Personal auto is built for household driving. Commercial auto is built for vehicles the business owns, rents, or sends employees out in. Insurers care about title, use, and radius — not what you call the truck in conversation.
A service van, a contractor fleet, or a car that does deliveries all day is commercial use even if it comes home at night. Putting that unit on a personal policy is how a claim gets delayed or denied. The same gap shows up when staff run errands in their own cars on company business. That is hired and non-owned auto, and it belongs on the commercial form when the exposure is real.
Move it to commercial auto if
- The title is in the company name.
- The vehicle carries tools, inventory, or customers as a regular part of the job.
- You rent vans or have employees driving personal cars for work.
- A personal insurer has already said the use is commercial.
Liability limits on the auto policy should match the rest of the program. If GL and auto are $1 million and a contract wants $5 million, the next conversation is a commercial umbrella, not a hope that the auto policy will be enough. Pair this with the commercial liability renewal checklist before the next certificate request.