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What Transport and Automotive Insurance Covers
Transport and automotive insurance covers the vehicles, the customers' vehicles, the premises and the liability of businesses built around moving people and goods: auto repair and mechanical workshops, car dealerships, ride share and rental operators, logistics fleets, and the services that support aviation and marine operations. Vehicles, customers, staff and the public meet every day, and so do the claims.
A car is damaged during a repair or a test drive. A customer is injured on the forecourt. A transporter drops a vehicle in transit. A rental car is in an accident with a hirer at the wheel. A fleet with twenty trucks on the road every day has accidents as a matter of arithmetic, and each one takes a vehicle out of service. Theft, fire, storm and cyber attacks reach these businesses the same way they reach any other.
Vehicles on public roads carry compulsory third party injury cover through the state scheme, and everything else, from the damage to the vehicle to the liability for the other party's property, is the business's own policy to arrange. Workshops and dealers that hold customers' vehicles need a motor trade wording, because an ordinary commercial motor policy does not cover a car the business does not own.
Fortis Risk Solutions arranges transport and automotive insurance for operators across Australia from offices in Box Hill and Hawthorn, as part of our business insurance range. We look at the vehicles, the premises, who drives and whose vehicles are in your care before approaching insurers. Fleets start with commercial motor insurance; cargo with marine insurance; the workshop with a business insurance package.
Who this covers
Vehicles, customers and the public meet every day in these businesses. The notes below set out each type.
Auto repair and mechanical workshops
Customers’ vehicles on the hoist and on the road for testing. A motor trade policy for vehicles in your care, the workshop premises and equipment, public and products liability for the work done, and the vehicles the business owns.
Car dealerships
Stock on the lot, demonstrators and vehicles in for service. A motor trade wording with a floating stock sum insured, showroom and service department property and liability, and the finance and warranty exposures that sit in professional and management liability.
Ride share and rental services
Hirers and platform drivers at the wheel. Rental fleets need a policy written for hire vehicles with the hirer as a permitted driver; ride share drivers need business use on their own policy, because the platform cover applies only in limited circumstances.
Fleet operators
Trucks and vans on the road every day. Commercial motor, downtime cover for vehicles off the road, carriers liability for goods carried and public liability for loading, with the accident record and driver controls setting the rating. See the commercial motor insurance page.
Aviation and marine services
Ground handling, maintenance, refuelling, mooring and storage for aircraft and vessels. Liability written for the activity, property for hangars and sheds, and cover for customers’ aircraft or vessels in your care, with limits set by the airport, port or marina contract.
Transport and Automotive Insurance: Cover Sections and Benefits
Transport and Automotive Insurance FAQs
A motor trade policy, which combines cover for customers' vehicles in your care, the vehicles you own and drive, the workshop premises and equipment, and public and products liability for the work you do. Standard business insurance does not cover a customer's car on the hoist. Workers compensation is compulsory for every employer and sits in a separate policy.
Dealer stock sits under a motor trade wording with a floating sum insured for the vehicles on the lot and in transit, plus cover for demonstrators, test drives and vehicles in for service. The showroom and the service department need property and liability cover, and the finance and warranty side brings professional and management liability questions. Floor plan lenders usually set minimum requirements.
Downtime cover, which pays for lost income while a vehicle is off the road after an accident, and which a fleet working every day should treat as standard. Carriers liability for the goods carried, if the fleet moves freight. Public liability insurance for loading and unloading. Business interruption insurance for the depot. And driver management records, because insurers rate a fleet on its accident history and its controls.
No. A rental fleet needs a policy written for hire vehicles, with the hirer as a permitted driver and the excess arrangements matched to the rental agreement. Ride share drivers using their own cars need a policy that covers business use, since private motor usually excludes it, and the platform's own cover applies only in limited circumstances. We read the rental or platform agreement before placing cover.
Liability written for the specific activity: ground handling, maintenance, refuelling, mooring, slipping or storage, each with its own wording and limits. Property cover for hangars, sheds and equipment. Cover for customers' aircraft or vessels in your care, which is a different policy from the owner's own aircraft insurance. The limits are set by the airport, port or marina contract, and the specialist markets for this work are small, so the submission has to be right first time.
Motor trade and fleet wordings turn on driver conditions, vehicle schedules, excess structures, test drive rules and whose vehicle is covered where. FRS helps you disclose the operation accurately, structure the schedule so nothing is double insured or missed, compare specialist motor trade and fleet insurers and act as your advocate at claim time, including recovery against the driver at fault.
Related pages
Related industry groups: Trade and Logistics Insurance, Construction and Trades Insurance, Events and Entertainment Insurance
Talk to a broker about Transport and Automotive Insurance
Call 03 7046 3766 on weekdays between 9:30am and 6pm, email admin@fortisrisksolutions.com.au, or send an enquiry and a broker from our Box Hill or Hawthorn office will come back to you about transport and automotive insurance. Tell us what the business does and what the lease or contract asks for, and we take it from there.