The limit follows the seat count, and the price follows the calendar.
We insure limousine services, from one sedan to a fleet of stretch conversions, with the federal and state permit limits set by seating capacity and physical damage written for what a stretch is actually worth.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
What limousine service businesses actually need.
Commercial auto liability at the filed limit
Injury and property damage caused by the vehicle, at the limit your filings demand. For-hire passenger carriers in interstate commerce need $5,000,000 of liability coverage on any vehicle seating 16 or more including the driver, and $1,500,000 on any vehicle seating 15 or fewer including the driver.
Without it — A personal auto policy excludes a vehicle carrying people for a fee, and a commercial policy written below the filed limit leaves the operator holding the difference after a serious loss.
Physical damage on stretch conversions
Collision and comprehensive on a stated value that reflects the coachbuilder’s invoice as well as the chassis, so a totaled stretch pays out as a stretch.
Without it — A policy that values the vehicle as the sedan it was built on pays for the sedan. The conversion, which is most of the cost, is your loss.
Hired and non-owned auto
Liability for rides farmed out to affiliate operators and for owner-drivers who bring their own vehicle under your name.
Without it — The dispatcher’s name is on the booking. When the affiliate’s vehicle crashes, the suit names the company the client hired.
General liability
A client hurt stepping off the curb, a slip in your office, a claim about the champagne and not the driving.
Without it — The auto policy answers for the vehicle in motion. What happens beside it and around it needs its own policy, and every hotel and venue contract asks for one.
Abuse and molestation
Defense and damages for an allegation involving a passenger, which for a chauffeur alone with a minor on prom night is a real exposure.
Without it — General liability commonly excludes abuse outright. An allegation with no coverage means paying your own lawyer from the first letter.
Liquor liability
Injury caused by an intoxicated passenger you served or allowed to drink on board, including to someone they hurt after you dropped them off.
Without it — A stocked bar in the back of the vehicle is a liquor exposure, and the auto policy does not answer for it.
Workers compensation
Chauffeurs hurt lifting luggage, in a collision, or assisting a passenger in and out.
Without it — A chauffeur you call a contractor is still an employee to most state boards, and an unpaid injury claim becomes a penalty plus the claim.
Umbrella
A limit above the primary auto and general liability policies, for the contract that asks for more than the filing does.
Without it — A stretch carries ten people. One collision produces ten claimants against one limit.
The claims we actually see.
Ordered by how often we see them, not by how dramatic they are. Each one names the coverage that answers it — and the policy people wrongly assume already does.
Most common
We were rear-ended on the freeway with eight prom guests in the back. Every parent has a lawyer.
Covered by Commercial auto liability, at the filed limit
Operators assume the other driver’s policy pays. It pays up to that driver’s limit, which is often the state minimum, and your passengers then look to you for the rest.
Common
The stretch clipped a parking structure beam and the roof and rear quarter are gone. The chassis is fine.
Covered by Physical damage at a stated value that includes the conversion
A policy that values the vehicle from a book value guide pays for the base sedan. The coachwork is not in the guide.
Common
A guest fell getting out at the venue and broke an ankle on the curb.
Covered by General liability, for injury beside the vehicle
Whether the auto policy or the general liability policy answers depends on whether the passenger was still using the vehicle, and an operator with only one of the two finds out at claim time.
Less common, severe
A passenger we let drink in the back drove home from the drop-off and hit someone.
Covered by Liquor liability
Most operators believe the exposure ends at the curb. Where a state’s dram shop law reaches the party that served, it does not.
Rare, catastrophic
A parent accused our chauffeur of touching their daughter on a prom run.
Covered by Abuse and molestation
The allegation alone costs a defense, and general liability commonly excludes abuse whether or not the claim is true.
What your state requires.
- Arizona limo insuranceArizona Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Division, Vehicle for Hire licensing
- California limo insuranceCalifornia Public Utilities Commission, Transportation Licensing and Analysis Branch
- Florida limo insuranceYour county, under Florida Statutes section 125.01(1)(n)
- Massachusetts limo insuranceMassachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles
- New Hampshire limo insuranceYour city or town, under RSA 47:17 VI
- New Jersey limo insuranceThe clerk of the municipality where the business has its principal place of business
- North Carolina limo insuranceNorth Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles
- South Carolina limo insuranceSouth Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff, Transportation
- Texas limo insuranceTexas Department of Motor Vehicles, Motor Carrier Division
- Vermont limo insuranceVermont Department of Motor Vehicles
- West Virginia limo insurancePublic Service Commission of West Virginia
What the insurance company will ask about your limousine service business
We read 2 applications the markets use for this kind of business and pulled out what they actually ask. Have these answers ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week, because nobody has to come back to you for the missing piece.
About the business
- What type of livery service do you operate (taxi, limousine, airport shuttle, tour bus, or other)
- Describe what you do at each location where you operate
- What cities and states do you serve
- Do you use any special equipment like wheelchair lifts or medical equipment
- Are you involved in ride-share applications like Uber or Lyft, and if so what percentage of your business is that
How you operate
- How far on average do your passengers travel from pickup to drop-off
- What is the farthest distance you operate from your base (0-50 miles, 50-100 miles, or 100+ miles)
- Do you own and maintain your own vehicles, or do drivers provide their own
- Do you rent vehicles to drivers on a daily basis
- Do drivers do a written vehicle inspection at the end of each shift
Safety and controls
- What are your written policies and procedures for driver hiring, background checks, drug testing, and experience requirements
- What cameras do you have installed in vehicles and what do they record
- How do drivers report accidents, and who handles accident management
- How do customers report problems or complaints, and who manages them
- What is your vehicle maintenance and inspection program to keep cars safe for passenger service
Your history
- How long has your business been operating
- Have you ever had an insurance claim or lawsuit
- Are you aware of any accidents or incidents that might lead to a claim
- Why are you looking for new insurance coverage
- Has your current insurer offered a renewal quote
Money and people
- What is your annual gross revenue
- What is your annual payroll
- Who are the owners and decision makers in your business
- Do you have more than one business location
Have these ready
- Your last five years of claims history from your current insurer, called loss runs
- A list of all your drivers with their names, addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, years of experience, driver's license numbers, hire dates, and any accidents or violations
- A list of all your vehicles with year, make, model, passenger capacity, VIN, garaging location, and current value
- Your written policies and procedures manual and employee handbook
- Copies of any driver contracts and customer service agreements
You answer what you can; a licensed agent fills the rest with you.
What our limousine service clients ask us.
Will my personal auto policy cover a limousine I drive for hire?
No. The standard personal auto policy excludes liability while the vehicle is used to carry people or property for a fee, which the form calls public or livery conveyance. A limousine booked by the hour is the definition of it. The exclusion applies whether the carrier knew about the business or not, so the discovery happens at the claim.
What livery insurance is, and why the personal policy excludes it
What limits does a limousine service have to carry?
For-hire passenger carriers in interstate commerce need $5,000,000 of liability coverage on any vehicle seating 16 or more including the driver, and $1,500,000 on any vehicle seating 15 or fewer including the driver. California charter-party carriers file their limits with the Public Utilities Commission under General Order 115, which sets $5,000,000 at 16 seats or more, $1,500,000 at 9 through 15 seats and $750,000 at 8 seats or fewer, in every case counting the driver. A six-passenger sedan and a twenty-passenger stretch SUV are therefore filed at different numbers, and a hotel or venue contract can ask for more than either.
How much does limo insurance cost?
There is no rate card, and a figure quoted without seeing the fleet is a guess. The price moves on seat count, because the seat count sets the limit. It moves on the drivers, the radius, the claims history, whether alcohol is on board, whether you carry minors, and on what a stretch conversion costs to replace. The guide walks through each one and what you can do about it before you ask for a quote.
We also run a party bus. Is that the same policy?
Usually the same carrier and a different conversation. A party bus crosses sixteen seats, which raises the federal filing to $5,000,000, and it carries alcohol and standing passengers, which are the two things a limousine underwriter did not price. Disclose it as its own vehicle with its own use.
What about executive sedans and SUVs with no stretch?
Black car work is livery at the sedan end. The federal band is the lower one, California files a sedan at $750,000 rather than $1,500,000, and the underwriting questions are about drivers, airports and affiliate work rather than conversions and prom nights.
Who actually writes limousine insurance?
A short list of specialty passenger carriers, and it is the same list for the whole public auto class. National Indemnity treats limousines and party buses as target business. Berkshire Hathaway Homestate writes limo alongside taxi and school bus. Lancer is strongest on charter and coach. A decline from a general commercial auto carrier says nothing about whether the account is placeable with them.
Do you write motorcoaches and charter buses too?
Yes, and the charter page is the one to read for a coach. Everything at sixteen seats or more files at $5,000,000, and a motorcoach adds the MCS-90B endorsement, the physical damage value of a coach and the school and tour contracts that ask for more.
What does a limousine service insurance application ask for?
The applications for limousine service businesses ask about 4 things above all: what type of livery service do you operate (taxi, limousine, airport shuttle, tour bus, or other); how far on average do your passengers travel from pickup to drop-off; what are your written policies and procedures for driver hiring, background checks, drug testing, and experience requirements; how long has your business been operating. Have your last five years of claims history from your current insurer, called loss runs and a list of all your drivers with their names, addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, years of experience, driver's license numbers, hire dates, and any accidents or violations ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week.
Guides on limousine service.
- How Much Does Limo Insurance Cost?Limo insurance has no fixed price, and the statutory limit set by seat count is the only number that is. What moves the premium above that floor, in order, and which of those things an operator can change.
- Limo Insurance RequirementsPassenger carrier insurance requirements come in three layers. The federal minimum by seat count, the state permit schedule, and the certificate the contract demands, with the seat bands and dollar amounts quoted from the rules that set them.
- What Is Livery Insurance?Livery insurance is the commercial auto policy for a vehicle that carries passengers for a fee, and it exists because a personal auto policy excludes that use. How livery differs from taxi and rideshare, and why the seat count decides the limit.
Commercial insurance is 96% of what we do — it is not a department here, it is the whole business. Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.
Handed a lease, a vendor packet or a client contract with insurance requirements? Paste it into the COI Requirements Decoder to see what each one means for your business, or read what the requirements mean.