Regardless of the industry you’re in, it’s likely your employees need to operate their vehicle for business purposes.

Whether it’s delivering food, driving to conferences, visiting customers, or just simply running errands to the bank or post office – employee travel in their own vehicles can put your business at risk!

While larger companies often provide insured company vehicles to their team for daily use, small and medium-sized businesses often don’t have that luxury.

But if employees use personal vehicles for business-related activities and get into an accident, your business could be held liable.

Your best protection: non-owned and hired automobile liability coverage.

This type of coverage will kick in if there’s an accident and your company is found legally liable.

Typically, an employee’s personal automobile insurance will provide primary insurance to both the employee and the business if the employee is using their own vehicle on company business.

However, there’s the chance that charges will exceed the employee’s policy limit and would then be passed on to the company.

Without non-owned and hired automobile liability coverage you may be vulnerable to a potentially costly exposure.

Let’s break it down to the very basics.

What is non-owned automobile insurance coverage?

Non-owned automobile insurance provides liability protection when an employee occasionally has to drive his or her personally owned vehicle for business purposes. It assumes that the vehicle is not owned, registered or contracted in your name or on your behalf.

What is hired automobile insurance coverage?

Hired automobile insurance provides liability protection when you or an employee is driving a rented, hired or borrowed vehicle.

What does non-owned and hired automobile liability insurance cover?

Non-owned and hired automobile liability insurance covers bodily injury and property damage caused by a vehicle you hire (including rented or borrowed vehicles) or caused by non-owned vehicles (vehicles owned by others, including vehicles owned by your employees).

This coverage is typically added to your business automobile policy; however, it can be added to your general liability policy if you don’t have a business automobile policy.

It protects your company if it’s found legally liable as a result of an automobile accident that your employee has in a hired or non-owned vehicle while on company business.

Hired automobile coverage replaces or augments the liability coverage offered by automobile rental agencies.

Who needs non-owned and hired automobile insurance?

If you or your employees ever drive vehicles not owned by your business for business purposes, then you need non-owned and hired automobile coverage.

Next Steps

If you don’t already have this type of coverage and your employees occasionally use their own vehicles for business purposes – even to run quick errands – consider adding non-owned and hired automobile liability insurance to your business insurance package today.

To determine if you need non-owned and hired automobile coverage, call to speak with an insurance advisor. My name is Pat O’Neill, I’m a Risk Advisor here at O’Neill Insurance and would be happy to review your insurance policies and ensure you have the adequate coverage and liability limits for non-owned and hired automobiles.

Any type of loss exposure, no matter the size, is too big to ignore. Call me at (330) 331-7960 or email me at ptoneill@oneillinsurance.com.

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