Why Is It CRITICAL That Contractors Have Hired, Non-Owned Auto Coverage?

Due to some recent claims that we have read about, it seemed urgent to warn our contractor clients about the potential liability from employees driving their own cars during the workday.

Situations to consider:

·         Your employee(s) uses their own car to drive from one job site to another during the workday.

·         Your employee runs to pick up some supplies, lunch, coffee, etc. on behalf of the operation.

Either of these situations’ places liability on the contractor and could cause an auto claim to fall back on his business.  

I was recently made aware of an employee who was driving his own vehicle on a commercial job site in which he struck an employee of another contractor.  Ultimately, the lawsuit would have been covered by the commercial auto limits of the contractor had he simply had “hired/non-owned” coverage.  Being that contractor didn’t even have commercial auto for his business, this has become a life altering lawsuit.  

Hired Non owned covers a contractor for two specific situations 

·         Hired coverage means your business has coverage when you or employees drive a rented, leased or borrowed car for business.

·         Non-owned auto applies to employees using their own cars for business. It provides extra coverage over the employee’s personal auto coverage for bodily injury and property damage liability. 

Bottom line, if you have employees driving their own vehicles at work, from job to job, or running errands, please reach out to us so that we can at least let you know options available to protect yourself.