Don’t Overlook Non-owned Auto Exposures: How Employers Can Manage Risks When Employees Drive Personal Vehicles on Company Business

White Paper Summary

It may seem like a casual request. A construction crew needs materials — additional lumber, or a specialized part. Someone goes out to purchase the item and takes their personal pickup truck. Or a field supervisor regularly drives their personal truck for company business between job sites.

Employees in all different types of industries use personal vehicles for company business all the time. Most companies offer employees who regularly need to use their personal vehicles for work-related tasks a monthly allowance or mileage-based stipend to help offset the costs of owning, maintaining and procuring insurance for that vehicle.

The practice is common, yet many employers don’t consider the liability risks of allowing or even requiring workers to use their personal vehicles for company business. Should a worker have a covered at-fault accident, the driver’s personal auto liability insurance policy will cover property damage and injuries to the other party — up to the limit of liability insurance purchased by the worker. After that, the employer’s commercial auto policy will typically respond, since the vehicle was being used in a business capacity. Most commercial auto liability policies are written to provide coverage for “any auto,” or all “owned” “hired” “scheduled” and “non-owned” vehicles. The intent is to ensure that the employer has coverage in place concerning any vehicle used in their business.

To learn more about Arch Insurance, visit their website at https://insurance.archgroup.com/