Your company and personal vehicles are all adequately
insured--why worry about additional coverage for vehicles you
don't own? Because if you ever rent a car or truck for business
or if employees ever use their own vehicles for company
business--even if they're just making a quick trip to the store
for supplies--and there's an accident, you could face serious
financial liability, says Chip Curley, a property and casualty
agent with Sehnert, Lumbra, Robinson & Associates in Maitland,
Florida.
Protect your company with hired and nonowned auto liability,
which covers bodily injury and property damage caused by the hired
or non-owned vehicle. It does not pay for physical damage to the
vehicle itself; that's covered by the owner's
insurance.
Hired auto coverage kicks in if you or one of your employees
rents a vehicle in the company name that is then involved in a
crash. Nonowned auto coverage applies if an employee has a wreck
while driving his or her own vehicle in the course of performing
duties for the company. Curley says they're typically bundled
together and fairly inexpensive; expect to pay less than $100 a
year for $500,000 worth of coverage, which can be added to your
regular auto policy. If you haven't purchased a commercial auto
policy because your company doesn't own vehicles, you can add
the coverage to your general liability policy.
Content Continues Below
A bonus: If you rent cars occasionally, having hired and
nonowned auto liability insurance may save you money because you
can avoid buying the liability coverage from the rental
company.
Jacquelyn Lynn is a freelance business writer in Orlando,
Florida.
Originally published in the October 2001 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine