Commercial Auto Insurance for Pet Care Businesses
Guard against vehicle-related property damage, medical bills, and other risks of the road while driving for your pet business with commercial auto insurance.
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What Is Commercial Auto Insurance?
Commercial auto insurance, aka commercial vehicle insurance, is designed to protect you from paying for expensive claims related to you or an employee driving company vehicles. In pet care, that could mean anything from backing your mobile grooming van into a pole to your pet taxi causing an accident with serious injuries or damage.
Do I Need Commercial Auto Insurance?
Most states require commercial auto insurance if your business uses company vehicles or if driving is part of your business. Commercial auto coverage also benefits you beyond driving legally — it protects you in situations where your personal auto insurance can’t.
Did you know: If you get in an accident, your business vehicle gets stolen, or you cause damage or injury with your car while driving for your pet business, your personal auto insurance typically won’t cover it.
Check your state regulations for commercial auto coverage if you offer pet services like these as your main business or as an add-on service:
- Mobile pet groomer
- Pet taxi
- Animal transporter
- Even a dog walker or pet sitter driving clients’ dogs to the park could be stuck with the bill if there’s a car accident.
How Does Commercial Auto Insurance Work?
Commercial auto insurance protects you from paying out of pocket for claims, lawsuits, damage, and medical bills related to driving for pet care. Here are a few ways commercial vehicle insurance works to keep pet pros safe on the road:
Estimated claim cost: $5,000
A dog walker accidentally backs into and damages a neighbor’s fence while driving their client’s pup to a hiking trail. Repairs could be covered under their commercial auto policy's property damage liability coverage.
Estimated cost: $10,000
A car side-swipes a mobile grooming van while parked at a client’s home. The car damages the branded paint job and crushes the bumper, but speeds away without leaving the groomer their info. Commercial auto could pay for repairs through collision and uninsured motorist coverages.
Estimated cost: $45,000
An animal transporter collides with another vehicle, damaging their truck, the other car, and a streetlight. Property damage liability and collision coverages could help pay and coordinate with public services for repairs.
Yes, It Really Happens
Covered: $1 Million Pet Taxi Accident
A PCI dog trainer who offers pet taxi services to and from sessions was en route to a client’s home to drop off their dog. A motorcycle collided with the trainer’s passenger door, injuring the motorcyclist and flipping their bike. Thankfully, the trainer and the client’s dog were not injured.
Accidents are more common (and pricier) than you think. Make sure you’re protected.
What Does Commercial Auto Insurance Cover?
Commercial auto coverage is customized to fit your pet business and state requirements, so you just pay for what you need. Depending on which coverages you include, these are the standard options in a commercial auto insurance policy:
What Types of Vehicles Are Covered by Commercial Auto Insurance?
Commercial auto insurance covers pet business vehicles like these:
- Mobile grooming vans
- Mobile grooming trailers
- Commercial cargo and animal transport vans
- Cars
- Pickup trucks
- Commercial vehicles like box trucks, service utility trucks, and commercial trucks
Do I Need Commercial Auto Insurance?
Your commercial vehicle insurance covers a lot of pet care driving situations, but it’s not designed for every risk. Here’s what commercial auto insurance doesn’t cover for pet businesses, and how other PCI coverages work to keep you and your furry clients safe:
Doesn’t Cover: Business property inside your vehicle
Solution: Equipment and Inventory Coverage (Inland Marine Insurance)
Suppose your dog crates get crushed in an accident, a cat chews through the dryer cord in your grooming van, or a windstorm damages the generator in your grooming trailer. Equipment and Inventory Insurance could pay for repairs or replacements. (Yes, those are all real claims PCI has covered!)
Doesn’t Cover: Animal injuries due to car accidents
Solution: Pet Protection Coverage, Veterinarian Reimbursement, and General Liability
If someone else’s pet gets injured in or by your vehicle while you’re on the job, your pet business insurance policy already covers it. Vet Reimbursement pays you back to get pets emergency treatment fast. Meanwhile, Pet Protection and General Liability cover claims and lawsuits related to pet injuries or deaths, even when they involve your car.
Doesn’t Cover: Unrelated medical expenses
Solution: Workers Compensation or General Liability Insurance
Commercial auto insurance won’t pay for medical costs not caused by your employee driving a company vehicle. If you need coverage for those employee accidents and injuries (anything from dog bites to slips and falls), you want Workers Comp Insurance.
To cover third-party injuries related to your services (but not your driving), every PCI policy already includes General Liability coverage. It pays for things like a client’s pet knocking down a bystander or biting someone else’s pet.
Doesn’t Cover: Non-work-related employee accidents in a personal vehicle
Solution: Your employees’ personal auto insurance
If your employee gets in an accident while driving their own car for personal reasons, their personal auto insurance would pay for the damage.
Want to cover employees driving their own cars for work? Adding Hired and Non-Owned Auto Insurance to your policy can cover harm employees cause to others while driving for you. Workers Comp could cover injuries to employees driving their own cars on the clock.
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How Much Does Commercial Auto Insurance Cost?
Commercial auto coverage is tailored to fit your state requirements, vehicle type, business risks, and the limits you choose, so prices vary. Average costs range around $2,500 to $5,000 annually, but you can get your exact policy price by requesting a free quote online.
Why PCI for Commercial Auto Insurance?
Generic business insurance doesn’t always do right by pets and pet businesses — it’s just not built for the risks you face. Pet Care Insurance (PCI) is designed specifically for pet pros. Whether you’re on the road, in clients’ homes, or somewhere in between, we take care of the risks so you can focus on putting pets first.
We offer commercial auto insurance for pet pros through our partner, The Hartford, and help you manage all your business insurance in one place through your PCI dashboard. Have questions? Our friendly, licensed customer support agents are ready to help.
How to Get Commercial Auto Insurance for Your Pet Business
You can apply for commercial auto insurance if you already have general liability coverage through PCI. (If you have any pet business policy with us, that’s you.) Select commercial auto in your user dashboard, then fill out and submit your online application. This is the information you’ll need to apply:
- Your name
- Your business name
- Your state
- Your industry
- Type of insurance
- Your business phone number
- Your business email address
FAQs About Commercial Auto Insurance
Is commercial auto insurance tax-deductible for pet care businesses?
Commercial auto coverage is usually tax-deductible when it’s ordinary (most businesses like yours insure their company vehicle) and necessary (if you’re required to insure your company vehicle). Deducting your mileage may be another route if you’re a solo operation and drive your car for work and everyday life. Ask a tax expert for help understanding your options.
What is the difference between personal auto insurance and commercial auto insurance?
Personal auto insurance is your regular car insurance — it covers personal vehicles driven for personal reasons. Commercial auto insurance covers company-owned cars you or your employees use for business reasons.
What auto insurance do I need if I’m a pet taxi or a mobile pet groomer?
Pet taxis and mobile groomers need commercial auto insurance to cover driving related to their business and personal auto insurance to cover everyday driving outside of work. Here are a few common vehicle-use scenarios for pet businesses and how to stay covered:
- Dual-use vehicles: A self-employed pet taxi driving the same car to pick up furry clients and outside of work typically needs commercial and personal auto insurance. Check your state’s commercial auto rules to be safe.
- Business-only vehicles: If you’re a pet groomer with a mobile grooming van you only use for work, commercial auto insurance would cover your van and your liability for harm and damage to others.
- Pet business owners with company vehicles: Let’s say you own an animal transport business with a fleet of company vans. You would need commercial vehicle insurance to protect your investment and guard against expensive claims. Your policy covers you and your employees while driving your company vehicles for work.
- Pet business owners without company vehicles: Alternatively, you might run a dog walking agency or a multi-driver pet taxi business where your employees drive their own cars. Adding Hired and Non-Owned Auto Insurance to your commercial auto policy could cover your risk for harm to other people caused by employees’ driving.
- Pet business employees and contractors: If you don’t own the business where you work, your employer may have commercial auto insurance that covers you. Ask about their insurance and whether you’re protected under their policy while driving for work.
Does commercial auto insurance cover animal transporters who operate in multiple states?
Commercial vehicle insurance is designed for nationwide coverage. Your policy follows your state’s auto insurance laws, which often provide coverage in other states. Still, some states require higher auto insurance limits than others, so choose limits for your policy based on the states where you plan to do business.
Do I need commercial auto coverage if I only use my car for work sometimes?
Any time you drive during pet care without commercial auto insurance, you risk accident claims being denied because you were using a personal car for business reasons. Hospital bills and car repairs are expensive claims that can sink a small business, so it pays to be prepared with the proper coverage.
What happens if my work vehicle is stolen or vandalized?
The comprehensive coverage option under your commercial auto policy can pay for repairs or replacements if someone steals or vandalizes a company vehicle, like a pet grooming van.
See What Else We Cover
You can buy workers comp insurance or surety/fidelity bonds through the same application as your commercial auto policy. Or, consider these other coverages PCI offers to keep you safe while watching pets on the go:
