What to Consider When Choosing Auto Insurance for Your Contractor Vehicle
by adminWhether your work vehicle is insured through your Vancouver business or you’re using a personal vehicle for business use throughout Vancouver, you need to make sure you have the right insurance to protect yourself, your vehicle, and your business. Here’s what to think about when looking for Vancouver auto insurance as a contractor.
Drive time and downtime
For decades, contractors have relied on trucks to sustain their business on and off the job site. A contractor may use a truck to haul material, scrap, or even crew. Often, the truck is the heart and the engine of a successful contracting business. However, if your contracting business is part-time, and the truck is your own personal vehicle, you need to make sure you have the appropriate insurance to cover the time spent hauling tools, and the time spent burning rubber down a back road. Because personal trucks are kept busy with both work and recreational activities, the right auto insurance must be applied to make sure you and your truck are protected by the right premiums for the right coverage. Consulting a professional broker about your Vancouver auto insurance is the best way to break down your vehicle’s business and personal use and build an insurance package that works best.
Tall trucks, traffic, and tight squeezes
Many contractors from the Lower Mainland live outside the city of Vancouver, commuting to the job site from places like Abbotsford or Langley. Often the nature of construction work requires a hefty truck, but the busy city doesn’t have a lot of space to accommodate the height and length of these kinds of work vehicles. Underground parking spaces can have low ceilings and street parking can be incredibly tight. Accidents happen, and whether the fault was yours or someone else’s, you’re going to need insurance. There’s also the commute to consider. Traveling long distances while hauling heavy loads can put a lot of wear on tear on a vehicle. If your work requires constant commuting from the Lower Mainland into the city, you’ll want to make sure you have the right Vancouver auto insurance with roadside protection to get you up and running again if any problems arise. Constant commuting also increases your drive time and your exposure to possible accidents. Determining how often you’re commuting for business and cruising for pleasure, will ensure you have the right liability and collision protection.
Taking care of tools
One of the most important parts of knowing your insurance is knowing what it’s not. Working with an insurance broker can help you better understand your policy package and see areas where you’re left vulnerable. If you’re working on-site in Vancouver and locking your tools up in your vehicle this doesn’t always mean they are protected under your auto insurance plan. Consulting an expert about the limits of your vehicle coverage can help you select the right kind of alternate coverage to keep your vehicle and tools working together and protected against theft.
Working as a contractor is an incredibly busy endeavor. You are constantly moving from job site to job site and are responsible for hauling all sorts of loads from trash to treasure. If you’re also the contractor of your extended family and find yourself splitting truck time between moving material for a job and moving furniture for a friend, talk to an expert in Vancouver auto insurance to make sure you and your truck are protected whatever you’re doing and whenever you wheel up.