Texas commercial · The four policies people mix up
What the commercial insurance videos are describing
A business does not buy “business insurance” as one form. General liability pays other people when your operations injure them or damage their property. Commercial property pays your building and your business personal property. Commercial auto pays the vehicles. A businessowners policy packages some of the first two for a smaller operation. A certificate of insurance only proves what is already on the policy.
Hubs: business insurance, commercial auto, commercial property, and certificates of insurance.
General liability is not the building
General liability responds to third-party bodily injury and property damage, and often to personal and advertising injury, up to the limit. A customer who falls in your shop is a liability claim. Your own roof after a storm is not. That is commercial property. A businessowners policy, a BOP, bundles general liability with property for many main-street operations. It is not automatically right for a contractor, a restaurant with a heavy liquor exposure, or a fleet. Those often need the coverages written separately, with endorsements the BOP does not include.
The truck is commercial auto
A personal auto policy often excludes using the vehicle to haul for hire or to run the business. Commercial auto is the policy that lists those vehicles and the drivers. Hired and non-owned auto is the endorsement for vehicles you rent or that employees drive for work but that you do not own. It is not a substitute for insuring a truck you own. Texas commercial auto. The personal policy, for the cars that are not work trucks: Texas personal auto.
A certificate is not extra coverage
A landlord or a general contractor asks for a certificate of insurance. The certificate copies the limits and names an additional insured or a certificate holder. It does not raise the limit and it does not add a peril that the policy excludes. If the contract requires a waiver of subrogation or an additional insured with primary wording, that has to be endorsed on the policy. The PDF alone does not do it. Certificates. The house you live in is still a homeowners policy, not the BOP. Texas homeowners.
