If a vehicle earns money for your business, it needs a commercial auto policy, and the gap between what business owners assume and what their personal auto policy actually says is one of the most common uninsured exposures we find in Montgomery County. The HVAC tech whose van is titled to his LLC, the Bethesda real estate agent hauling signs and clients, the Silver Spring caterer running a cargo van to events, the Germantown remodeler with three pickups and a trailer: all of them are driving some of the most congested roads in the country, and all of them are one at-fault accident away from finding out whether their coverage applies.
Commercial auto is not complicated, but it is specific. Who owns the vehicle, who drives it, what it carries, how far it travels and what your customers’ contracts require all shape the policy. Terrapin writes commercial auto for Maryland businesses through Progressive Commercial, Erie, Travelers and others, from a single contractor pickup to small fleets, and we coordinate it with the rest of your commercial program so there is no gap between the auto policy, the general liability and the umbrella.
Get a Maryland commercial auto quote — usually same day. Call 240-243-0042 or request a business insurance quote online.
Why your personal auto policy excludes business use
Personal auto policies are priced for commuting and errands. Nearly all of them contain a business-use exclusion or a sharp limitation, and carriers apply it when the facts show the vehicle was working. The usual triggers: the vehicle is titled or registered to a business entity, it carries tools, inventory or equipment, it has a ladder rack or commercial lettering, it is used to deliver goods or transport people for a fee, or it is driven by employees. A personal carrier that discovers business use after an accident may deny the claim or rescind the policy.
The exposure is not only the vehicle. If your employee driving a company pickup rear-ends a family on the Beltway near Silver Spring, the injured parties sue the business, and a personal auto policy does not defend an LLC or corporation. Commercial auto names the business as the insured, covers employees as permitted drivers, and carries the higher limits that a business lawsuit demands. Some personal carriers will endorse light, occasional business use for a sole proprietor; once the vehicle is titled to the business or works most days, the answer is a commercial policy.
What a Maryland commercial auto policy covers
The structure mirrors a personal policy, with additions.
- Liability. Bodily injury and property damage you or your drivers cause to others, plus defense costs. Usually written as a combined single limit for commercial accounts.
- Uninsured and underinsured motorist. Required in Maryland. Pays your drivers and passengers when the at-fault party has too little insurance, a real exposure on I-270 and the Beltway.
- Personal injury protection. No-fault medical and wage coverage for occupants, included on Maryland policies unless waived where permitted.
- Collision. Damage to your vehicle from a crash, regardless of fault.
- Comprehensive. Theft, vandalism, glass, fire, flood and hitting a deer on Route 28.
- Hired and non-owned auto. Liability for vehicles you rent or borrow and for employees driving their own cars on company business. Covered in its own section below.
- Towing, rental reimbursement and downtime. Keeping the crew working while a vehicle is repaired.
What it does not cover: the tools and materials inside the vehicle (that is a tools and equipment floater or inland marine policy), injuries to your own employees as drivers or passengers (workers compensation), and goods you are hauling for others (motor truck cargo).
Hired and non-owned auto: employees driving their own cars for work
Hired and non-owned auto liability is the most overlooked coverage in Maryland commercial insurance, and it is relevant to businesses that own no vehicles at all. If your office manager drives her own car to the bank in Rockville, your sales rep drives to a client in Bethesda, or an employee picks up supplies on the way to a job in Gaithersburg, and they cause a serious accident, the injured party will look past the employee’s personal policy limits to the employer who sent them. Hired and non-owned auto responds to that claim on behalf of the business.
The hired portion covers vehicles you rent short term, such as a moving truck or a rental car on a business trip, and can extend to physical damage on the rental so you can decline the counter coverage. Non-owned covers employee-owned vehicles used in your business. Neither covers the employee’s own vehicle damage or their own injuries; it protects the business. For consultants, tech companies and other firms with no owned vehicles, we add it to the general liability or BOP for a modest charge; for businesses with vehicles, it goes on the commercial auto policy.
Contractors’ pickups, vans and small fleets
Trade contractors are the largest group of commercial auto buyers in Montgomery County. Their policies are rated on a few factors.
- Vehicle type and weight. A half-ton pickup, a one-ton dually with a utility body and a box truck are rated differently. Gross vehicle weight drives the class.
- Radius of operation. A plumber who stays within Montgomery County is rated lower than a crew that runs to Baltimore, Frederick and Northern Virginia every week.
- Business use class. Service use (carrying tools to a job) is rated below commercial use (delivering materials) and well below for-hire use.
- Drivers. Every regular driver is listed and their motor vehicle record is pulled. One driver with a recent DUI can move the whole fleet’s premium or make it unplaceable with standard carriers.
- Trailers and equipment. Trailers need to be scheduled for physical damage. Liability generally follows a trailer attached to a covered vehicle; a detached trailer at a Potomac job site is a different question.
For fleets, one policy with scheduled vehicles, a fleet discount where available and a driver safety program is the usual structure. We coordinate the auto limits with the commercial umbrella so the umbrella actually attaches.
Maryland minimum auto limits are a floor, and why contracts ask for $1M CSL
Maryland requires every registered vehicle, commercial included, to carry at least 30/60/15 liability: $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident for bodily injury, and $15,000 for property damage, plus uninsured motorist coverage at matching limits. The MVA enforces this through registration. Those are legal minimums, nowhere near what a business should carry.
Consider the exposure: a loaded work van at highway speed on I-270 or the Capital Beltway, driven by an employee, striking a car with a family inside. A $60,000 per-accident bodily injury limit would be exhausted almost immediately, and the business, not the state, is responsible for the rest. That is why nearly every general contractor agreement, property management contract, government vendor requirement and commercial lease that mentions auto insurance asks for a $1,000,000 combined single limit (CSL). A CSL is one pool of money for any mix of bodily injury and property damage in an accident, simpler than split limits. $1M CSL is also the limit most commercial umbrella carriers require as the underlying auto layer. We quote it as the default for business vehicles and show lower limits only when you ask.
Delivery, rideshare and gig driving: where the gaps are
Using a vehicle to deliver goods or carry passengers for a fee is the one business use that even a lenient personal carrier will not tolerate, and it also sits outside many standard commercial auto appetites. If your Silver Spring restaurant delivers with company vehicles, that is a commercial auto policy rated for delivery use. If employees deliver in their own cars, you need hired and non-owned auto, and many employees’ personal policies exclude delivery entirely, leaving the business as the deep pocket. Couriers, parts delivery and medical specimen transport along I-270 fall into this category and are placed carefully, sometimes through the wholesale market.
Rideshare and app-based delivery driving are a different problem. The platforms provide some coverage while a driver is logged in, with limits that change depending on whether the app is on, a ride is accepted or a passenger is aboard, and the driver’s personal policy typically excludes the activity. Some personal carriers offer a rideshare endorsement to bridge the gaps. If you drive for an app, call us and we will tell you honestly what our personal auto carriers offer. It is rarely a commercial auto question, and we will not sell you a policy you do not need.
Progressive Commercial and Erie: which commercial auto carrier fits
Two of our markets handle the majority of Maryland commercial auto, and they suit different businesses.
- Progressive Commercial is built for contractors’ trucks, business-use vehicles and small fleets. It has a broad appetite by vehicle type and radius, quotes quickly, writes monoline auto without the rest of the account, and is often the most competitive option for a contractor with a couple of pickups and a trailer or a business with an imperfect driver. It also takes heavier vehicles and specialty uses that package carriers avoid.
- Erie Insurance writes commercial auto alongside its ErieSecure Business package, workers comp and umbrella, and is the better fit when you want one carrier for the whole account, your drivers are clean, and your vehicles are light to medium duty. Erie’s claims service consistently ranks at the top of J.D. Power studies, which matters when a work vehicle is down.
- Travelers comes in for larger fleets and package accounts where commercial auto sits alongside property, GL and umbrella on one program.
For vehicles or drivers neither market will take, we have wholesale access through FirstChoice, RT Specialty, AmWins, CRC and Burns & Wilcox. Our full carrier list is here.
How to get a Maryland commercial auto quote from Terrapin
- Send vehicle and driver details. Use the business quote form or call 240-243-0042 with the year, make, model and VIN of each vehicle, how it is titled, its use and typical radius, any trailers, and the name, date of birth and license number of every regular driver so we can pull motor vehicle records. Tell us about any contracts that specify auto limits, and whether employees drive their own cars for work.
- We quote the right structure. We confirm the use class and radius, set liability at $1M CSL unless you direct otherwise, add hired and non-owned auto, schedule trailers and physical damage, and run it through Progressive Commercial, Erie and any other market with appetite for your vehicles. If you have an umbrella or need one, we make sure the auto limits satisfy the underlying requirement.
- Bind and get on the road. Once you choose, we bind, issue ID cards for each vehicle and certificates to any contractors or clients who need them, and handle vehicle additions and swaps mid-term with a phone call or email.
Ready to get covered? Call 240-243-0042 or request a business insurance quote online. Our office is at 1300 Piccard Dr. #201, Rockville, MD 20850.