Are your employees using their own vehicles while on company business?

While doing some insurance related reading the other day I came across an article discussing Hired/Non-Owned coverage. Since I'm always looking for something that may be of interest to business owners to read on our site, I thought it might be a good idea to highlight the importance of this coverage in a post. Many business owners out there have their employees use their own personal vehicles to perform company related activities while on the job, probably on a pretty regular basis. Some examples would be running errands such as dropping off bank deposits, purchasing office supplies and other related functions. This seems to be a fairly common occurrence but I'm not sure many business owners have given a lot of thought to the type of liability exposure this puts them in. Should an employee become involved in an accident while on company business in their own vehicle, there is a good chance that the employee's personal auto policy might not respond. All personal auto policies vary from company to company and no two are usually the same. It's a good idea to have the employee check with their insurer for details on this. It's also important to have employees carry limits at least on par with what you carry for the business. Make sure the employee's driving record is clean and request a copy of their current policy annually. These are just prudent steps to take to minimize your exposure. Lastly, make sure you carry Hired and Non-Owned Auto coverage on your business insurance policy. This is coverage to respond should an employee become involved in an accident while driving their vehicle on company business and also provides coverage while renting a vehicle on company business. The coverage itself is fairly inexpensive and is easy to obtain. If you aren't sure you carry it, pick up the phone and call your agent.

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