Money & Budgeting

Personal car insurance and business car insurance are necessities in our daily life. Many differences align the two and the price varies as well. When it comes to personal and business car insurance, there are some distinct differences.

Liability is the first distinct difference. In a personal policy, you are liable for yourself and any other driver in your household. On a business policy, you are liable for yourself and every employee that is able to drive. The difference between the two in this case is the fact that most people trust their family more. Moreover, your family has you best interest in mind where employees do not. Most business choose to pull the persons driving record before hiring them in the case they will need to drive. Adding a person with a bad driving record will increase your rates significantly.

Business insurance versus personal car insurance varies by what you are going to be using your vehicle for. An example of business use would be transmitting items or hauling items to a different location that you would not be doing personally. In fact, this is business activity. There are business polices that directly deal with this type of situation; thereby making it more flexible of a policy.

The use for business and the use for personal can sometimes get confusing. This is why it is imperative that you use some kind of tracker. In more recent times, many people turn to a computerized log do keep track of miles and gas. This helps keep the lines between personal and business clear.

Keeping business use and personal use separate is always the recommended path. Most people find that their business use is very limited and do not see the reason why they should take out a separate business insurance policy. Although this may be logical, you need to make sure your bases are covered. This means that if you choose to use your personal car insurance policy for business use that is limited, you will need to inform your car insurance agent of this change so they can adjust your policy to cover it. They can find cause to deny your claim if you are found to be using your vehicle for business purposes that were not defined in your policy.

As stated above, you rate will increase because your usage has increased. Understand the usage for business is anything that is defined out of your daily use. In other words, driving to a conference is business use. This even applies if they reimburse you for miles and gas. If you transport goods or deliver items, you are using your personal vehicle for business use and it has to be documented. Sometimes we do not view things as business use because we consistently do them without even thinking. . Always keep everything in check because there are certain ramifications for not complying.

Whichever road you find yourself on, do not be caught without appropriate coverage. There are many different ways you can get the best deal for your situation so it is advised to talk with a car insurance agent.

Graham McKenzie is the content syndication coordinator for Carinsurancesa.co.za. South Arica?s leading car and vechile portal, which provides cover for all car and vechile types.