Your business may not own a single vehicle and still have auto liability exposure.
Commercial auto · Updated October 2026
When an employee drives their own car on a business errand, such as a supply run, a bank deposit or a client visit, and causes an accident, the injured person may sue both the employee and your business. The employee's personal policy responds first, but if its limits are low or it denies coverage, your business can be left exposed.
The same applies when you rent or borrow a vehicle for business.
Covers liability arising from vehicles your business rents, leases or borrows for business use, such as a rental truck for a job or a car rented on a business trip. Physical damage to the rented vehicle may require additional coverage.
Covers your business's liability when employees use their own vehicles for business purposes. It protects the business, not the employee's car, and generally applies above the employee's own insurance.
It can often be added to a commercial auto policy, or in some cases a general liability or business policy.
A bookkeeper drives her own car to the bank to make a deposit for your business and rear-ends another driver. The injured driver's attorney names both the bookkeeper and your business. Her personal auto policy has a $25,000 limit; the injuries are worth more. Without non-owned auto coverage, your business pays its own defense and any amount above her limit. With it, your commercial coverage can respond.
A contractor rents a box truck for a weekend move of equipment. If the driver causes an accident, hired auto liability coverage protects the business. Damage to the rental truck itself is a separate question: check the rental agreement, any coverage you bought at the counter, and whether your policy includes hired physical damage.
Hired and non-owned auto is often inexpensive relative to the exposure, and is priced on factors like the number of employees and how often they drive for work. If your business has any employees at all, it's worth a quote.
Liability coverage for your business when employees use their own vehicles for business purposes.
Liability coverage for vehicles your business rents, leases or borrows.
No. It protects the business's liability.
If employees ever drive for work, it is worth considering.
Questions about your own situation? Call 417.206.3733 or send us your current policy. We are licensed in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, and you can buy by phone without coming in.
Or send your details and an agent will call you back with options from the companies we work with.