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The Best Commercial Auto Insurance

If you drive a business-owned vehicles for work purposes, you need commercial auto insurance. Our list of the best business vehicle insurance companies will help you find the right provider.

    Kymberlin Bush

  • UPDATED

Advertiser Disclosure: Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity.

Commercial auto insurance is a crucial type of coverage and one of the few types of small business insurance that may be legally required. However, the best commercial car insurance can be hard to find, with many insurance companies promising to give you the very best rates and coverage.

In fact, with different price points depending on your location, vehicle types, and deductible amounts, simply understanding your business insurance quote can be a challenge!

Because commercial vehicle insurance is so important, finding the right insurance partner is worth the time it takes. If you or your employees drive company vehicles, auto insurance for business is one of the most important types of insurance you need.

To help you find the right auto insurance for your business, we compared 20+ insurance providers. We evaluated each company on its pricing, reliability, variety of policies offered, and other factors to help you make the right choice.

Read on for more information on our top picks.

Learn More About Our Top Picks

CompanyBest ForNext StepsBest For
The Hartford Small Business Insurance

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  • Available in 47 states
  • 24/7 claims assistance
  • Pricing by personal quote only
  • Available in 47 states
  • 24/7 claims assistance
  • Pricing by personal quote only

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Nationwide Commercial Insurance

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  • Available in 40+ states
  • 24/7 claims
  • Pricing by personal quote only
  • Available in 40+ states
  • 24/7 claims
  • Pricing by personal quote only

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Travelers Small Business Insurance

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  • Available in 50 states
  • 24/7 claims
  • Pricing by personal quote only
  • Available in 50 states
  • 24/7 claims
  • Pricing by personal quote only

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Progressive Commercial Insurance

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  • Available in 50 states
  • 24/7 claims
  • Median cost of $175/month
  • Available in 50 states
  • 24/7 claims
  • Median cost of $175/month

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Next Business Insurance

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  • Available in 30 states
  • 24/7 claims
  • Average is around $62/month
  • Available in 30 states
  • 24/7 claims
  • Average is around $62/month

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Read more below to learn why we chose these options.

Table of Contents

What Is Commercial Vehicle Insurance?

Commercial auto insurance is a type of insurance coverage aimed at businesses that use cars, trucks, vans, and other types of vehicles in the course of their work.

Auto insurance for business works much like an insurance policy on your personal car. You’ll activate coverage for damage to your work vehicles, driver injuries, injuries to someone else, or damage to another’s property. Commercial auto insurance typically includes liability, collision, comprehensive coverage, medical payments (personal injury protection or PIP), and protection against uninsured motorists.

Note that you may need a special type of commercial vehicle insurance if you use large work vehicles to transport cargo across multiple states. Commercial trucking insurance is designed for independent owner-operator and leasers who fall under the oversight of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

If that sounds like your business, you may want to jump to our post on the best commercial truck insurance instead.

What Types Of Commercial Car Insurance Do You Need?

Most insurance companies offer basic auto liability insurance coverage as required by law in most places. From there, you can customize your commercial auto policy by adding different types of coverage, as needed.

Here are some to look for:

Common Types Of Commercial Auto Coverage

  • Bodily Injury Liability: This will help pay for the other driver’s medical expenses if your driver causes an accident.
  • Property Damage Liability: This will cover damage your driver does to someone else’s property.
  • Drive Other Car: This endorsement covers executives and their spouses when they drive vehicles that aren’t on your policy, such as borrowed cars, test drives, and rented or leased vehicles used for work purposes.
  • Collision: This helps pay to repair or replace your business vehicle after you hit something.
  • Comprehensive: This helps pay for damages to vehicles from theft, fires, or some natural disasters.
  • Medical Payments: Your employees and their passengers can receive medical or dental treatment, rehabilitation services, or funerals.
  • Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist: If the other driver involved in an accident doesn’t have adequate liability coverage, this coverage helps pay for medical expenses and repairs.
  • Expanded Towing: In addition to towing, jumpstarts, and minor roadside repairs, this type of coverage increases your towing allowance from what’s typically allowed under a basic auto policy.
  • Rental Reimbursement: This adds liability coverage while your drivers are using a rental car for business reasons.
  • Roadside Assistance: This offers protections for common mishaps like dead batteries, flat tires, and lockouts.
  • Personal Injury Protection (PIP): This coverage helps pay for medical expenses, lost wages, or funeral expenses after an accident.
  • Hired & Non-Owned Auto: If your driver has an accident in a personal, rented, or leased vehicle used for business reasons, you’ll want this type of coverage.
  • Auto Loan Or Lease Gap: If your work vehicle is declared a total loss following an accident, this type of coverage covers the difference between the vehicle’s cash value and the unpaid loan or lease amount.

Understanding the range of available coverage will help you when you speak with an insurance agent to customize your commercial auto policy. That’s the secret to getting the coverage you need without paying for anything extra that you don’t need.

The 5 Best Commercial Car Insurance For Your Small Business

Commercial auto insurance is necessary for business-owned vehicles. Wondering how to find the best policy? Start with our list of the best commercial auto insurance providers. We think The Hartford, Nationwide, Travelers, Progressive, and NEXT offer the best insurance for commercial vehicles.

The Hartford: Best Commercial Auto Insurance Coverage

The Hartford Small Business Insurance

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Read our Review

Total Rating 4.3
Pricing4.5

Features5.0

Customer Service3.0

User Reviews3.0

Pricing

Varied. Average general liability is $88/month

Types of insurance offered

30+ policy types

Time to receive quote

Usually same-day

Pros

  • Complete auto coverage
  • Suitable for fleets
  • Fast personal price quotes

Cons

  • Not available in Alaska, Hawaii, or Louisiana
  • Aimed at larger businesses

Why We Chose The Hartford For The Best Commercial Auto Insurance

The Hartford offers a full range of commercial auto insurance, including some relatively uncommon types of coverage such as drive other car coverage. If your fleet of business vehicles and your employee driver pool are large, you’ll find the business car insurance you need with the Hartford.

The Hartford Commercial Auto Insurance Pricing

Like many insurance companies, The Hartford provides little information about its pricing. If you want to know what you’ll pay for The Hartford commercial auto insurance, you’ll need to contact the company for a free quote.

Your price quote will depend on numerous factors, including your driving record, your claims history, your business location, and the number of cars and drivers your business has.

The Hartford Commercial Auto Insurance Coverage

The Hartford writes commercial auto insurance policies for cars, vans, pickup trucks, box trucks, and service utility vehicles. These policies can be written to include the following types of coverage:

  • Bodily injury liability
  • Property damage liability
  • Drive other cars (also called CA 99 10)
  • Collision
  • Comprehensive
  • Medical payments
  • Uninsured/underinsured motorist
  • Rental car
  • Personal injury protection (PIP)
  • Hired and non-hired auto

The Hartford’s commercial auto insurance specifically excludes the following:

  • Medical expenses unrelated to an accident that happens while an employee is driving a business vehicle
  • The contents of your business vehicle
  • Accidents in employees’ vehicles when driven for personal reasons
  • Rental car repairs

Get Started With The Hartford Small Business Insurance

Read our in-depth review

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Nationwide: Best Commercial Auto Insurance For Fleets

Nationwide Commercial Insurance

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Read our Review

Total Rating 4.4
Pricing4.1

Features5.0

Customer Service4.1

User Reviews4.4

Pricing

By personalized quote only

Types Of Insurance Offered

BOP + specialized coverage

Time To Receive A Quote

Approximately 30 minutes

Pros

  • Suitable for fleets
  • Fast, free quotes
  • Specialty add-ons available

Cons

  • Not available in all states
  • High minimum requirements for liability

Why We Chose Nationwide For The Best Commercial Auto Insurance

Nationwide is one of the largest insurers in the US, and it’s hardly surprising that its commercial auto policies are aimed at larger companies. (That’s not to say small businesses can’t work with Nationwide!) If your business owns and operates a fleet of vehicles, you may be an ideal Nationwide commercial auto insurance customer.

Nationwide Commercial Auto Insurance Pricing

Like many insurance companies, especially large ones, Nationwide provides pricing information only through personalized quotes. Your quote will depend on a number of factors, including how many vehicles you’re insuring, how old they are, how much coverage you want, and what deductibles you’re comfortable with.

Nationwide requires a minimum of $100K commercial auto liability per vehicle and recommends $500K-$1 million per vehicle.

Nationwide Commercial Auto Insurance Coverage

Nationwide’s commercial auto coverage starts with these basic types of coverage:

  • Physical damage
  • Liability
  • Medical payments
  • Towing and labor
  • Rental reimbursement
  • Auto loan or lease gap

You can add the following options if you’d like:

  • Roadside assistance
  • New vehicle replacement cost
  • Hired auto physical damage with loss of use
  • Auto loan or lease
  • Expanded towing
  • Rental reimbursement
  • Medical payments or PIP coverage

Get Started With Nationwide Commercial Insurance

Read our in-depth review

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Travelers: Best Commercial Auto Insurance With Nationwide Coverage

Travelers Small Business Insurance

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Read our Review

Total Rating 4.0
Pricing3.8

Features4.5

Customer Service4.5

User Reviews1.6



Pros

  • Local agents
  • Nationwide coverage
  • Significant price discounts available

Cons

  • No online quotes

Why We Chose Travelers For The Best Commercial Auto Insurance

No matter where your business is located, you need commercial car insurance for your business vehicles. Travelers is one of the few insurers that is licensed in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. So if you want an insurer that can work with you no matter where you are now or where you’re headed, Travelers is a good pick.

Travelers Commercial Auto Insurance Pricing

Like most insurance companies, Travelers provides pricing information by custom quote only. Your price depends on many factors, such as the type and number of vehicles you wish to insure, your business claims history and location, and so on.

Travelers stands out from its competitors by offering not only a multi-policy discount but also three additional discounts that can add up to a 16% reduction in your bill.

These deductions include discounts for paying on time, paying in full, and setting up recurring billing through a credit card or EFT payment.

Travelers Commercial Auto Insurance Coverage

Travelers commercial auto insurance coverage starts with the basics:

  • Liability
  • Physical damage
  • Collision
  • Comprehensive
  • Underinsured motorists

You can add your choice of 13 coverage enhancements or endorsements. These include hired auto coverage, gap coverage for leased vehicles, and blanket additional insured coverage.

Travelers commercial auto insurance is available for passenger vehicles, vans, trucks (light, heavy, and extra heavy-duty), truck trailers, vehicle fleets, and specialty vehicles.

Get Started With Travelers Small Business Insurance

Read our in-depth review

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Progressive: Best Commercial Car Insurance For Mixed Vehicles

Progressive Commercial Insurance

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Pros

  • Coverage for cars and trucks
  • Adjustments available for seasonal coverage
  • Discounts available

Cons

  • Must speak with an agent to purchase coverage

Why We Chose Progressive For The Best Commercial Auto Insurance

Commercial auto insurance applies mainly to passenger vehicles and light trucks. If you want to insure heavier equipment such as a dump truck, you probably need to consider truck insurance. Or, depending on your vehicle types and usage, you may be able to list them on a commercial auto policy from Progressive.

Progressive Commercial Auto Insurance Pricing

Progressive stands out from its competitors not only by writing commercial auto policies for trucks and tractor-trailers but also by providing some information about its commercial auto policy pricing.

You’ll still need a personalized price quote, of course, that considers your vehicle types, vintage, and more. For reference, Progressive’s website says the median cost for commercial auto coverage is around $175/month.

Progressive Commercial Auto Insurance Coverage

Progressive’s commercial auto coverage starts with the following:

  • Liability
  • Physical damage
  • Medical payments
  • Uninsured motorist
  • Hired auto
  • Non-owned

You can customize your Progressive coverage with add-ons. Progressive also offers truck insurance, including motor cargo and trailer interchange policies. That makes Progressive a good choice for any small business with commercial insurance needs that include autos as well as trucks.

Get Started With Progressive Commercial Insurance

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NEXT: Most Affordable Commercial Auto Insurance

Next Business Insurance

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Read our Review

Total Rating 4.3
Pricing4.9

Features4.3

Customer Service3.5

User Reviews3.1

Pricing

Starting at $11/month

Types Of Insurance Offered

8+ policy types

Time To Receive A Quote

Instant online quotes

Pros

  • Instant quotes
  • Bundle discounts
  • Strong mobile app

Cons

  • No coverage for larger vehicles
  • Not suited for large businesses

Why We Chose NEXT For The Best Commercial Auto Insurance

When your business emphasizes the “small” in small business, it’s easy to feel overlooked by the big players. There are lots of insurers vying to serve small and midsized businesses. If yours is more “micro” than small, you may feel overlooked.

That’s where NEXT comes in. Sole proprietors, LLCs, and even home-based businesses can get the insurance they need with NEXT. Of course, the flip side of that is that larger organizations may find that NEXT doesn’t have all the coverage options they need.

NEXT Commercial Auto Insurance Pricing

There are many things to like about NEXT. One of my favorites is that this is one insurance company that doesn’t shy away from talking about pricing. With the acknowledgment that your price quote will depend on the usual factors, NEXT offers detailed but general information on its policy pricing.

For commercial auto policies, NEXT says you can get coverage for as little as $12.50/month, although 43% of NEXT customers pay $150/month or less for their commercial auto coverage, and 57% pay $150-$200 or more per month. You could even fall into the 20% of NEXT customers who pay under $100/month for commercial auto insurance.

NEXT Commercial Auto Insurance Coverage

NEXT commercial auto insurance includes underinsured motorist coverage, rental reimbursement, towing and labor, collision and comprehensive coverage, and property damage. Assistance with legal and medical fees is also included up to your policy limit. If you like, you can add on hired and non-owned auto insurance.

You’ll need to list the drivers who regularly operate your work vehicles. Other drivers who use your vehicles only occasionally may be covered, but not if they use the vehicle regularly. Your NEXT commercial auto insurance coverage can cover up to 10 vehicles and up to 15 drivers. (In California, those limits are 4 vehicles and 8 drivers.)

NEXT offers coverage for personal vehicles used for business purposes. However, NEXT does not insure certain high-end vehicles or vehicles larger than standard trucks and SUVs. Food trucks and mobile businesses, such as a mobile pet grooming service, are not eligible for NEXT coverage.

Get Started With Next Business Insurance

Read our in-depth review

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Business Insurance Review Methodology

Merchant Maverick has been researching and reviewing business insurance since 2020. Our writers have tested over twenty different major insurance companies. In each review, we evaluate pricing, features, customer service, and user reviews.

Read more about how we rate business insurance providers.

When comparing different business insurance companies, we consider many data points, including relative pricing, the number of standard insurance policies available, and the ability to create custom policies. Our lists of the best business insurance providers include only those we’ve deemed worthwhile from multiple vantage points and often share qualities such as low cost, a variety of niche business insurance policies, multiple ways to file claims, and excellent customer support.

We spend an average of 10-15 hours researching and updating each one of our lists, ensuring that the business insurance companies included meet our internal standards for quality and reputation.

Do Gig Workers Need Commercial Car Insurance?

If you’re a self-employed worker driving your personal car for business reasons, you may wonder if you need or are eligible for commercial auto insurance.

The answer can be a bit complicated, so it’s definitely a good idea to talk to your insurance agent if you drive for Lyft, Uber Eats, DoorDash, or any other type of gig work.

Most often, when you use your personal vehicle for work purposes, you will not be able to get commercial auto coverage. Instead, you’ll need to look into something called hired and non-owned auto coverage. You may also be able to take out a hybrid policy or add an endorsement that covers you while you’re driving for work.

However, if you have two vehicles and use one exclusively for personal transportation and the other exclusively for work, the second vehicle may be eligible for commercial auto insurance.

Either way, you must let your insurance company know that you’re driving a vehicle as a gig worker. Many personal auto policies specifically exclude accidents that occur while you’re using your vehicle for work purposes.

How To Find Cheap Commercial Auto Insurance

Is insurance one of those products where you get what you pay for? In other words, is cheap insurance coverage worth it?

A recent study by Insureon found that customers pay an average of $147/month or $1,762/year for commercial auto insurance. However, about 37% of Insureon customers pay less than $100/month for their commercial auto coverage.

If cost is your top concern, you’ll be glad to hear that there are several things you can do to lower the cost of insurance. First, make sure that you’re adding to your commercial auto coverage only employees with good driving records. The more drivers you add to your policy, the more you could pay, so make sure you’re giving the company car keys only to the employees who need them.

The types of vehicles you’re covering, and their age and value, will also affect your commercial auto insurance cost. Older, less expensive vehicles generally cost slightly less to insure.

Make sure you’re paying only for the coverage you need, too. If your employees rarely travel far from your workplace, you might not need towing or roadside assistance add-ons, for example. Ultimately, the coverage you choose will be up to you. Working with an experienced insurance agent can help you ensure you’re making the right choices regarding coverage, limits, and deductibles.

Commercial Auto Insurance FAQs

How much is commercial auto insurance?

The cost of commercial auto insurance depends on numerous factors, including how many and what types of vehicles you plan to insure. The number of drivers you want to be covered and their individual driving histories is a big factor too. Although the average cost of commercial car insurance is around $150, we found coverage starting at $12.50/month available from NEXT Insurance.

Who needs commercial car insurance?

Commercial car insurance is legally required for any business that owns vehicles used for work purposes. If you have a vehicle you use both for work and for business purposes, your personal car insurance policy may not protect you adequately. Check with your insurance agent to make sure you have the types of coverage you need.

What's the difference between personal and business car insurance?

A personal auto insurance policy covers one or more named individuals driving a privately owned vehicle. Business (or commercial) car insurance is issued in the business name and can include multiple vehicles and multiple drivers. Commercial auto insurance generally costs more per month than an individual car insurance policy.

Who is covered by business car insurance?

Commercial auto insurance covers vehicles used for business and the people who drive those vehicles for work. Some insurance companies limit the number of people who can be listed as drivers, however. Check with your insurance agent to make sure you have coverage for as many drivers as you need.

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Kymberlin Bush

Kymberlin Bush

Staff Writer
Kymberlin started contributing to Merchant Maverick as a freelancer in 2022 and joined the team as the full-time small business health insurance expert in 2023. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from Pacific University in 2020 and continues to reside in Portland, Oregon.
Kymberlin Bush
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