Commercial Auto FAQs

When does hired and non-owned auto coverage apply to a Georgia business?

All FAQs

Quick answer: Hired auto covers vehicles you rent or borrow for business use.

Hired and non-owned auto coverage (HNOA) applies the moment a vehicle your business does not own is used for a company purpose - an employee running a supply errand in their own car, a rented van picking up equipment, a volunteer driving for a nonprofit event. It does not depend on the business owning any vehicles at all: the trigger is the business purpose of the trip, not who holds the title. Many Georgia businesses carry this coverage even with zero company-owned vehicles, because the liability follows the business, not just the car.

What counts as a hired or non-owned vehicle?

Hired means vehicles you rent or lease. Non-owned means personal vehicles owned by employees or others that get driven for business tasks.

Why doesn't a standard commercial auto policy cover non-owned vehicles?

Your commercial auto policy covers vehicles titled to the business. It stops there. If an employee drives their personal car to pick up supplies, drop off documents, or run any other errand for your company and causes an accident along the way, your business can be pulled into the lawsuit. An injured party can sue both the driver and the employer. HNOA coverage responds to that employer-side liability gap.

Which Georgia businesses typically need HNOA coverage?

Several types of Georgia businesses carry HNOA even without a company-owned fleet:

  • Professional services firms where employees use personal vehicles for client visits
  • Retail and service businesses that send staff on supply runs or deliveries
  • Staffing companies and contractors whose workers drive to job sites
  • Nonprofits and associations that rely on volunteers driving their own cars
  • Any business that rents vehicles for travel, trade shows, or off-site work

For example, a three-person marketing firm in Alpharetta sends an account manager to a client site in her own car. On the way back, she rear-ends another vehicle at a stoplight. The injured driver sues both her and the business. Her personal auto policy covers her share, but the employer-side claim falls on the business - and without HNOA, nothing responds to it.

Does an employee's personal auto policy protect the business?

No. The personal auto policy an employee carries does not protect your business. It covers the driver personally, and most personal policies include exclusions that can reduce or eliminate coverage when the vehicle is being used for commercial purposes. That gap leaves your business exposed if a claim escalates into a lawsuit.

How is HNOA coverage typically structured?

HNOA coverage is typically added as an endorsement to a commercial general liability policy or a business owners policy (BOP). Some industries - courier, real estate, home health, landscaping - carry it as a standalone policy. Limits and deductibles vary by carrier and by the level of employee driving exposure your business presents.

Georgia does not mandate HNOA by statute, but if your business regularly sends employees out on the road in their own vehicles, the exposure is real regardless of whether it is required. A single serious accident can produce a damages claim that exceeds the employee's personal policy limits, and the overage lands on the business.

For example, an employee causes a multi-car accident during a work errand and the injured parties combined medical bills reach $400,000. The employee's personal policy pays $100,000. The remaining $300,000 becomes a direct claim against the employer - the exact exposure HNOA is designed to cover.

A coverage review can tell you whether HNOA makes sense for your operation, what limits are appropriate given your employee driving patterns, and how it fits alongside your existing commercial auto or general liability coverage. Schedule a coverage review with Olive Cover to walk through the specifics for your Georgia business.