Illinois Commercial Auto Insurance — Important Information

Important Illinois commercial auto insurance requirements, business vehicle rules, driver requirements, coverage information, rating factors, loss history, claims, and official resources.

This page is intended for non-trucking business vehicles such as:

Contractor pickup trucks
Cargo vans
Service vans
Sprinter vans used for ordinary business operations
Company cars
Sales vehicles
Maintenance vehicles
Landscaping vehicles
Plumbing, HVAC and electrical service vehicles
Cleaning-company vehicles
Real estate company vehicles
Business-owned SUVs
Small business fleets

Trucking, motor carriers, for-hire transportation, buses, livery operations and other regulated transportation risks may have different or higher insurance requirements and are not covered by this page.

Commercial Vehicles Must Have Liability Insurance

Illinois requires motor vehicles operated, registered, or maintained as registered for use on public highways to carry liability insurance, unless a statutory exception or another financial-responsibility requirement applies.

For ordinary Illinois business vehicles subject to the Mandatory Insurance Law, the statutory minimum liability limits are generally:

$25,000

Bodily Injury — one person

$50,000

Bodily Injury — two or more persons per accident

$20,000

Property Damage — per accident

This is commonly shown as:

25 / 50 / 20

However, these are only the minimum statutory limits.

Commercial Auto policies commonly carry much higher liability limits because businesses usually have greater financial exposure.

Many commercial contracts require:

$1,000,000 Combined Single Limit

or another specified amount.

Illinois law confirms that vehicles designed for public-highway use generally must maintain liability insurance.

Electronic Insurance Verification Applies to Business Vehicles Too

Illinois uses an Electronic Liability Insurance Verification system.

The Secretary of State electronically verifies insurance on registered vehicles at least twice each year.

This applies to vehicles such as:

Cars
Vans
Trucks
Other registered motor vehicles

If insurance cannot be verified, another verification occurs approximately 30 days later.

If coverage still cannot be confirmed, the registered owner may receive a registration suspension notice.

Important for businesses

Make sure the insurance company has the correct:

VIN
Business name
Vehicle information
Policy number
Registration information

A mismatch between the policy and vehicle registration can create an insurance-verification problem.

Commercial Vehicle Registration Suspended for No Insurance

If Illinois suspends the registration because required liability insurance could not be verified, the vehicle cannot legally be operated while the registration is suspended.

For a first mandatory-insurance offense, the Illinois Secretary of State currently requires:

Active liability insurance
$100 reinstatement fee
Completion of the reinstatement process

Repeat offenders may face a four-month registration suspension.

The Secretary of State also lists:

Minimum $500 fine

for driving uninsured

and:

Minimum $1,000 fine

for driving a vehicle while its plates are suspended because of a previous insurance violation.

ILIVS — Illinois Insurance Verification System

If you receive an Illinois insurance verification or registration-suspension letter, do not ignore it.

You may need the reference number from the letter to resolve the issue through the Illinois Insurance Verification System.

If insurance actually existed on the verification date, contact your insurance agent before simply purchasing another policy.

There may be a:

VIN mismatch
Business-name mismatch
Reporting error
Vehicle replacement issue
Policy change
Registration mismatch

Illinois Insurance Verification System:ILIVS.com