If you operate a flower shop, bringing people joy and comfort during meaningful moments in life is a significant part of your job. However, sometimes unexpected events can catch you off guard in your quest to spread cheer. What would happen if your delivery driver were involved in an accident? It is tempting to assume a business insurance policy covers every possible scenario your flower shop might encounter. While some policies are indeed very thorough, there can still be gaps, especially when it comes to insuring delivery vehicles. Here is what you need to know about protecting your business.
Essential Takeaways:
- Standard business policies usually exclude vehicle accidents.
- Commercial auto and general liability insurance policies differ in important ways.
- Your personal auto insurance might not apply to deliveries made with your vehicle.
- Several common coverage gaps can leave flower shops vulnerable.
- You should verify you are adequately protected right away.
Why Your Business Policy Probably Doesn’t Cover Delivery Accidents
Did you know that most general liability policies for small businesses exclude vehicle-related incidents? This catches some owners off guard, even though it is often stipulated explicitly in the policy. Although your business owner’s policy (BOP) might cover slip-and-fall accidents at your shop, customer injuries, and property damage, this coverage won’t apply when your employees get behind the wheel of a vehicle for business purposes.
The reality is that vehicles represent an entirely different risk profile than storefront operations, and you need separate commercial auto insurance to address that exposure.
What Happens When Your Driver Uses Their Personal Vehicle?
Let’s say you don’t have company vehicles. Instead, your delivery drivers use their own cars, and you reimburse them for mileage. This might sound like a smart way to save money, but it may not be the best move from a liability standpoint.
When an employee uses their personal vehicle for business deliveries, their personal auto insurance is typically the primary coverage. However, most personal auto policies exclude regular business use. This means that if your driver is making deliveries three times a week, it could well exceed what their personal policy considers “occasional” business use. In the event of an accident, their insurance company could deny the claim entirely, leaving both you and your employee exposed.
Although some personal policies allow incidental business use, coverage limits tend to be minimal in such cases. According to the Insurance Information Institute, the average auto liability claim involving bodily injury was $28,278 in 2024. That’s just the average; serious accidents can easily exceed hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of dollars in damages.
Understanding Commercial Auto Insurance for Flower Shops
If you own or lease any vehicles for your flower shop, commercial auto insurance is not optional; it’s necessary. This will protect your business if a company vehicle is involved in an accident, regardless of who is at fault.
Commercial policies generally offer higher liability limits than personal auto insurance, which can provide a valuable lifeline in the event of a business-related lawsuit. It can also cover damage to your own vehicles, along with uninsured motorist coverage and medical payments.
It is worth checking whether your commercial auto policy includes Hired and Non-Owned Auto (HNOA) coverage. This gives you valuable liability protection when an employee uses a personal vehicle for business purposes or when you rent a car for deliveries.
The Gray Areas That Create Problems
Insurance rarely fits into neat categories, and flower shop delivery scenarios can involve many gray areas. What would happen if your driver stopped to run a personal errand between deliveries and an accident occurred? What if they let their spouse borrow the delivery van on the weekend? What coverage would you have if your refrigerated truck broke down and you rented a delivery truck for the day?
These situations are familiar sources of coverage disputes. Insurance companies often look for reasons to deny claims, and these types of ambiguous circumstances are often enough to leave you responsible for paying everything. The best approach is to secure proper commercial auto coverage and issue clear written policies about vehicle use.
Steps to Verify Your Coverage Today
The worst time to find out you have coverage gaps is after an accident. Therefore, if you can’t answer any of the following questions, you should check your policy or ask your agent right away:
- Does your general liability policy exclude vehicle accidents?
- If your drivers use their own vehicles for deliveries, do you have hired and non-owned auto coverage?
- What are your liability limits, and are they adequate for your delivery volume?
- Does your policy cover rental vehicles while your delivery van is getting repaired?
- Are there any exclusions you should know about?
The Bottom Line on Delivery Vehicle Protection
Flower shops operate on tight margins, and, understandably, you would rather invest in inventory or marketing. However, delivery vehicles are one of your biggest liability exposures, and you could be setting yourself up for financial ruin if you take shortcuts on insurance coverage.
Think about how many deliveries your shop makes each week, and then multiply it by 52 weeks a year. Every single one of those trips is a potential accident waiting to happen, no matter how careful you and your employees are. Responsible coverage is not pessimistic; it’s about being realistic in a world where distracted drivers and litigation are common.
We Can Help You Review Your Coverage
At John M. Glover Insurance Agency, we specialize in providing practical insurance solutions for small businesses, not complicated policies they can’t understand. If you are unsure whether your flower shop has adequate coverage for delivery vehicle accidents, we’d be happy to review your existing policies with you and establish coverage that suits your budget while providing your business with adequate protection. Reach out today to schedule a consultation.
