Business vs. Personal car insurance question.

[camipls]

If we have personal auto insurance on our personal use car through TD, and have commercial insurance through Allstate on the electric work vehicle. (Same primary driver on both vehicles). Does one accident on a business car affect the personal rates through td? Or will TD be none the wiser since we didn’t make any claims through them?

Thanks!!

 

[mark264]

@camipls Depends on how companies rate. It's the driver that's usually rated and if that company does rate claims rated elsewhere then .... Consider other options as many insurers do not rate claims already rated elsewhere.

 

[camipls]

@mark264 Thank you! So I should search for a provider that doesn’t not rate claims rated elsewhere.

But they all rate drivers am I correct?

 

[resjudicata]

@camipls Usually yes, if the class of vehicle, such as a regular car, is the same then it will make a difference on both policies. The claims will show up when you decide to change insurers and they check your license.

Only time It won’t affect your rate is if you have a crash with a heavy vehicle such as a truck, that claim will show up on your personal policy but it will not affect the rate as it is a different class of vehicle.

 

[sovereignone]

@camipls You use Business and Commercial interchangeably in your post, but they're often distinct. Many personal lines insurers will insure certain business use a personal lines policy. This could be done in a number of ways, whether the policy is in your name with business use indicated (in addition to any commute and personal use), or with the policy under your business name with business use indicated, but still written as a personal lines policy.

Most insurers would have a threshold or criteria beyond which they would deem the usage to be commercial, at which point they may have a commercial division that would insure you, or they would refuse to insure you at all and instead refer you to find a broker or commercial insurer that would.

Business use could be a realtor, for example, who in addition to their personal use and commuting (which is usually not defined as business use, at least not according to the CRA) is using their vehicle to go to showings, etc. Most personal lines insurers would cover this as acceptable business use as it's low risk. Could also be a lawyer, doctor, or tradesperson who carries a toolbelt or small toolbox in their personal vehicle.

Commercial use could be something like an electrician who has a cube van with no seats in the back, all sorts of gear, etc. and signage on the vehicle. The vehicle is not used for anything BUT their business. Many insurers would find this incredibly risky and would require this to be written under a commercial plan.

The distinction is important, because claims under a commercial policy should not be rated for under a personal lines policy. When I pull an Autoplus report, which details past insurance history, it will show me any and all policies you've had but will flag commercial policies, and my software will not rate for any claims associated with those policies (in some cases this has to be done manually.)

So, again, where you use business in the title, commercial initially in the post but then later business, you might have to clarify or find out if that policy is in fact a personal lines business policy or a commercial lines policy. That should then answer your question.