Insurance glossary · How policies work
hired and non-owned auto.
Also called HNOA.
Hired and non-owned auto covers your business when employees drive rented cars or their own cars for work, a gap personal auto policies usually leave.
What’s the difference between hired and non-owned auto?
Hired auto covers vehicles your business rents, leases short-term or borrows. Non-owned auto covers vehicles your business doesn’t own, mainly employees’ personal cars, when they’re used for your work.
Doesn’t my employee’s personal auto insurance cover them?
It usually covers the employee, but the business can still be sued when an employee crashes on a work errand, and personal auto limits are often low. Hired and non-owned auto covers the business’s liability above or alongside the employee’s policy.
Does hired and non-owned auto cover damage to the car?
Usually no. It’s liability coverage for injury and damage to others. Damage to a rented vehicle needs hired auto physical damage coverage, often a separate option, and damage to an employee’s own car is generally theirs to cover.
Do I need it if I already have commercial auto?
Often it’s already on your commercial auto policy, using symbols 8 and 9 on the declarations. If your business owns no vehicles, it can be added to a general liability or business owner’s policy instead.
Who needs hired and non-owned auto?
Any business where employees drive their own cars for work, like running to a supplier, visiting job sites or making deliveries, or that rents vehicles for jobs or travel. It’s common for contractors whose office staff and estimators drive personal cars.
Does it cover employees driving their own trucks every day?
It covers the business’s liability when they’re used for work, but vehicles used regularly and heavily for the business may need to be listed on a commercial auto policy instead, depending on the insurer.
Do contracts require it?
Often. Commercial auto requirements in contracts usually say “owned, hired and non-owned autos,” and certificates show it with checkboxes for each.
Does hired and non-owned auto work differently by state?
Mostly the policy controls. State rules on uninsured motorist and no-fault coverage are written around specific insured vehicles, and in Riza’s licensed states we found no rule requiring those coverages on hired and non-owned auto alone.
by trade.
- General contractorsEstimators, supervisors and office staff driving personal cars to job sites are the classic non-owned auto exposure.
- PlumbingTechs who run to the supply house in their own vehicles create non-owned auto exposure for the shop.
- HVACRented trucks for big installs need hired auto coverage, including physical damage if the rental agreement makes you responsible.
where you’ll see it.
- Commercial auto declarationsCovered auto symbols 8 (hired) and 9 (non-owned) next to liability.
- CertificatesCheckboxes for “hired autos only” and “non-owned autos only.”
- Contracts“Commercial auto liability covering owned, hired and non-owned vehicles.”
cover the trips nobody thinks about.
Riza checks whether your auto or general liability policy includes hired and non-owned coverage, adds hired physical damage when you rent, and makes sure the certificate shows what your contracts ask for.
Get a quoterelated terms.
Coverage it touches: Commercial auto