Why do I need auto coverage if my school doesn’t own any vehicles? We get asked this question frequently, so I want to clarify some confusion surrounding this coverage.

There are scenarios where a school must have auto coverage to adequately cover a claim even if they don’t own any autos. For example,  if you send an employee on an errand in their vehicle and the employee is involved in an accident where they are at fault, your school can be named in the lawsuit because it was a company-related errand they were sent on. 

How do you protect yourself in this type of scenario?   Hired and non-owned auto coverage is specifically designed to protect you and your company from the aforementioned situations. This coverage protects you from bodily injury and property damage arising from using a vehicle owned by an individual other than the school but is used on the school’s behalf. 

For schools, this coverage can be added to your general liability policy for little or no additional cost, even when selecting limits as high as $1,000,000.  

  Coverage Tips:

• This is supplemental coverage, meaning your employee’s insurance policy will pay first. If your employee’s limits are exhausted from a claim, or you do not have insurance, the non-owned and hired auto coverage will pay. Tip: Verify that all employees carry insurance on their vehicles with a minimum $100,000 per occurrence limit.
• Coverage for “hired” vehicles will provide liability coverage for rental cars you may use for company business, and it will only replace the liability portion, not the physical damage coverage. Therefore, it is still important to purchase the rental agency’s physical damage coverage, or you can purchase the coverage through your current insurance company. 
• Check MVRs (Motor Vehicle Records) for all employees.   Verifying the driving records of all of your employees will help protect you from potential claims. You will know which drivers to avoid sending on company-related errands because of the potential risk. 
• This coverage is also essential for schools that send their students out on field trips. Hired/Non-owned Auto Coverage may protect schools from incidents involving parents driving students or even transportation companies hired by the schools themselves.