Hired & Non-Owned Auto Insurance

Liability protection for vehicles your business uses but doesn't own

Hired and non-owned auto insurance closes a liability gap most businesses don't realize they carry. Even a company with no vehicles of its own is exposed two ways: when it rents or borrows a vehicle for a job, and when employees, volunteers, or partners drive their own cars for company business. In an at-fault crash, the injured party sues the business, and neither the driver's personal auto policy nor the company's general liability policy responds.

The gap is structural. Personal auto policies categorically exclude business use, and general liability policies contain an absolute auto exclusion. Hired and non-owned auto is the coverage built to fill both.

What Hired & Non-Owned Auto Insurance Covers

Coverage is liability-only and addresses the two exposures that travel together:

Hired Auto Liability — Covers the business's liability for vehicles it rents, leases, hires, or borrows for business use.

Non-Owned Auto Liability — Covers the business's liability when employees, volunteers, or others drive their personal vehicles for company business.

Third-Party Bodily Injury & Property Damage — Pays the other party's medical bills, vehicle repairs, and property damage when a covered vehicle is at fault.

Vicarious Liability Protection — Covers the company's own legal responsibility for an employee's at-fault crash while working.

Legal Defense Costs — Pays attorney fees, court costs, and settlements to defend the business, even when it isn't ultimately liable.

What It Does Not Cover

Because it is liability-only and covers the entity, several exposures fall elsewhere:

Physical damage to the hired or non-owned vehicle itself, unless hired-auto physical damage is added

Owned or company-furnished vehicles, which need a commercial auto policy

The driver's own injuries, which are a workers' compensation matter

The employee's personal liability, which needs their own auto policy

Cargo, property in the vehicle, and personal, non-business use

Who Needs Hired & Non-Owned Auto Insurance

Nearly any business whose people drive without company-owned vehicles is exposed, including:

Sales, consulting, and field-service teams driving personal cars to clients

Home and field services — cleaning, landscaping, handyman, and HVAC

Businesses that occasionally rent or borrow a vehicle for a job or move

Nonprofits and organizations that use volunteer drivers

Delivery operations, which carry a high-frequency exposure that often needs specialty markets

How Coverage Is Structured

The way it attaches and layers determines whether the company is truly protected:

It is usually written as an endorsement on a businessowners or general liability policy, or scheduled on a business auto policy

Standalone limits are commonly $1 million per occurrence, while a bundled sublimit of $100,000 to $300,000 is often inadequate for a serious injury

For non-owned vehicles the employee's personal policy is primary, and this coverage responds to the company's separate liability when that policy denies or is exhausted

Hired-auto physical damage on rented vehicles is a separate add-on

Once a business owns or furnishes vehicles, it needs a full commercial auto policy, which picks up hired and non-owned automatically

Real-World Claim Examples

An employee rear-ends another driver on a company errand in their own car, the personal policy denies for business use, and this coverage responds for the company

A business rents a truck for a move that slides on ice and damages property, covered for the liability but not the truck itself unless physical damage was added

A delivery driver using a personal vehicle causes an at-fault crash en route to a customer

A field technician driving to a job site injures a pedestrian and the company is named in the suit

Why Proper Placement Matters

The exposure is nearly universal and easy to leave uninsured, so placement turns on:

Recognizing that personal auto policies exclude business use and general liability won't touch autos

Sizing the limit to a real bodily-injury claim rather than relying on a small bundled sublimit

Documenting a driver-screening and motor-vehicle-record process, which is often a condition of coverage

Managing negligent-entrustment exposure, since a policy defends but doesn't prevent such a suit

Routing high-frequency and third-party-platform delivery to the specialty markets that will write it

Regulatory & Contract Context

There is no general federal mandate for hired and non-owned auto, but it is frequently required by contract — client master service agreements, leases, and vendor agreements often require it, commonly at a $1 million limit with the counterparty named as additional insured. The structural reason it matters is the personal-auto business-use exclusion, which leaves the company's exposure uninsured without it. It does not satisfy federal filings for DOT-regulated interstate operations, which require an MCS-90 endorsement on a commercial auto policy, and it supplements rather than replaces the primary auto coverage on any owned vehicles.

Our Approach

At Cory Washington & Co., we make sure the driving your business relies on is actually covered — adding hired and non-owned auto where employees use their own cars or you rent vehicles, sizing the limit to a serious claim rather than a token sublimit, and helping you put the driver-screening process in place that carriers now expect. We coordinate it with your businessowners, general liability, and any commercial auto so the whole program lines up. We also insure related exposures, including commercial auto, general liability, and business owner's policies.

Our goal is coverage that answers when an employee's or a rented vehicle's crash lands on the company — not a gap between two policies that both exclude it.

All insurance descriptions on this website are provided by Cory Washington & Co. LLC strictly for general informational purposes. They are not intended to be, and should not be relied upon as, legal, financial, or insurance advice. The information presented is general in nature and does not guarantee the availability, terms, conditions, or scope of any insurance coverage. Actual coverage is determined solely by the specific policy language issued by the insurer and remains subject to underwriting approval. Nothing on this website creates or implies an agent-client relationship, binds coverage, or alters any existing policy. Cory Washington & Co. LLC expressly disclaims any liability for actions taken, or not taken, based on the content provided here. For advice regarding your particular situation, please consult directly with a licensed insurance professional at Cory Washington & Co. LLC or another qualified insurance professional, and always review your policy documents in full.

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