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Non-Owned Vehicle Coverage With Commercial Auto

Non-Owned Vehicle Coverage With Commercial Auto
It is a very common thing for owners of commercial vehicles to also need to occasionally, or in some cases on a regular basis, use vehicles they do not own for business purposes. This is why it’s important to ensure your fleet insurance includes non-owned vehicle insurance that is appropriate to your needs.
Some commercial auto insurance may cover rented, borrowed, or hired vehicles as part of the main policy, while in other instances, you may need to add a rider to cover it. But either way, it’s important to realize that there are actually several different types of non-owned vehicle coverage.

1. Basic Non-owned Cover
The most basic type of non-owned car insurance simply covers you under the ordinary terms of your policy while using, for business purposes, a rental car, a car you hire someone else to drive you in, or a vehicle you borrow from a friend. The details of how long and how frequently you can utilize this coverage before you need additional riders may vary from insurer to insurer.

2. Employees’ Non-owned Cover
This type of cover ensures that all of your employees who may drive a non-owned vehicle your business is using are still covered. It also is especially useful because it includes if an employee has to drive his or her own personal vehicle for work purposes – which happens all too often in the business world.

3. Any New Auto Coverage
“Any auto coverage” allows you to automatically add coverage to any new vehicle you purchase during the life of the policy. With regular non-owned cover, you could begin by renting a vehicle to test it out, then buy it, and all the while it was and continues to be covered by your commercial auto insurance policy.

4. Individual Named Endorsement
An “individual named insured endorsement” lets a business owner, even of a sole proprietorship, fully and always cover his/her vehicle that is used consistently for both work and personal purposes. Since personal auto insurance typically covers less than a commercial policy would, extending the commercial-level cover over the vehicle at all times is highly desirable.

Your spouse or other live-in relatives are also usually covered when using the vehicle in question. Note that a “Drive Other Car” rider does the same basic thing as an individual named endorsement, only it’s more suited for executives of large companies in the policy details.

5. Garage Keeper’s Liability
For many businesses that store vehicles they do not own, whether vehicles of customers or that are being temporarily put to company use, it is wise to add garage keeper’s liability coverage to their commercial auto policy. A garage keeper’s rider covers you if a non-owned vehicle in storage is damaged due to collision, vandalism, or fire. And it covers you if it is stolen while being stored.

Note you generally cannot buy garage keeper’s insurance separately but it must be a part of your regular commercial auto policy. And you have to have a separate rider for each location where covered non-owned autos will be stored.

As you can see, there are many details to be explored in choosing if, when, and how to cover non-owned vehicles used by your business. To learn more, contact Flagler County (FL) Insurance Agency today to customize a commercial auto insurance policy that covers all of your business’ needs.