional liability insurance as complementary policies, which means that one caters to the gaps of the other.
We recommend you get professional liability and general liability insurance. By having both, you get a comprehensive protection against third party liability claims.
Product Liability Insurance for Commercial Utility Trailer
Product liability insurance is useful if you’re renting utility trailers. This kicks in when a renter sues for property damage or injuries caused by your utility trailer.
Similar to general liability insurance, product liability insurance also covers attorney fees, settlements, administrative costs, and other related expenses.
Product liability insurance is available as a stand-alone policy. However, the majority of insurance companies encourage you to get this as an optional inclusion to general liability insurance.
So how much money can you get from product liability insurance? The limits of the policy are $1 million-$2 million with an aggregate of $2 million.
Commercial Property Insurance for Commercial Utility Trailer
Commercial property insurance is a protection for your utility trailer business’s building as well as the utility trailers that it owns. This will also cover other business properties such as computers, generators, etc.
The primary function of commercial property insurance is to recover losses if your utility trailer business’s building is damaged or destroyed by:
Fire
Theft
Vandalism
Malicious mischief
Sinkhole collapse
Volcanic action
Hail
Snow
Winds
Aircraft
Vehicle
Impact
Sprinkler leakage
Commercial property insurance has contents coverage. With contents coverage, the policy can cover losses if any of the perils in the bullet above cause the damage or destruction of utility trailers and other business equipment while they’re in the premises of your business.
Equipment breakdown coverage can be added to the terms of commercial property insurance. By having this, commercial property insurance will provide reimbursements if your utility trailers and other business equipment sustained damage due to:
Operator error
Electrical surge
Flood damage
Impact
Mechanical breakdown
For utility trailer businesses, commercial property insurance provides a $15,000-$25,000 coverage for business property damage or loss. This is just the minimum though. That said, it’s possible for you to find a carrier providing up to $500,000 coverage.
Note that some carriers allow you to get commercial property insurance as an all-risk policy or named perils policy. An all-risk commercial property insurance covers all of the exposures we mentioned. Its named perils counterpart, on the other hand, only covers perils named on its terms.
Workers Compensation Insurance for Commercial Utility Trailer
Your utility trailer business will employ people. After all, you need someone to maintain the utility trailers, manage finances, and cater to customer requests. Workers can ask you to provide compensation if ever they sustain a work-related injury.
To satisfy this responsibility without compromising your business’s finances, consider getting workers' compensation insurance. Workers' compensation insurance will cover the following costs:
Ambulance and emergency treatment-Your utility trailer business can use workers' compensation insurance to cover ambulance and emergency treatment fees if an employee experiences a work-related injury or disease
Hospitalization-Workers compensation insurance allows your utility trailer business to cover bills on an employee’s behalf if he or she needs to remain in the hospital for days, weeks, or months
Medication-The worker's compensation insurance of your utility trailer business provides the money which can be used for buying prescription medicines
Rehabilitation-Workers compensation insurance will cover therapist fees, retraining, and other rehabilitation expenses if the employee of your utility trailer business experiences an impairment after sustaining a work-related injury or disease
Lost wages-Your employee can recover lost wages through workers' compensation insurance if he or she can’t work due to a work-related injury or disease. This comes in the form of a weekly allowance equal to two-thirds or 67% of the average weekly wage
Funeral expenses-Workers compensation insurance covers funeral expenses if an employee of your utility trailer business dies due to a work-related injury or disease. It will also provide financial assistance to dependents
Remember that your utility trailer business can only use workers' compensation insurance to cover the injuries or diseases of a full-time or part-time employee. Anyone working under you who aren’t necessarily part of your business’s payroll is excluded.
It’s easy to estimate how much you’ll pay for workers' compensation insurance. All you have to do is figure out your business’s average payroll, divide it by 100, then multiply the quotient by the worker's comp rate of the insurance company.
Trailer Interchange Insurance for Commercial Utility Trailer
You might need to borrow or rent a trailer. And so, it’s smart to get trailer interchange insurance. Trailer interchange insurance is a coverage for trailers you borrow or rent under a trailer interchange agreement. If they become lost or destroyed due to theft, breakdown, and other covered perils, trailer interchange insurance will reimburse the owner on your behalf.
Cargo Insurance for Commercial Utility Trailer
Cargo insurance will allow you to reimburse the owners if the cargo being transported through your trailer becomes lost or damaged due to a vehicular accident, employee error, theft, lightning, jettison, and other covered perils.
Emergency Roadside Assistance for Commercial Utility Trailer
Insurance companies also underwrite emergency roadside assistance for utility trailer businesses. This will provide a $750 reimbursement for transportation expenditures if your utility trailer breaks down and needs to be hauled or towed. You also get a $500-$1,000 refund for tire replacement and roadside repair services.
Do You Still Need Commercial Utility Trailer Insurance Even Though You Have Commercial Auto Insurance?
It is prudent to mention that while you might have already had auto insurance, you will still be required to purchase insurance for a utility trailer attached to your primary motor vehicle. Most insurance providers insist on insuring a utility trailer separately from your primary commercial auto insurance.
An additional point to note is that if you were using the utility trailer for non-business purposes, you should be sufficiently covered by a personal auto policy. However, the moment you use the utility trailer for any commercial purposes, you will be required to get a commercial auto policy as well as utility trailer insurance.
