Be Mindful How You Use Your Personal Car

If you or your child have a job where the employer requires you to use your personal vehicle for deliveries– such as pizza, or flowers, etc., and you cause an auto accident, your personal auto policy will not pay for the damages. And on the same note, if you are hit by someone who is using their personal vehicle to deliver pizza, flowers, etc., and you do not have sufficient collision coverage on your auto policy, you will be out of luck.

How to protect yourself

Well, you could just say “no” when that pizza shop tells you that you must use your own vehicle to deliver their pizzas, but you probably won’t have your job for much longer. Some employers (particularly chain and larger independent restaurants) provide coverage called non-owned vehicle liability insurance for their drivers when using their personal vehicles for work-related activities. Ask your new employer if this type of coverage is available.

Another option would be to talk to your insurance agent about switching over to a commercial auto policy. In most cases, a commercial policy will be more expensive than a personal one, but the price difference may be manageable.

And finally – in the event that you are hit by someone who is delivering items with their personal vehicle – be sure you have sufficient collision coverage on your own vehicle. People often are underinsured with collision, especially if the car is older and they are looking for ways to decrease the monthly premium. Nobody ever believes they will be the cause of an accident, but they never think about the uninsured, or under-insured who may hit them. Protect yourself and give us a call.