Georgia Commercial Auto Insurance

Georgia requires every vehicle used for business to carry liability insurance under O.C.G.A. Title 33, with a floor of 25/50/25 (O.C.G.A. 33-7-11): $25,000 bodily injury per person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 property damage. A personal auto policy excludes most business use, so a car, van, or truck titled to your company, or driven by employees on the job, needs a commercial auto policy. It pays for injuries and damage your business causes to others, physical damage to the vehicles, and hired or non-owned auto exposure. A free coverage review matches limits and coverages to your operation.

What does commercial auto insurance cover in Georgia?

Commercial auto is built for the way businesses actually use vehicles. A policy usually combines four parts.

• Liability coverage. Pays for injuries and property damage your business causes to other people while operating company vehicles. Limits run higher than personal auto because a business carries more risk. If a Marietta plumbing company van rear-ends a car on I-75, liability pays the other driver's medical bills and vehicle repair up to the policy limit.
• Physical damage. Collision and comprehensive coverage on the vehicles themselves, including accidents, theft, vandalism, weather, and falling objects. If hail dents a Macon contractor's truck in a parking lot, comprehensive pays the repair minus the deductible.
• Hired and non-owned auto. Liability when employees drive their own or rented vehicles for work. If a Savannah caterer's employee uses her personal car for a delivery and causes a crash, hired and non-owned auto responds for the business.
• Uninsured and underinsured motorist. Pays medical bills and lost wages when your driver is hit by a driver who has no coverage or not enough. Georgia insurers must offer this coverage (O.C.G.A. 33-7-11). If your driver is struck by an uninsured driver on Buford Highway, uninsured motorist coverage steps in.

Commercial vehicles carry real exposure on Georgia roads. In 2023, large trucks were involved in 8.2 percent of the vehicle involvements in fatal crashes in Georgia, according to NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System. Nationally, 70 percent of people killed in large-truck crashes are in the other vehicle (NHTSA, 2023), which is why carriers underwrite commercial auto more conservatively than personal auto.

What does commercial auto not cover?

A commercial auto policy has edges. Common gaps include:

• Personal use limits. Some policy forms restrict personal use of company vehicles. If a driver keeps the van for weekend errands, confirm the form allows it.
• Cargo and goods in transit. What you are hauling is generally excluded. If a Columbus florist's truck crashes and the flowers are ruined, the flowers need inland marine or motor truck cargo coverage, not commercial auto.
• Specialized mounted equipment. Cranes, lifts, and similar gear bolted to a vehicle follow special rules, and damage to the equipment itself often has to be scheduled separately.
• Unlisted or high-risk drivers. Drivers with suspended licenses, poor records, or classes outside what is filed with the carrier may not be covered. Accurate driver lists and regular motor vehicle record checks keep the policy intact.

What does Georgia law require for business vehicles?

Georgia requires all motor vehicles, commercial or personal, to carry liability coverage under O.C.G.A. Title 33. The statutory floor is 25/50/25 (O.C.G.A. 33-7-11). For vehicles operating for hire within Georgia, the Georgia Department of Public Safety sets minimum financial responsibility limits above that floor. Vehicles that cross state lines or move freight for hire must also meet federal FMCSA requirements and carry filings such as an MCS-90 endorsement, which sits on top of the underlying commercial policy. An owner-operator in Dalton hauling freight across the Tennessee line files an MCS-90 alongside the commercial auto coverage.

Who needs commercial auto insurance in Georgia?

Any business that owns vehicles, has employees who drive for work, or relies on personal vehicles for deliveries, client visits, or job sites. When those employees can be hurt on the job, workers compensation is a separate coverage: Georgia requires it once a business regularly employs three or more people (O.C.G.A. 34-9-2(a)(2)). An Alpharetta HVAC company with four technicians driving three vans needs both commercial auto for the vehicles and workers comp for the crew. Businesses without owned vehicles, such as a consultant whose staff run errands in personal cars, often add hired and non-owned auto to a business owners policy instead.

What does commercial auto insurance cost in Georgia?

Price varies by vehicle type, driver records, radius of operation, and claims history. Most small business commercial auto policies run between $1,000 and $4,000 per vehicle per year, and trucking or long-radius operations cost more. Metro Atlanta's I-285, I-85, and I-75 corridors are among the higher-exposure territories in the Southeast, and carriers reflect that in pricing for fleets based in or traveling through the metro. Georgia's litigation environment historically pushed commercial auto liability costs up; the tort reform package signed in April 2025 targets those legal-system costs, and several carriers have begun adjusting commercial lines pricing in response. Progressive Commercial, The Hartford, Hanover Commercial, Travelers Commercial, BHHC, and CNA are among the carriers available through Olive Cover for Georgia commercial auto. A landscaping crew running one pickup and a trailer prices very differently from a regional carrier running five box trucks, and a coverage review matches the vehicle type, driver profile, and radius to the right market.

How do Georgia claims and bad-faith rules work?

Georgia's Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act (O.C.G.A. 33-6-30 to 37) sets the timelines. Your insurer must acknowledge a claim within 15 days and decide a first-party property claim within 15 days of a completed proof of loss, or within 30 days of the claim being reported if proof of loss is not required. A denial must be in writing and must cite the specific policy provisions. Under O.C.G.A. 33-4-6, if a carrier refuses to pay a covered claim, you can make a written demand; if it fails to pay within 60 days and a court finds the refusal was in bad faith, the penalty runs up to 50 percent of the loss or $5,000, whichever is greater, plus attorney's fees. Georgia also uses modified comparative negligence (O.C.G.A. 51-12-33): a party found 50 percent or more at fault recovers nothing, and below that, recovery is reduced by their share of fault. A Georgia delivery driver found 30 percent at fault in a crash can still recover 70 percent of the damages; at 50 percent or more, recovery is barred.

How do you handle a commercial auto claim in Georgia?

Business claims move fast and often involve serious injury and property damage, so the basics matter more.

• Get everyone safe and call 911 for any injury.
• Always call the police and get the report number on scene. A police report is central evidence in a commercial auto claim.
• Photograph every vehicle, the damage, the scene from several angles, plates, the other driver's insurance card, and road conditions.
• Have the driver write an internal incident report while memory is fresh.
• Notify your carrier promptly. Commercial policies require prompt notice.
• Do not let the driver give a recorded statement to the other party's insurer; refer all contact to your carrier.
• Preserve dashcam, GPS, and telematics data right away, since it can be overwritten. Full claims guidance walks through each step.

Where to go next

Commercial auto is one piece of a business insurance program. Many Georgia businesses pair it with general liability, a business owners policy, and workers compensation. If a vehicle is used part for work and part for personal errands, the personal auto and commercial lines interact, and a review sorts out which policy responds. For the national overview of this coverage, see commercial auto insurance, browse the sourced numbers on the Georgia insurance facts page, or read more in the FAQ library. When you are ready, a licensed advisor will read your operation and quote coverage that applies when you have a claim. Start with a free coverage review.

Olive Cover is the consumer brand of Olive Insurance Services, LLC, an independent property and casualty agency licensed in Georgia. We work for you, not one insurance company.