Commercial coverage · Commercial Auto

The line that verdicts rewrote.

Commercial auto covers liability and physical damage for vehicles used in the business, owned, hired, and non-owned. Jury verdicts have outrun inflation for a decade, and the limit that looked standard five years ago is the most commonly underinsured number in the commercial program.

Verdict ladder

From a slip & fall to a class action.

Slip & fall

$220K

Premises tort

$580K

Product defect

$1.4M

Class-action wave

$4.6M

GL gap library$78M peer median tower

What this covers

Plain English. Not the marketing version.

Liability for bodily injury and property damage your vehicles cause, physical damage to the vehicles themselves, medical payments, and uninsured-motorist protection. Hired and non-owned auto extends liability to rentals and employee vehicles used on company business, the exposure every business has even without a fleet. What it does not cover: cargo (motor truck cargo), equipment that qualifies as mobile equipment (general liability territory), and injuries to your own drivers (workers' compensation).

When this matters

The moment carriers expect to see this.

The moment anyone drives on company business, including in their own car. For fleets the stakes compound with miles, venues, and federal filings: motor carriers face FMCSA minimums that are floors, not answers, and a fleet running national lanes is exposed to the strictest courtroom it crosses, not the friendliest.

For your eyes only

Questions worth asking about your current commercial auto coverage.

Four specifics a well-served buyer should already be hearing about this coverage in this market. Read silently. Answer internally.

If your worst driver caused your worst crash in your worst venue tomorrow, how far past your limits does the realistic verdict run?
Do you carry hired and non-owned auto for the driving your employees do in their own cars?
When were MVRs last pulled on everyone who drives for the business, including the office staff who run errands?
Does your umbrella actually attach over auto, and at what limit?

What we flag most often

What ARIA flags most often on Commercial Auto.

Every flag names the issue, the specific finding, and where it applies, the consequence. Once you upload your declarations, ARIA's full output also cites the exact policy page that proves each one.

Limits priced for a previous decade
Eight-figure verdicts for serious crashes are no longer rare. A $1M combined single limit can be consumed by medical specials alone in a severe injury case.
The judgment above the limit belongs to the business, and plaintiff counsel knows how to find the assets behind it.
Hired and non-owned missing
Businesses without fleets routinely skip auto coverage entirely, leaving employee errands, rentals, and sales-call driving uncovered on the company side.
The employee's personal policy pays first and thin, and the suit names the employer next.
Who is an insured
Permissive-use wording, leased drivers, and owner-operators create coverage questions exactly when a serious claim makes everyone read the policy.
Trailer interchange and borrowed equipment
Trailers swapped under interchange agreements carry liability the standard form does not pick up without the matching endorsement.
Driver file discipline as underwriting currency
MVR pulls, camera programs, and documented coaching now move auto pricing more than almost anything else. Carriers non-renew fleets that cannot evidence them.
Physical damage valuation
Stated-amount valuation on specialized or upfitted vehicles pays the stated amount or actual cash value, whichever is less. Underdeclaring buys a discount and a dispute.

Peer benchmark

Where peers your size sit. Premium, not pretense.

Annual premium distribution for a comparable business in your industry and revenue band, drawn from anonymized placements. Your specific position is computed when ARIA reads your declarations page.

Auto premium. $20M distributor

$20M revenue · 35 power units · regional lanes

P25 · $96KMedian · $142KP75 · $215K

Illustrative dataset · n=128 mid-market placements · refreshed quarterly

Ask ARIA

“Map our auto program against a severe-injury verdict in our worst venue: primary limit, umbrella attachment, who qualifies as an insured, and where the first uncovered dollar sits.”

Critical for

Industries where this coverage is non-negotiable.

Transportation & Logistics
Construction & Contractors
Manufacturing
Energy & Renewables
Any business whose people drive for work

Ready when you are

Have ARIA read your Commercial Auto policy.

The first gap usually surfaces in the first minute of ARIA reading your declarations page.

Prefer to explore first?Run the 60-second SnapshotRather talk it through?Talk to Ryan Gaston

Nothing binds until a licensed Risk Strategist signs the placement

ARIA · live across every page

ARIA · loading

The line that verdicts rewrote.

Plain English. Not the marketing version.

The moment carriers expect to see this.