Your Guide to Coverages for Commercial Auto Insurance in Louisiana

When it comes to your business, you want the best protection money can buy. At American Insurance Brokers, we connect you with options for commercial auto insurance in Louisiana that gives you peace of mind (and peace for your finances!). Whether you’re an independent worker or operating an entire fleet of vehicles, we can help. Here is your guide to Louisiana commercial auto insurance coverages you can expect when working with American Insurance Brokers.

Do I need commercial auto insurance in Louisiana?

commercial auto insurance in louisiana If you’re using a vehicle to operate your business, you will need some form of commercial auto insurance. It’s also worth noting that if your business owns the vehicle in question, this level of coverage is typically a requirement.

For example, you may need this type of policy if you:

Transport goods or products
Offer certain services, such as towing
Haul heavy loads of materials or equipment
Drive passengers in your vehicle for a fee
Have employees who operate your vehicle(s)

When you’re using a vehicle or a fleet of vehicles for these types of work, a personal insurance plan simply isn’t enough. There is much more at stake when you factor in employees, passengers, and usage. The type of business you own will also have an impact on just how much coverage you need. For example, if you use a vehicle you own to transport passengers to and from the airport, you will need less coverage than someone who manages an entire fleet of semi-trucks.

Where we serve

Starting your own business is no easy feat, nor is keeping it running smoothly and successfully. Your business deserves commercial auto insurance in Louisiana that will protect you in a range of situations.

As our base of operations, we understand the unique needs of our drivers in Louisiana. In 2019, there were 3,830 crashes involving commercial vehicles. Many of these resulted in injuries or fatalities. This proves how important it is to carry comprehensive commercial auto insurance in Louisiana.

Our covered cities include but are not limited to, the following.

Does your business take you across state lines? As we’ll discuss, the team at American Insurance Brokers can get you the coverage you need to give you peace of mind, no matter where your business takes you in the southern U.S.

What does commercial vehicle insurance in Louisiana cover?

Louisiana commercial auto coverages can protect you in a range of different situations. Depending on your unique business model, our team can help you find the right policy at the right price for your needs.

For starters, your commercial auto insurance in Louisiana should always provide compensation in the event that your vehicle is damaged. This may be due to a crash, a fire, or other catastrophic events. This coverage allows you to repair or replace the vehicles you depend on to do your job.

Furthermore, you should always have coverage for injuries you or your employees sustain in a crash. Accidents can result in devastating outcomes that may require surgery, long hospital stays, and rehabilitation. In addition to medical bills, the issue of lost wages will also be a factor. The best Louisiana commercial auto coverages give you peace of mind in these events.

Finally, you should also carry coverage that protects your business in the event that you or one of your drivers are liable for a crash that damages someone else’s property or leaves them hurt. Your policy should provide the necessary coverage to assist other parties with medical bills, vehicle repairs, and more.

Ready to learn more? Below you’ll find a detailed explanation about the different types of Louisiana commercial auto insurance coverages. The coverages we offer include the following.

Commercial auto liability
Physical damage
Medical payments coverage
Uninsured motorist insurance
Trailer interchange
Non-trucking liability insurance
Motor truck cargo insurance
Motor truck general liability insurance
On-hook towing insurance
Garagekeepers legal liability insurance
Workers compensation insurance

Commercial auto liability

Liability insurance is the basic commercial auto insurance Louisiana businesses can obtain. It covers injuries or damage to other people or property if you’re at fault for an accident.

If you cause an accident that injures or even kills another person, the bodily injury portion of your liability insurance can pay for the related expenses. Bodily injury may cover:

Hospital and medical bills
Rehabilitation
Long-term nursing care
Funeral expenses
Lost earnings
Pain and suffering
Other expenses (up to the limits you select)

If you cause an accident that damages another person’s property, the property damage portion of your liability insurance can pay for the related expenses. Property damage covers the expense to repair or replace damaged items, including other vehicles, equipment, buildings, or even a pet (up to the limits you select).

Liability insurance may also pay for your legal defense costs if you are sued as a result of your involvement with an accident.

Physical damage

Physical damage is a general term for a group of insurance coverages that protect your vehicle. It typically includes collision insurance, as well as your choice of full comprehensive insurance or the more limited fire and theft with combined additional coverages.

Collision insurance generally helps with costs to repair or replace your vehicle if it collides with another object or overturns. Comprehensive insurance provides protection for your vehicle if it is damaged by something other than a collision with a vehicle or object (or if your vehicle is stolen).

Fire and theft with combined additional coverage provides similar protection to that of comprehensive insurance, but it’s limited to specific non-collision incidents.

Medical payments insurance

Medical payments coverage, also known as MedPay coverage, pays medical expenses for you and any passengers in your vehicle who are injured during an accident, regardless of who caused it.

While this type of coverage is optional in Louisiana, it’s important to consider if you want to protect yourself, your employees, and other passengers in your vehicles.

Uninsured motorist insurance

Uninsured motorist insurance is coverage that protects you if you’re involved in an accident with someone who does not have liability insurance or does not have enough coverage to pay for your damages.

This category of insurance is split up into three separate coverages that are typically categorized together:

Uninsured motorist insurance
Underinsured motorist insurance
Uninsured motorist property damage insurance

Uninsured motorist insurance pays for injuries, such as medical expenses, that result from an accident caused by a driver who is uninsured. Covered expenses for you and your passengers may include medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Underinsured motorist insurance will cover these same expenses after an accident caused by a driver who has too little insurance.

Uninsured motorist property damage insurance pays for damage an uninsured driver causes to your vehicle. In some cases, this may include personal property in addition to your vehicle. Our licensed agents can help you determine what options are available and what choices make sense for your business.

Trailer interchange

A trailer interchange agreement is a contract that arranges to transfer a trailer from one trucker to another in order to complete a shipment. Due to the fact that you’re in possession of a container or trailer, you don’t own traditional physical damage coverage generally does not apply.

Trailer interchange insurance provides physical damage insurance for trailers pulled under a trailer interchange agreement. Essentially, it’s physical damage coverage for non-owned trailers. It protects you if the trailer is damaged by collision, fire, theft, explosion, or vandalism.

Non-trucking liability insurance

If you are an independent owner-operator, your truck is your livelihood. And, you want to make sure it’s protected at all times.

When you’re under permanent lease to a motor carrier and you’re not driving under dispatch, non-trucking liability insurance provides the truck insurance coverage you need at an unlimited radius. This type of insurance may cover medical expenses for injuries or even death of others. It may also cover any damage caused to the property of others.

It’s important to note that non-trucking liability insurance is sometimes confused with bobtail insurance. However, bobtail insurance typically protects a tractor when it’s being operated without a trailer, regardless of whether or not it’s under dispatch. On the other hand, on-trucking liability protects the tractor when it’s being operated off dispatch, regardless of whether or not it’s pulling a trailer.

Motor truck cargo insurance

Motor truck cargo insurance provides coverage on the freight or commodity hauled by for-hire truckers. It covers your liability for cargo that is lost or damaged due to fire, collision, or striking of a load.

If your load is accidentally dumped on a roadway or waterway, the cost to remove debris or extract pollutants caused by the debris will also be covered.

You may also receive coverage for costs related to:

Preventing further loss to damaged cargo
Legal expenses in the defense or settlement of claims
Freight charges the customer loses because of not delivering a load

Motor truck general liability insurance

A growing number of risk managers require for-hire truckers to have motor truck general liability insurance. It covers injuries or property damage you cause as a result of business activities not directly related to operating your truck.

Here are a few examples of situations where this type of insurance may provide coverage:

Customers slipping or falling on your premises
Erroneous delivery of products resulting in damage
Actions of a driver while representing the insured and on the premises of others, such as at loading docks or truck stops
Libel and slander exposures
Fire on a rental property due to insured’s error

If you are working as a for-hire trucker or motor carrier, you’ll most likely need motor truck general liability insurance.

On-hook towing insurance

On-hook towing insurance can pay to repair or replace a vehicle you don’t own if it is damaged by a collision, fire, theft, explosion or vandalism while you are towing or hauling.

Garagekeepers legal liability insurance

Garagekeepers legal liability coverage is an optional coverage designed for business owners who offer towing services or operate service stations. It protects a customer’s vehicle when you are keeping it at a covered location for parking or storing, or to perform service.

This type of insurance provides protection in case a vehicle is damaged by fire, theft, vandalism or collision.

Workers compensation insurance

Workers compensation insurance is a mandatory type of insurance carried by many types of businesses. It covers medical costs and a portion of lost wages for an employee who becomes injured or ill on the job.

Workers comp insurance also protects companies from being sued by employees for workplace conditions that can cause an injury or illness.

Proudly serving the South

Our Louisiana agents provide a variety of coverage options for commercial truck operators beyond state lines. In fact, you can find our clients across the southern U.S.

Whether your route takes you from Dallas to Nashville or within the state lines of Mississippi, the agents at American Insurance Brokers have a unique understanding of the demands of the Southern trucking industry.

We proudly serve clients in the following states.

Your first choice

At American Insurance Brokers, we pride ourselves on being your first choice for commercial auto insurance in Louisiana and beyond! Our team has decades of experience working with clients in states across the South to find the best commercial auto insurance policies at fair prices.

When your business is on the line, it’s important to have someone you can trust in your corner. We promise to live up to our track record of reliability by walking you through every step of the process. Our goal is to provide the answers you need as soon as you need them.

Get your free coverage review, and find out why American Insurance Brokers is your first choice for commercial auto insurance in Louisiana.