General contractor commercial auto insurance in California

A GC account usually opens at a $1 million combined single limit. A small residential builder whose clients and lenders don't require that much can step down to $750,000, $500,000 or $300,000, but read the contract first. Public agencies, commercial owners and most construction lenders typically put the auto limit in writing, and a certificate that comes up short can stall a progress payment or a notice to proceed.

Commercial contracts rarely stop at a number. The owner, architect or property manager will often want language saying your coverage is primary and noncontributory, additional insured status on your auto policy and a waiver of subrogation. Each of those is usually handled by endorsement. Some carriers attach them on a blanket basis for anyone you've agreed in writing to cover; others want each name scheduled. Send us the insurance exhibit while you're still bidding so there's time to request the endorsements it calls for before the job starts. When an owner wants more auto protection than $1 million, the extra is usually met with an umbrella or excess policy sitting above the auto, rather than a bigger auto limit.

Filings come up less for GCs than for haulers, but a heavy dump or a large flatbed can change that. Our Motor Carrier Permit guide explains when the permit generally applies and how the carrier makes the MC 65 M filing for you.

• A driver list covering supers, foremen and laborers, with license numbers and dates of birth, and a note on who's allowed to tow or drive the dump.
• Every trailer, the heaviest machine it carries and which truck pulls it.
• Your split between residential and commercial work, the counties you build in and your farthest active job.
• Which pickups go home with superintendents and whether they're driven on weekends.
• How you collect and track subcontractors' certificates, including their auto limits.
• Which machines you haul yourself and which ones the rental yard delivers.
• Three to five years of loss runs, with a short note on any trailer, backing or road-debris claim.

A GC who reviews MVRs at hire and every year after, runs cameras on the trucks that tow and keeps a clean certificate log for subs gives the underwriter something concrete to credit. Our fleet safety and claims defense guide explains what each of those controls can do once a loss is reported.

If a past claim involved a trailer coming loose or debris leaving a dump, say what changed afterward: new safety chains, a tarp rule, a hitch check every Monday morning. A clear answer to the follow-up question often matters as much as the claim itself.

A builder with one pickup and a dump trailer is usually rated like a small business auto account, and the owner's driving record does most of the talking. Single trucks are welcome here; business auto for one to four vehicles covers how carriers rate them. If the dump trailer is the heaviest thing you tow, say so up front; it helps keep the account in front of carriers that write small builders rather than haulers.

Between five and ten units, the account starts to read as a fleet. Each super has a truck, there are two or three trailers, and maybe a dump. The carrier will often want a written rule on who may drive which unit, especially the trailers and the dump, because that's where the severe claims tend to come from.

From eleven to fifty, trucks are usually assigned to projects rather than to people, and they move between divisions as jobs open and close. Underwriters tend to look closely at the loss trend year by year, at how quickly a new hire gets the keys and at whether driver files follow the truck when it changes jobs. Add a truck by endorsement before it reaches a site, and when a job wraps and a pickup is sold, tell us so it comes off the schedule instead of riding along until renewal.

A general contractor sits in the middle of the certificate chain. Owners, developers and property managers usually want proof of your auto coverage before you mobilize, and you ask each subcontractor for the same proof before they set foot on site. That second half helps protect your own policy. When a framer's flatbed or an electrician's van causes a crash on the way into your job, the injured driver often names the GC as well, and the sub's auto policy is the one that ought to answer.

A quick review of each sub's certificate covers four points: the auto limit meets your subcontract; the policy covers owned, hired and non-owned autos; the dates run through the end of the job; and any additional insured wording you required appears as an endorsement rather than a remark typed on the certificate. A certificate is typically informational only and doesn't amend the policy, so ask for the endorsement page when the contract calls for one.

Underwriters who see a disciplined certificate process tend to read the whole account as well run. When subs ask what their own auto should look like, point them to our pages for framing crews, drywall contractors and the rest of the commercial auto trades we write.