The five that matter
- Commercial auto — the trucks, the blades, the spreaders, and the harm they do on the road
- General liability — slip-and-fall on surfaces you serviced, and plow damage to property
- Workers' compensation — injuries to your own crew, which in this trade means ice, strain and cold
- Inland marine — the equipment itself, on the truck, at the site and in the yard
- Umbrella — excess limit over the first two, which the better contracts require anyway
If you can only start with two
Commercial auto and general liability. You cannot legally run a plow truck without the first, and you cannot win a commercial contract without the second. Everything else is added as the operation grows — but do not confuse 'added later' with 'optional'.
What people get wrong
- Assuming personal auto covers it. It does not, and most policies exclude a plow blade outright.
- Treating a certificate as coverage. The certificate describes the policy; the endorsement is what extends it to your client.
- Dropping general liability in April. The claims arrive after the melt. That is when the policy needs to still exist.
- Using subs without certificates. Their payroll becomes yours at audit, and their injuries can become your claim.
- Buying on price alone. A snow-and-ice exclusion makes a policy cheap and useless at the same time.
Sequencing it against the season
Snow contracts are typically awarded in September and October, and most require proof of insurance before signature. Working backwards from that: have your auto and general liability bound before you bid, have the umbrella available to bind on request, and have your certificate process ready to turn around same-day when a property manager asks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Once you are paid to clear someone else's property, yes. Personal auto policies exclude commercial snow removal, and a homeowner's policy will not answer a claim from a business activity. The scale of the operation does not change that.
You still need your own general liability, and you need a certificate from every sub before they work. Without it, their payroll lands on your workers' comp audit and their claims can land on your policy.
