Not by lowering your limit: clean the driver list, raise deductibles, shop the fleet with your other policies. Florida's own auto minimums are tiny, just $10,000 of personal injury protection and $10,000 of property damage liability for a standard truck, so the state is not why your bill is high. Your trucks, drivers, and claims are. Who this is for: a Florida contractor whose auto renewal jumped.
The short version
- Florida requires only $10,000 of personal injury protection and $10,000 of property damage to register a standard truck. Contracts require $1,000,000.
- Heavy trucks are different. Florida sets combined liability limits of $50,000 to $300,000 by weight on vehicles it treats as commercial motor vehicles.
- Drivers move the price more than trucks. Pull driving records before your insurer does.
- Raise the deductible, the part of a repair bill you pay before the insurer pays, on trucks you could afford to fix yourself.
- Never put a work truck on a personal auto policy to save money. Business use is usually excluded.
What does Florida actually require on my trucks?
Very little, which surprises most contractors. The higher limits apply only to vehicles Florida treats as commercial motor vehicles: 26,001 pounds or more, or three or more axles whatever the weight, or a combination over 26,001 pounds. Within that group, F.S. 627.7415 sets the combined limit by weight bracket.
| Vehicle | Florida legal minimum |
|---|---|
| Pickup or cargo van, two axles, under 26,001 pounds | $10,000 personal injury protection and $10,000 property damage liability to register. No bodily injury liability required. |
| Commercial motor vehicle | Combined bodily injury and property damage liability of $50,000 per occurrence at 26,000 pounds or more but less than 35,000; $100,000 at 35,000 or more but less than 44,000; $300,000 at 44,000 or more (F.S. 627.7415) |
| For-hire or interstate trucking | Federal minimums instead. See the Florida trucking liability limits guide. |
Whatever the weight, your contracts will ask for $1,000,000 combined single limit, plus coverage for rented and employee vehicles. The legal floors sit far below what any contract accepts.
What drives my commercial auto price in Florida?
| Factor | Why it matters | Your lever |
|---|---|---|
| Drivers | One serious violation can raise the whole fleet's price or get you declined | Pull driving records yearly and remove drivers who left |
| Vehicles | Heavier and newer trucks cost more; repair coverage tracks value | Drop collision and comprehensive on trucks worth little |
| Radius | Local work prices lower than statewide travel | Report your real radius |
| Deductibles | A $500 deductible costs more than $2,500 | Pick the highest one you could pay tomorrow |
| Claims | Auto is the line insurers worry about most, and small claims add up | Pay small dents yourself, report injuries fast |
Which levers really lower a Florida contractor's auto bill?
- Clean the driver list. Every listed driver is rated. One who quit last spring still costs you if nobody told the insurer.
- Raise deductibles. Moving collision and comprehensive from $500 to $2,500 often trims a real share of the repair premium.
- Drop repair coverage on old trucks. A twelve year old van worth a few thousand dollars does not need collision coverage that can run several hundred dollars a year. Illustrative only; it moves with the vehicle's value, age, and your deductible.
- Package it. Insurers price a fleet differently when they also write your liability and umbrella.
- Report radius accurately. A Tampa plumber who never leaves two counties should not be rated for statewide travel.
- Add hired and non-owned coverage. It protects your business when someone is hurt, or property damaged, by a rented vehicle or by an employee driving their own car on your errand. It does not repair that employee's car and does not cover them as the owner. If you are a sole proprietor, your own pickup is generally not a non-owned auto either, so it needs its own commercial policy.
National version: cheaper commercial auto for contractors.
Why did my Florida auto renewal go up with no claims?
Because the whole market went up, not because of anything you did. Commercial auto prices have been climbing 8 to 20 percent a year nationally, and claim costs are still rising. That is no reason to accept the renewal. Shop the fleet with your other policies and fix the levers above first. (Source: WTW's 2026 national construction outlook.)
What should I never do to cut the auto bill?
| Shortcut | What it costs you |
|---|---|
| Put work trucks on a personal auto policy | Personal policies usually exclude business use. A claim gets denied and your certificate gets rejected. |
| Carry only the state minimum | Legal to register, but no contract accepts it, and if you have an umbrella it attaches at the limit shown in its schedule, usually $1,000,000. Anything below that is a gap the umbrella does not fill. You pay it. |
| Leave off hired and non-owned coverage | An employee crashes their own car on a supply run and the claim lands on your business with no policy behind it. See when a contract requires auto and you own no vehicle. |
| Skip the driver check | The underwriter pulls the records anyway, and a surprise violation can mean a decline instead of a price |
What this looks like in real life
Illustrative example. It is typical of what we see and is not a promise of how any specific situation would be handled.
The setup: A plumbing contractor in Jacksonville runs six service vans and one heavy truck and pays an illustrative $21,000 a year for commercial auto with $1,000,000 of liability. Two vans are twelve years old, and a technician who left eight months ago is still on the driver list.
What went wrong: The old vans carry full collision and comprehensive at a $500 deductible, the departed driver is still rated, and the policy sits with an insurer that writes nothing else.
What it cost: The broker removed the former driver, raised deductibles to $2,500, dropped repair coverage on the two old vans, and moved the fleet to the insurer that writes the liability and umbrella. The new premium was an illustrative $16,400, about $4,600 less.
The fix: Liability stayed where the contracts need it. The savings came from paying for what the trucks are worth, rating the drivers who actually drive, and buying the fleet as a package.
Frequently asked questions
Q: How can I find cheaper commercial auto insurance for contractors in Florida?
Keep liability at the $1,000,000 your contracts require, clean up the driver list, raise deductibles, drop repair coverage on old trucks, and shop the fleet with your other policies.
Q: What auto insurance does Florida require for a contractor's pickup?
Only $10,000 of personal injury protection and $10,000 of property damage liability to register a standard vehicle. Florida does not require bodily injury liability on most vehicles. Your contracts are why you carry $1,000,000.
Q: Does the driver list really change my price that much?
Yes. Every listed driver is rated, and one serious violation can move the whole fleet or cause a decline. Remove people who left and pull driving records before the underwriter does.
Q: Can I insure my work truck on my personal auto policy in Florida?
Usually not. Personal auto policies typically exclude business use, and a general contractor will not accept a personal policy on a certificate.
Q: Should I keep collision coverage on an old van?
Often not. Collision and comprehensive pay to fix your own vehicle, and on a van worth a few thousand dollars the premium plus the deductible can approach what you would collect.
Q: Do I need coverage for rented trucks and employees' own cars if I already own all my trucks?
Yes, if employees ever drive their own cars for work or you rent a vehicle. Hired and non-owned coverage protects your business when that happens, it is inexpensive, and nearly every contract asks for it.
How Morrow helps
Morrow is a licensed independent commercial insurance brokerage that works with contractors and trades every day. Shopping a Florida contractor's fleet with the rest of the package, and cleaning up drivers, deductibles, and old trucks first, is routine work for us.
- Free contract review. Send us the contract or bid documents and we mark up the insurance section in plain English, whether or not you buy anything from us.
- Free, instant certificates. Clients issue their own certificates of insurance online in about a minute, any hour, any day, at no charge.
- Markets you cannot reach online. One application, shopped across many insurance companies for general liability, workers comp, auto, umbrella, and pollution coverage.
One more thing. This article is general information and is not legal advice or a statement of coverage. Your contract and your policy wording control in every case. Requirements vary by customer, by state, and by insurance company, so have a licensed advisor review your own contract and your own policy before relying on any of it.
Last updated: Reviewed by the Morrow commercial lines team. Last updated September 2026.