Insuring Employees

While personal auto insurance policies tend to cover both a car’s owner and anyone else who is given permission to drive a car, many commercial auto policies will require more specificity in terms of who may be covered as a driver. That’s why it’s important to make sure your commercial policy expressly stipulates coverage for all the ways in which your employees may be using vehicles – both their own and those owned or rented by your business – to do their jobs.

 

Say you employ a sales force and rely on your salespeople to use their own vehicles in making sales calls. Or you own a sandwich shop, and occasionally need your employees to use their own cars to make deliveries to customers. Non-owned auto, part of hired and non-owned auto coverage, is an essential coverage for your business to carry, regardless of how often your employees are using their cars while working for you. This kind of endorsement applies as excess coverage above and beyond what may be provided by your employees’ personal auto policies.

 

That’s why, if your employees ever drive their personal vehicles while performing work for your business, they should be carrying liability insurance on their personal auto policies. In most cases, this insurance will be the primary coverage in the event of an accident they’re responsible for. Your commercial auto liability would serve to fill any gaps in terms of liabilities.

 

You shouldn’t simply assume your employees are carrying adequate personal auto insurance. If they’re driving their vehicles for your business, make sure they’re covered by their own policies. In addition to liability coverage, your employees’ personal policies may also serve as the primary insurer in the case of an accident that may require collision coverage.

 

When an employee causes an accident that results in an injury or property damage, under the law, you, as his or her employer, can be held liable. The benefit of non-owned auto is that it can typically be applied to anyone using a vehicle while working for your business.