Do you need commercial vehicle insurance?

While people might associate commercial vehicle cover with industrial machinery or full-scale truck fleets, business owners should keep in mind that the policies can apply to far more than these categories. For instance, promotional vans or trucks for contractors to get to their job sites could fall within this group.

According to recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, light commercial vehicles are becoming increasingly prevalent in Australia, with the fourth-highest growth rate among types of automobiles year-on-year from 2010 to 2015. In the five-year span, ownership of registered light commercial vehicles grew 18.1 per cent, averaging 3.5 per cent annually. The category beat out passenger vehicle growth and was led only by motorcycles (4.3 per cent annual growth), light rigid trucks (4.1 per cent) and campervans (3.9 per cent).

This growth may be motivated in part by the rise of freelancing and independent contracting in Australia. An October 2014 survey by Elance-oDesk found 3.7 million Australians now work through freelancing arrangements, including both people with their own contracting businesses and those who partake in these activities part-time.

Whether you are an independent contractor with your own business or a leader in a larger company, if your organisation utilises a vehicle for business operations, you may want to consider insuring it under a commercial vehicle policy.

Why shouldn't you rely on private automobile insurance plans? Whereas private cover is focussed on assisting with costs related to repairing or replacing an automobile in the case of an incident, business insurance goes a step further, providing additional protections surrounding your operations. For instance, some policies assist with travelling expenses or vehicle hire while yours is out of commission, while you can also obtain cover to replace keys and repaid signage or fixed advertising materials that are lost or damaged.

If you rely on a company vehicle to keep your business running smoothly, it's worth discussing your cover options with a local insurance agent to help prevent incidents from stalling your operations.