In order to ensure adequate protection, you need to figure out whether your car is a personal vehicle, or a commercial vehicle. While the line may be hazy, there are a few key points that insurance companies will cite to classify a car as a commercial auto:

• You use your car to pick up work supplies or deliver goods
• You perform business services in your car for pay
• You use your car to travel between work locations
• You use your car to visit clients

The last two points can be a little hazy. If you run a graphic design business — and you usually deal with clients entirely online — but a client wants to meet in person, that one-off visit might not mean that you now own a company car. But if you make a regular habit of it, then you might be better off with commercial auto insurance than a standard personal vehicle policy.

The difference may seem trivial, but it's quite important. If you are in an accident while performing work-related duties in your car, and you do not have a commercial auto insurance policy in place, then your insurer may choose not to cover the damages.

If you use your personal vehicle for business on an occasional basis, you might not need to get covered under a commercial policy. But you should talk to your insurer and let them know that you might make a delivery or visit a client now and then. That way they can make a note of it.

As always, the best course of action is to be honest with your Consolidated Insurance Markets agent when buying your policy, and to update them on new developments as necessary.

Your agent's job is to assess your risk and provide adequate coverage. So, they need to know what those risks are.

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