Three parts of the fleet carry different exposure, and each is underwritten on its own terms.
Service Vans and On-Call Vehicles
Service vans and pickups carrying pipe stock, water heaters and diagnostic equipment need liability written at the limit your commercial customers request, almost always a $1,000,000 combined single limit in Tampa Bay. Physical damage covers the van itself, including the shelving and ladder racks that have to be declared before a claim, not after one.
Florida's baseline underneath every registered vehicle is thin: $10,000 in personal injury protection and $10,000 in property damage liability (ss. 627.736, 324.022, Fla. Stat.), nowhere near what a service van doing calls along Dale Mabry Highway or through South Tampa needs. Van-specific detail is on our work van and cargo van insurance page.
Jetting Trucks and Camera Equipment
A jetting truck is really two assets on one chassis: the truck and the jetting unit bolted to it. Auto physical damage pays for the chassis; the jetting equipment, the pipe camera and the reels of cable need to be scheduled separately, or a claim can leave the truck paid and the equipment not.
Loaded jetting trucks get heavy fast, and weight triggers Florida's commercial vehicle rules. Any vehicle with three or more axles counts as a commercial motor vehicle regardless of what it weighs (s. 320.01(25), Fla. Stat.), and a loaded combination that passes 10,001 pounds crosses the federal commercial motor vehicle threshold for interstate use (49 C.F.R. § 390.5T). See commercial truck insurance for how those trucks are rated.
Excavator and Equipment Trailers
A repipe or a sewer lateral repair sometimes turns into a dig, and the mini excavator or trencher that shows up rides on a trailer the auto policy does not automatically cover for physical damage. Liability generally follows the trailer while it is behind the truck; theft and damage to the trailer and the machine on it need their own line, and trailer theft from job sites is one of the more common claims we see on Tampa Bay contractor accounts. Details are on our trailer and equipment insurance page.
