Commercial Auto Insurance: What Qualifies as a Commercial Vehicle?

Auto insurance can be confusing when it comes to running a business. Most drivers already have personal auto insurance and believe their work vehicles are covered, but this isn’t usually the case. If you have employees driving personal vehicles or sharing company vehicles, personal auto insurance won’t necessarily extend in case of a loss or accident.

In Texas, most businesses are required to carry commercial auto insurance. Qualifications for a vehicle to be considered a “commercial vehicle” can vary per state. Commercial motor vehicles in Texas are self-propelled or towed vehicles weighing less than 48,000 pounds either gross or registered as well as used on public highways to transport cargo or passengers. Other qualifications include:

• Weighs (gross or registered) over 26,000 pounds
• Can transport over 15 passengers at once
• Used to transport hazardous materials

These are simply the qualifications for a “commercial vehicle” in Texas and are not the only vehicles that should carry commercial auto insurance. There are other requirements for commercial auto insurance that vary per state, such as the type and amount a business must carry.

Texas requires a business to carry commercial auto insurance on both commercial vehicles and personal vehicles if those vehicles are being used for business purposes. Commercial vehicles must carry at minimum $500,000 for liability while commercial vehicles transporting hazardous material may be required to carry at least $5 million. Other vehicles that require commercial auto insurance are:

• Buses must carry no less than $500,000 for liability.
• Foreign buses must carry no less than $1.5 million for 15 or fewer passengers and no less than $5 million for 16 or more passengers for liability.
• Farming vehicles weighing more than 48,000 pounds in gross weight must carry no less than $500,000 for liability.

What’s the Difference Between a Commercial Vehicle and a Fleet Vehicle?

A fleet vehicle is a vehicle that’s part of a company’s fleet. A fleet is a group of vehicles owned or leased by a business or organization. Though a fleet can have as many cars as it wants, fleets include at least two cars. Commercial vehicles can be fleet vehicles if they’re not privately owned. Commercial vehicles also have a strict guideline stated above as to what qualifies them to be a commercial vehicle. Typically, these vehicles are built for a certain purpose and weigh a certain amount, while a fleet vehicle can be anything, including buses, cars, trucks and more.

Does Commercial Auto Insurance Cover Fleet Vehicles?

Commercial auto insurance covers any vehicle used or owned by a business, including fleets. Fleets possibly need the most commercial auto insurance since fleets contain multiple cars and there are most likely multiple drivers. When there are multiple drivers, you can often tailor your policy to cover any driver that uses the vehicle or only a list of named drivers for specific vehicles.

How Much Does It Cost to Insure a Commercial Vehicle?

There are a lot of variables that can affect your commercial auto insurance policy. This includes the number of vehicles, drivers and driving records. On average, commercial auto insurance for cars may cost around $1,200-$2,400 while commercial bus insurance costs around $35,000.

Even small businesses should investigate commercial auto insurance. Industries that require travel or transportation may require commercial auto insurance as opposed to personal auto insurance. If your business transports people and hazardous belongings, it’s especially important to carry a policy that covers liability in case of injury or death. Shop around your area and speak with an agent about the type and amount of coverage your business’ vehicles need.

Caught between baby boomers and millennials, Generation X can often be forgotten. But members of Generation X are now at the ages where they’re building retirement funds and settling into their careers and homes. They also tend to have more earners in the household than the other generations. Unfortunately, that money often comes with a lot of debt.

If you’re a part of Generation X, you need home insurance at an affordable price that won’t plummet you and your family into debt. People born between 1965 and 1979 are considered Generation X, making them around 38-53 years old as of 2019. Around 82% of Gen Xers own homes, but 17% of those homeowners owe more on their mortgage than the value of their home. Gen X is generally behind on retirement savings, as well.

If you’re in debt, not having the right amount of coverage can cause even more issues in the long run. While you might save money on limiting insurance now, one disaster or claim could run your bank account dry. This doesn’t mean you have to buy every coverage in the book, though. There are optional coverages you can choose to go without that may not cause big issues down the road. The important thing is to make sure you have the important coverages.

What Home Insurance Coverage Do I Need?

Most lenders will require you to purchase a certain amount of liability insurance when you buy a home, but a lot of Gen Xers don’t carry enough. They carry the minimum in order to acquire a loan, but not enough to cover themselves if something happens.

In general, insurers recommend you purchase around $300,000-$500,000 in liability coverage. This isn’t just to make you pay higher premiums. Say you host your child’s birthday party. The kids come over and swim in your pool, but one child slips, twists his ankle, and falls in the water. Not only do you want to make sure the child receives the medical attention he needs, but you also want to protect your family and assets against the furious mom that shows up on the scene. If you have $300,000 in liability, you may pay around $266 a year with a $1,000 deductible. Compare that to the cost of an ambulance, medical care and a legal suit. Liability coverage can also apply off your property.

Along with liability insurance, your homeowners’ policy should include dwelling coverage, personal property and additional living expenses.

• Dwelling Coverage: Dwelling coverage helps you pay for damages to the actual home caused by fire, hail, wind, lightning, etc. You can also purchase additional dwelling coverage for detached structures.
• Personal Property Coverage: A homeowners’ policy should come with personal property coverage which allows you to receive the cash or replacement value of belongings lost due to similar perils covered in dwelling coverage. This includes protection against theft.
• Additional Living Expenses: If you have to temporarily move house while your home is being repaired or rebuilt, additional living expenses coverage provides monetary assistance.

You may also consider pet liability insurance, especially if you have dogs. This can assist if your pet causes bodily injury or property damage to someone else.

Home Insurance Discounts for Generation X

There are many ways to save on your home insurance discount. Bundling home and auto with the same company can save you money. These same insurance companies may also offer a loyalty discount. As most members of Generation X are married, some insurance companies offer discounts to married or widowed clients.

Shop around and discuss your El Paso home insurance options now so you can be set for the future.

A BOP, or Business Owner Policy, is a type of business insurance plan. It helps to lump together a variety of individual types of coverage together. It’s also very flexible for many policyholders. Though the base policy does not usually automatically include all forms of coverage you need, you can add to it. One of the ways to do that is to add data breach coverage. Should you do so?

Who Should Maintain Data Breach Insurance?

It is important for most companies to consider the value of data breach insurance. It covers incidents in which sensitive information becomes accessible to third parties.

Even large businesses are at risk for this type of loss. Even if you have the most up-to-date security in place, you are at risk for this type of loss. Imagine your customers’ personal data leaking to cyber thieves. What if your company’s proprietary information became accessible? These types of risks are not uncommon. And, they are very costly. Having data breach insurance is essential.

How Does It Protect You?

If you have BOP, be sure you work with your agent to update it to reflect data breach coverage. It is not automatically included in all policies. However, it is very valuable in nearly every business policy. It may help you in a variety of ways.

• It can help you to manage the contacting of your employees or customers if a data exposure occurs.
• It can help you to fix the problem to reduce further risk.
• It may help you with reputation management and damage control. Such an event can become very costly for companies to overcome from a reputational standpoint.
• It may help pay for victims to maintain credit monitoring services to protect their information.
• It can help with other business-related losses caused by the data breach.

How to Add Data Breach Coverage to Your BOP

It is very easy to do this. First, take a look at your existing policy. If you added data breach insurance when you first selected your policy, it may apply. If not, your El Paso insurance agent can help you add this protection. It takes just a few minutes to do so. The cost of doing so may be very low, too. Having this level of peace of mind is critical. A data breach can be very expensive and difficult to overcome in any other situation.

Understanding auto insurance is critical. Whether you are buying your first car or renewing your policy, you need this information. What happens if you cause an accident and someone else’s car has damage?

In this case, your liability insurance pays for the losses. It is important to understand how this type of coverage works. That is the best way to safeguard your investment. Take a closer look at what liability insurance can do for you.

It Is a Requirement in Most States

Most states require that drivers maintain liability insurance. They set limits as to the minimum amount you must have to have a valid license and license plates for your car. 

This requirement is usually a very small amount. Most drivers need more than this. However, it provides a very basic level of protection for other drivers you share the road with each day. Remember, liability insurance only covers other drivers. It will not pay for damage to your car.

How Does It Work?

Here is an example. You are driving down the road and hit a patch of ice. The car swerves, and you crash into another car. Your car continues to move forward, and you take out a mailbox.

You pull over and make sure everyone else is safe. Then, you call the police to document what occurred. This scenario can happen to even the most experienced drivers. And, because it can occur to anyone, everyone should maintain liability insurance. Here is how it can help you in this situation.

• It may pay for the damage to the other car. The other vehicle may need repairs after you hit it. Your policy covers those losses up to the maximum amount of coverage you have.
• It may pay for damage to the driver or passengers in the other car. This includes medical bills, lost time at work and even pain and suffering.
• It covers the damage you cause to another person’s property, too. In this case, it may help cover the mailbox you hit.
• The policy covers any lawsuits you face, up to the amount of the policy. Your insurance company may try to settle the claim with the other driver, for example.
• If you do go to court, your policy also provides coverage from a defense attorney for you.

As you can see, liability insurance is a powerful component of your auto insurance coverage. Be sure your car insurance offers enough of it.

The cost of paying your homeowners insurance premium doesn’t cover only your policy; it also covers the insurance company’s expenses associated with processing payments. In order to reduce these costs, some insurers allow you to make biannual, quarterly or annual payments, as opposed to monthly payments. Though it may only cost a few extra dollars to make monthly payments, those few dollars add up when you multiply them by twelve months per year, for years to come. That means, fewer payments can lead to savings in the long run.

While some families can comfortably afford the one-and-done annual or biannual homeowners insurance payment, others must budget for monthly payments. However, even if you can’t partake in the savings, the valuable coverage is still worth it to protect you from the potential for a covered incident.

Whether you pay once or twelve times per year, it’s in your best interest to familiarize yourself with the methods of payment that are accepted by your insurer. Some people enjoy the ease of automatic payments, but you should think twice about enrolling if your checking account balance dwindles dangerously close to zero at any given time. The last thing you want is to have to pay an “insufficient funds” charge if an automatic payment overdraws your account. Many people prefer manual electronic payments; just remember to set a calendar reminder so you don’t lose track of the due date.

Your agent can help you determine if your policy allows for less frequent payments and if that’s a good option for your family.

Learn more about how you can save. Call us at (915) 562-0009 for more information on El Paso home insurance.

Do you dream of a backyard full of lush foliage? You don’t have to give up on your dream just because you currently live in an apartment. In fact, you can grow a successful garden right on your balcony. However, because balconies create a different micro-climate than the conditions on the ground, you’ll have to give a bit of extra care to your plants. Get started with these simple steps:

1. Take measurements of the areas you wish to plant so you can buy the right gardening containers. You can also hang a trellis on the wall and/or hang planters over the windowsill or balcony railing. (Hint: Vines and herbs are great for balconies, so these vertical spaces are extremely important.)
2. Study the conditions on your balcony so you know which types of plants have the best chances for survival. If your balcony sees a lot of sun each day, you can buy a variety of sun-loving plants; but if your balcony is cast in shade for most the day, you’d be better off buying woodland plants. Also consider temperature and wind patterns so you can buy plants that are known to thrive under those conditions. (Hint: Reevaluate each season because conditions change from spring/summer to fall/winter.
3. Once you know what you’re working with, it’s time to buy some plants and/or seeds. Do some research and talk to the employees at your local gardening store to learn more about which plants you should start with. (Hint: Start small with a few plants to get a feel for the hobby. If you truly enjoy gardening, you can always buy more plants as you go.)
4. Buy a quality organic potting soil and any necessary fertilizers. You may even wish to start your own compost pile to enrich your plants’ soil.

Have you seen success with your balcony garden? We’d love to hear your tips! Protect the things that make your apartment a home. Call us at (915) 562-0009 for more information on El Paso renters insurance.

If you’ve established a life with your long-term partner, you may have decided that you are comfortable as you are, and that there’s no need to get married. This is perfectly reasonable for thousands of couples who are able to build lives that provide both autonomy and legal security. However, it’s that contrast between autonomy and security that might bring up a few questions when it comes to joint insurance policies. If you and your partner need to buy renters insurance, is it better to have separate policies, or combine coverage?

In many cases, partnered couples have the option of choosing between either a joint policy or separate. Each has its respective perks and drawbacks, so talk to your insurance agent about the right solution for your household.

Getting the Same Policy

You and your long-term partner may not be married in the legal sense of the word. In some cases, this legality is important, such as when it comes to things like powers of attorney or joint health benefits. However, when it comes to property insurance, couples have a degree of flexibility to consider.

On one hand, most long-term couples share ownership of, and responsibility for, different possessions, pets and yes, children. They also might share homes, and eventually it might seem very much like there is no difference between one partner’s belongings and another’s.

In this case, then the two partners might decide to jointly invest in a renters insurance policy. Because there is such a close connection between the two parties, and they share numerous assets, then this might be the right solution.

Suppose that a fire occurs in your apartment one night, and while you both get out safely, there is significant property damage to your belongings. Since both parties are insured under the renters insurance policy, then coverage can help you both pay for the costs of recovering lost belongings. It might also pay for hotel bills or dining costs because you won’t be able to live in the home until it gets repaired. Coverage can furthermore cover liability costs if one of you is at-fault for the fire’s damage to others, like your neighbors’.

However, there comes one thing that you have to remember about having the same renters insurance policy as your partner. Under this coverage, you are insured jointly. Therefore, you must share the benefits provided. In some partnerships, this might become a problem.

Why You Might Need Separate Coverage

If you and your partner decide to get a joint renters insurance policy, you have to realize that you are both equally party to the coverage provided. The policy won’t provide separate coverage limits for each person. Instead, it will cover all of your assets, cumulatively, under a single set of limits.

In some cases, this joint coverage may seem fine, particularly when both people have a well-established relationship and jointly-owned or shared belongings. However, if the relationship is more autonomous, it might be better for each party to get separate renters policies.

For example, you might be in a relationship now, but there’s no guarantee it won’t end. If it does, then each party might have to divide up their assets before going their separate ways. This will mean that one party will have to get their own renters’ insurance coverage.

Furthermore, for as long as you two are insured jointly, then any liabilities caused by one party will continue to reflect on the other party’s insurance history. This remains true even if the relationship ends, and no one wants to be stuck paying higher insurance costs just because of an accident that their ex caused.

Talk to your partner and to your El Paso insurance agent to determine if you are better off buying a joint or separate renters insurance policy. One option might be better than the other, depending on your unique living situation.

You might worry about something like a fire or severe storm damaging your business. Sure, that’s a possibility, but there are a lot of other losses that are much more likely to happen every single day. These include the risks of theft and vandalism. A thief might strike both during and after normal business hours, and any instance of theft can be a very unsettling (not to mention costly) experience. The good news is, you can often use your commercial property insurance to your advantage in these cases. Here’s how it works.

Business’ property insurance is supposed to help them recover from unexpected or unavoidable losses on the property. Theft is usually among such occurrences. However, speak to your agents about the limits and exclusions that your policy might include.

Theft in Businesses

It doesn’t matter if you own a jewelry store, a bookstore or a convenience store—theft can occur in any business at any time.

The thief might make off which numerous items of value. Of course, these might include products, stock and critical equipment. Additionally, they might steal hard cash on hand within the business. Furthermore, if they steal items containing sensitive or private information, or property belonging to others, like your clients, that’s a loss to more people than just the business.

In addition, theft often is an act committed by those who don’t normally have access to the business. In some cases, it’s easy for someone to shoplift. However, in other cases, they might do significant property damage, which is more or less vandalism. Therefore, you’ll probably have to make some repairs to the business in order to make the business safe again.

How Your Property Insurance Can Help You

Primarily, coverage can pay to help you receive a settlement for items lost during the theft. Therefore, if can help you pay for items like electronics, furnishings, inventory in the business and other important materials. Additionally, it can help you pay for repairs to the building or other items that the thief damaged during the commission of the act.

Your policy will include coverage limits, however:

• You should insure the property for the full value of your buildings, equipment and other possessions. Remember, however, that the insurer might pay only certain amounts of money for certain damage.
• Sometimes, an insurer will compensate you for the replacement cost of lost items or damage. This coverage pays you for the value of an item at its new cost. Other items might only be eligible for an actual cash value settlement. This is the cost of an item after it depreciates over time, which is not the same as a new item.
• Keep in mind, deductibles will apply, so your insurer will subtract this amount of money before they issue your final policy settlement.

For help choosing limits that are appropriate for your property value, speak to your insurance agent.

Maximizing Your Coverage

Sometimes, your basic commercial property insurance won’t cover all items lost in theft instances. To make sure your policy offers enough protection, consider taking some additional steps:

• You can insure certain items as scheduled equipment on the policy. Coverage will provide specific coverage limits to items of high value.
• Ask your agent if the policy contains money and securities coverage. This coverage applies to money, checks and other financial documents stolen in a theft.
• There is a chance that employees of the business might actually be the thieves. See if your policy offers employee dishonesty coverage, which can apply when internal theft occurs.

As soon as theft occurs, immediately report the incident to police. Have them take a report of all of the items damaged and lost in the theft, then call your El Paso commercial insurance agent. We can help you start to file the claim, and then will work with you to reach an appropriate settlement.

All small business owners need insurance, and most of them get their essential coverage through a business owners policy, also called a BOP. Within the BOP will likely come liability insurance, sometimes called commercial general liability policy. But, within the liability coverage itself, there are different options that apply to different scenarios where a claim might arise. What are these different coverage options? When can you file against them?

General liability policies can come to your aid in a variety of situations. However, whether you need to add extra coverage alongside this policy might depend on the coverage included within your initial coverage.

Commercial General Liability Insurance

A BOP is a way that allows small business owners to get numerous types of insurance within one policy. The convenience of the BOP is that it usually offers coverage limits tailored specifically to smaller enterprises, and each coverage option will work in tandem with one another. The BOP also adds the convenience of allowing the business owner to pay one premium for multiple types of protection.

General liability insurance is usually among the essential coverage within the BOP for the simple reason that it’s one of the most-important types of coverage a business owner needs.

Liability insurance applies to third party damage that you might cause through your services, or through mistakes made in the business. In other words, if you make a mistake (through action or inaction) that harms another party, like one of your customers, then this coverage can help protect them on your behalf. It will help the affected party move on with their life, while also protecting the business from having to pay out of pocket.

The Elements of BOP Liability Coverage

Within your general liability policy, you’ll probably find that your claims can apply to several different types of third-party losses.

Bodily Injury Coverage

This is one of the most-recognizable types of liability coverage. It is sometimes referred to as slip-and-fall liability coverage. Should someone get hurt in your business, then they might hold you responsible for their losses, and expect you to pay. For example, if someone slips in a puddle on your floor, and they get hurt, this coverage can pay them for the costs of their recovery, such as medical bills and lost income.

Furthermore, some liability policies include an element of coverage called accidental medical payments coverage. For example, suppose that someone falls in your business simply by a pure accident. This coverage can help you offer them assistance with their medical bills, even though you may have had no obligation to do so.

Property Damage Coverage

This coverage will apply when you accidentally cause property damage to third parties. If you are a carpet cleaner, and while cleaning someone’s floors, you accidentally burn the carpet, or worse, cause a house fire, this coverage can help you pay the affected party for the repairs.

Personal Injury Coverage

These types of injuries are those caused by allegations of libel, slander, defamation or copyright infringement against a third party. Suppose that a competitor accuses you of libeling them through a smear campaign. This coverage can help you settle with that party.

A key part of liability policies is that they often contain coverage for legal expenses. This means that coverage can help you receive the help of a lawyer. Since many liability claims lead to lawsuits by the affected parties, then you might need this coverage to apply to your court costs.

In some cases, your policy might offer additional coverage like cyber liability insurance or errors & omissions coverage. However, you usually will need to add these and other more-specific types of coverage to your business insurance portfolio. Sometimes, you might be able to add them to the BOP itself, while in other cases you will have to buy a separate policy.

The good thing is, in these cases, deductibles usually won’t apply to liability claims. Therefore, the insurer can settle up to the limits of the policy, as long as the policy covers the situation in question. Always talk to your insurer to determine whether you qualify to file a claim.

If your motorcycle gets damaged, then you can expect to have to make repairs. It’s likely going to cost you money to do so, and you might want your motorcycle insurance to help you pay for it. If the bike is a total loss, then you can expect the problem to be a bit more complicated to you. How your bike insurance will compensate you might vary in this case. Some policies will only pay bikers a cash value amount for their bike, which might not equal the cost to buy a new bike. Here’s what you can do to increase how much your policy will pay you.

Speak to your motorcycle insurer about the ways to increase your bike’s physical damage coverage in ways that will always pay you a satisfactory amount in case of wrecks or other damage.

Step 1: Buy Physical Damage Coverage for Your Bike

Your state will likely require you to buy motorcycle insurance. However, you likely will not have any coverage for physical damage for your bike unless you request such protection.

While optional, physical damage insurance is an incredibly beneficial perk for you in case you have an accident while biking. Should the bike sustain damage, you will be able to file a claim against your physical damage coverage. Your insurer will then agree to compensate you for the cost of the damage, though deductibles will likely apply.

However, in most cases, there are two types of physical damage insurance for bikes—collision insurance and comprehensive insurance.

• Comprehensive insurance pays for damage to your bike following non-accident hazards. An engine fire, theft, vandalism to the bike and damage from weather will usually have coverage under this policy.
• Collision insurance pays in cases where your bike sustains damage from a wreck. So, if you hit another vehicle, a building or another object, then this coverage can pay for the bike’s repairs.

These policies will have their limits. For example, if you intentionally damage the bike then you will likely have no coverage. Furthermore, if your insurer totals the bike, then you might only receive a partial settlement for the loss of the vehicle.

Step 2: Understand Your Coverage Limits

If your insurer agrees to pay for your bike, that means they feel the bike can still be repaired at a value that’s beneficial to them. They will usually cover most types of damage to the bike’s original features, though your deductible may apply.

However, if the insurer does not feel that the cost to repair the bike is worth its value, they might decide to total the bike, and compensate you an amount of money for the value of the lost vehicle.

Here’s the catch, though. Most motorcycle physical damage policies will pay an actual cash value settlement for a totaled bike. This means they will only pay you the value of the bike at the time of the wreck. Given that motorcycles, like most vehicles, depreciate with age and use, a cash value policy might not pay you enough to replace the bike with a new one.

While even a cash value settlement might still prove adequate, there are ways you can often increase your coverage in a way to offer you more compensation in cases of a loss.

• Some bike policies will offer you replacement cost value coverage. These policies will pay you enough money to buy a new bike following a total loss.
• Other policies offer a new bike replacement endorsement. This endorsement might only be able to remain for your bike for one or two years. However, if you wreck the bike during that time, your policy can help you buy a new one of equal cost.
• Gap insurance is another type of coverage that you might be able to buy if you have a financed bike. Should you wreck the bike, you will have coverage available to help you pay of the loan of the vehicle in conjunction with your existing cash value settlement.

Keep in mind, not all of these perks will be available on all motorcycle insurance policies. So, don’t hesitate to speak to your agent about the ways to appropriately adjust your coverage.