Three things move a Texas auto premium: who is on your driver list, what deductible you carry on repairs to your own trucks, and whether each vehicle is rated for how it is really used. Fix those, then have a broker shop several insurers on the same facts, and keep the liability limit your contracts require, usually $1,000,000, because that is not where the savings are. Who this is for: Texas contractors with one to twenty trucks and vans whose auto renewal jumped, often after a hail season or an at-fault accident.
The short version
- Drivers set the price. Remove former employees and pull driving records before renewal.
- Hail is why Texas physical damage coverage costs so much. A higher deductible on your own trucks saves more than any other change.
- Radius, use, and vehicle weight must be right. A pickup rated for local light use costs less than one rated for hauling across the state.
- Keep liability at what your contracts require, usually $1,000,000. The Texas legal minimum is far lower but no general contractor accepts it.
- Shop several insurers with the same driver list and vehicle schedule. Texas auto quotes vary widely.
What does Texas actually require, and what do my contracts require?
Texas law sets the floor at $30,000 per injured person, $60,000 per accident, and $25,000 property damage (Transportation Code Section 601.072). Almost every Texas construction contract asks for $1,000,000 combined single limit, meaning one limit covering both injuries and property damage in an accident. If a truck weighs more than 26,000 pounds and you only drive it inside Texas, the state makes you register as a motor carrier and prove $500,000 of liability coverage before the truck is legal to run. Hazardous materials haulers have to prove $1,000,000 to $5,000,000, depending on the cargo. For the trucking-side limits, see Texas minimum liability limits for trucking.
Why does Texas commercial auto cost more than I expected?
Two Texas facts sit behind most auto quotes. Texas ranked first in the nation with 902 major hail events in 2025, and hail is paid under the physical damage part of your policy (comprehensive coverage). And Texas led all states with 23 jury verdicts of $10,000,000 or more in 2024, which insurers price into the liability part. You cannot change either. You can change what you buy.
| Part of the policy | What it pays for | Where the Texas savings are |
|---|---|---|
| Liability | Injuries and property damage you cause to others | Driver records, radius, and use. Not the limit. |
| Comprehensive (physical damage, not collision) | Hail, theft, fire, glass on your own vehicles | A higher deductible, or dropping it on old trucks worth less than a few thousand dollars |
| Collision | Crash damage to your own vehicles | A higher deductible, or dropping it on old trucks |
| Hired and non-owned auto | Coverage for vehicles you rent or your employees drive for work | Cheap. Keep it. Most contracts require it. See hired and non-owned auto explained. |
What can I change before the renewal to lower the price?
A worked example for a landscaping contractor with five trucks. The savings below are national illustrative ranges, not Texas rates. Your fleet, drivers, garaging city, claims history, and insurer set your own numbers.
| Change | Illustrative yearly saving on a $21,000 policy |
|---|---|
| Remove two former employees from the driver list, one with an at-fault accident | $1,500 to $2,500 |
| Raise comprehensive and collision deductibles from $500 to $2,500 on all five trucks | $1,200 to $2,000 |
| Drop collision and comprehensive on a 2009 truck worth $4,000 | $400 to $700 |
| Correct the radius from statewide to under 100 miles, which is the truth | $600 to $1,200 |
| Shop the corrected schedule to four insurers | $1,000 to $3,000 |
Together those changes took roughly $6,000 off the example policy, with the same $1,000,000 liability limit. Your own saving depends on how many of the five apply to you.
How do I handle drivers without losing good people?
- Pull motor vehicle records for every listed driver 60 days before renewal, so you see what the insurer will see.
- Remove anyone who no longer drives for you. Insurers rate every listed driver, including the ones who left last year.
- Move a driver with a bad record to a non-driving role for a year. Most records improve after three years without a violation.
- Write a two page driver policy: no phones, seat belts, report every incident the same day. Some Texas insurers give a credit for it. All of them ask.
- Consider telematics (a small device or app that tracks braking and speed). Some insurers discount fleets that use one.
Does the umbrella change my auto decisions?
Yes. Most umbrella insurers require $1,000,000 of auto liability underneath, so dropping to $500,000 to save on auto can cancel your umbrella or raise its price more than you saved. If a contract asks for $2,000,000 in auto liability, buy the extra on the umbrella, not the auto policy. Umbrella detail is at how to find cheaper commercial umbrella insurance in Texas, and the national checklist is at how to find cheaper commercial auto insurance for contractors.
What if my business owns no trucks at all?
If the business owns no vehicles, a contract asking for auto insurance can often be met with hired and non-owned coverage, which protects the business when a rented vehicle or an employee's own vehicle is used for work. It does not cover the driver's own vehicle. A sole proprietor driving his own pickup for the business is the exception: that truck generally is not a non-owned auto, and it has to be listed on a commercial auto policy. See my contract requires commercial auto insurance but I don't own a company vehicle.
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 landscaping contractor in San Antonio runs five trucks with $1,000,000 liability and $500 deductibles. The policy renews at about $21,000, illustrative, after a spring hail storm dented three trucks and a former foreman with an at-fault accident is still listed as a driver.
What went wrong: The owner asks his agent for a lower price and is told the hail claims and the accident are the problem, with nothing to be done until they age off.
What it cost: A broker removed two former employees, raised deductibles to $2,500, dropped physical damage on the oldest truck, corrected the radius, and sent the schedule to four insurers. The best quote was about $14,800 with the same liability limit. Saving: roughly $6,200 a year.
The fix: Hail and one accident do not lock in a price. Fix the driver list and the deductibles, then let several Texas insurers compete for the corrected account.
Frequently asked questions
Q: How can I find cheaper commercial auto insurance for contractors in Texas?
Clean the driver list, raise the deductibles on hail and collision damage to your own trucks, rate each vehicle for its true radius and use, and have a broker shop the corrected schedule to several insurers. Keep the $1,000,000 liability your contracts require.
Q: What is the minimum auto liability in Texas for a contractor?
The state minimum is $30,000 per injured person, $60,000 per accident, and $25,000 property damage. No Texas construction contract accepts that, so plan on the $1,000,000 combined single limit your customers and your umbrella insurer will ask for.
Q: Why did my Texas auto insurance go up after a hail storm?
Hail is paid under the comprehensive part of your policy, and Texas leads the country in major hail events. Raising that deductible is the fastest way to bring the premium back down.
Q: Should I drop collision and comprehensive on old trucks?
Often yes, once the truck is worth only a few thousand dollars, because the premium can approach what the truck would ever pay out. Keep liability on every vehicle regardless.
Q: Can I lower my auto liability to $500,000 to save money?
You can, but the saving is small and most Texas general contractors and umbrella insurers expect $1,000,000 underneath. Save on drivers, deductibles, and rating instead.
Q: Do I need commercial auto if my employees drive their own trucks to jobs?
You need hired and non-owned auto coverage, which protects the business when an employee's own vehicle is used for work. It is inexpensive and most contracts require it, but it does not insure the employee's truck for its owner.
How Morrow helps
Morrow is a licensed independent commercial insurance brokerage that works with contractors and trades every day. Cleaning up a Texas contractor's driver list and vehicle schedule, then shopping it across several insurers, is a review we do at no charge.
- 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.