Stacy runs a daycare in San Antonio, and her kids absolutely love her. One of the most popular services her daycare offers is picking kids up from school and bringing them to the center each afternoon. The kids pile into the daycare vans with their backpacks, excited to talk about their day.
But one evening, Stacy started to worry. She’d heard about another daycare in town that had a van accident, and the owner was left with huge bills for repairs and medical costs. Stacy began to wonder: “What would happen if something like that happened to us? Do I even have the right insurance for our vans?”
If you’re like Stacy, you might not have thought much about commercial auto coverage before. Since many daycare facilities use vehicles for a myriad of reasons and purposes, it’s important to understand how insurance works and what kind of protection you need.
Do Daycares Need Commercial Auto Insurance?
If your daycare owns a van, bus, or car for daycare-related activities, you need commercial auto insurance. Regular personal auto policies don't cover vehicles used for business purposes, especially if it’s for picking up kids and transporting them.
Business auto insurance is built to cover the risks businesses face when they use vehicles. Since the risks are different when your business future is on the line, having the right automobile liability insurance is important. A business owner has to understand that the financial losses associated with a claim mount quickly beyond numbers that we can comprehend.
Commercial auto insurance coverage provides adequate coverage when your daycare vehicle is involved in an incident in three main areas.
- Liability Protection: If you or your driver causes an accident, this covers damage to the other person’s property damage to vehicles and medical costs for their injuries.
- Physical Damage: This helps pay for repairs or replacement to your daycare’s vehicle after an accident. It is often referred to as collision or comprehensive damage coverage.
- Medical Payments or PIP (Personal Injury Protection): Covers medical bills from bodily injury for your driver and passengers, no matter who caused the accident.
This made sense to Stacy and she understood why her daycare vans needed this kind of protection. Checking her policy to make sure it covered everything her daycare might face on the road gave her a sense of relief.
What If Staff Use Their Own Cars?
One of Stacy’s teachers sometimes runs daycare errands, like picking up snacks or supplies, in her personal car. Stacy assumed the teacher’s personal auto insurance would cover any problems. But when she talked to her daycare insurance agent, she learned this wasn’t true.
If an employee uses their own car for daycare business and gets into an accident, your daycare could be held responsible for damages. That’s where hired and non-owned auto insurance comes in. This type of coverage protects the business and the daycare owner in these situations, even if you don’t own the car.
Stacy quickly decided to add this coverage, and it gave her peace of mind knowing she wouldn’t be left paying for someone else’s accident out of her own pocket.
Why Liability Coverage and Safety Matter
Stacy also realized that transporting kids adds extra responsibility. If an accident happens while the kids are in the van, things can get complicated quickly. Child injuries often result in larger claims, especially if the parents believe the daycare didn’t take comprehensive safety measures.
Having enough liability coverage is key to handling these risks. This kind of insurance pays for things like medical costs or legal claims if someone sues after an accident. It’s smart to have larger than expected coverage limits to protect against the unexpected. Those higher limits come with a very minimal increase in insurance premiums. This is an excellent value.
But it’s not just about having insurance, though. Texas daycares must also follow strict safety measures and protocols when transporting children. These help keep accidents and their damage to a minimum. The top three factors to help keep insurance costs down are listed below.
- Use the right car seats or booster seats based on the child’s age and size.
- Keep vehicles well-maintained with regular inspections.
- Make sure drivers are qualified and have clean records.
While this list is by no means exhaustive, following these rules can help keep kids safe and avoid potential legal trouble. Stacy was excited that she not only had a workable insurance plan, she also was being proactive about keeping her children and staff safe.
What About Big Accidents?
Stacy’s agent also told her about umbrella insurance, which adds an extra layer of protection in case a really big accident happens. This additional coverage would kick in if her daycare van was involved in an accident with multiple injuries. The costs from the accident might exceed her regular insurance policy’s limits. Umbrella insurance would step in to cover the remaining costs, protecting her daycare from financial disaster.
Stay Covered with True Texas Education Insurance
After reviewing everything, Stacy worked with an experienced insurance agent at Insurance For Texans. Their True Texas Education Insurance program allowed her to get the right coverage for her daycare. They helped her make sure her vans, her staff, and the kids she cares for were all protected while making sure she had comprehensive daycare insurance coverage based on her unique operational needs.
Her independent agent who specializes in Texas daycare insurance also set up a regular policy review prior to her next renewal to make adjustments as her daycare grew. Now, Stacy feels confident every time her vans hit the road, knowing her childcare business is protected.
If your daycare uses vehicles for transportation, or other daycare insurance policies, it’s time to think about making sure you have the right insurance. Don’t leave your business open to risks that could cost you more than you’re prepared to handle.
Click the button below to learn more about transportation insurance with True Texas Education Insurance and keep your daycare moving forward!