Your business does not own a single vehicle. But your people drive every day: to client sites, to pick up supplies, to the bank. If an employee causes an accident while driving on company time, who pays?

Their personal auto policy probably will not. Most personal policies exclude business use. Your general liability policy will not either; it excludes auto-related claims. That gap is exactly what hired and non-owned auto insurance (HNOA) is built to fill.

Do your employees drive for work? Quickly compare hired and non-owned auto insurance quotes.

What Is Hired and Non-Owned Auto Insurance?

Hired and non-owned auto insurance is commercial auto liability coverage for vehicles your business uses but does not own. It has two parts:

• Hired auto covers vehicles your business rents, leases, or borrows, such as a rental car for a business trip.
• Non-owned auto covers vehicles your business does not own, hire, or borrow. In practice, this almost always means employees’ personal cars used for work purposes.

The key point: HNOA protects the business against liability claims arising from these vehicles. It does not replace the driver’s own insurance.

What Does Hired and Non-Owned Auto Insurance Cover?

HNOA covers third-party liability claims against your business when a hired or non-owned vehicle is involved in an accident during business use:

• Bodily injury liability: medical costs and related damages if someone is hurt.
• Property damage liability: repair or replacement costs for damaged property.
• Legal defense: attorney fees and court costs if your business is sued over a covered accident.

What HNOA does not cover:

• Damage to the hired or borrowed vehicle itself (that requires separate hired auto physical damage coverage).
• Injuries to your employee driving the vehicle (that falls to workers’ compensation or health insurance).
• Any driving done for purely personal reasons.

Hired Auto vs. Non-Owned Auto: What Is the Difference?

	Hired Auto	Non-Owned Auto
Applies to	Vehicles you rent, lease, or borrow	Vehicles you do not own, hire, or borrow (usually employee cars)
Typical example	Rental car for a conference trip	Sales rep driving her own sedan to client meetings
Who is protected	Your business	Your business
Physical damage to the vehicle	Not included (separate coverage)	Not included

Most businesses that need one end up needing both, which is why they are almost always sold together as HNOA.

Who Needs Hired and Non-Owned Auto Insurance?

If any of these describe your business, you likely need it:

• Employees run errands or visit clients in their own cars (real estate agents, home service techs, sales teams).
• You rent vehicles for business travel, even occasionally.
• Clients or contracts require it. Many commercial contracts, especially with larger companies and government agencies, require vendors to carry HNOA and show proof on a certificate of insurance.
• You are a nonprofit, contractor, or professional services firm with a mobile workforce but no company-owned fleet.

A common misconception is that HNOA is only for delivery businesses. In reality, any business whose people drive for work has the exposure.

Does Personal Auto Insurance or General Liability Already Cover This?

Usually not, and this is where businesses get caught:

• Personal auto policies typically exclude coverage while the vehicle is used for business purposes. Your employee’s insurer can deny the claim, leaving your business exposed.
• General liability policies contain an auto exclusion. A GL policy will not respond to an auto accident, period.
• Workers’ compensation covers your employee’s injuries, but it does nothing for the third party they hit or the lawsuit that follows.

HNOA exists precisely because each of these policies points at the others when a work-driving accident happens.

How Much Does Hired and Non-Owned Auto Insurance Cost?

Cost depends on how much driving your business generates and the limits you choose:

• Number of employees who drive for work and how often.
• Type of driving: occasional errands cost less to insure than daily client routes.
• Coverage limits you select.
• Driving records and claims history.
• Industry and state.

As an endorsement to an existing commercial auto or business owner’s policy, HNOA is often one of the more affordable commercial coverages, frequently a few hundred dollars a year for small businesses. Standalone HNOA policies cost more but are available when you do not otherwise need a commercial auto policy. The only way to know your number is to get quotes based on your actual driving exposure.

How to Get Hired and Non-Owned Auto Insurance

You have two main paths:

1. Add it as an endorsement to a commercial auto policy or, in some cases, a business owner’s policy. This is the most common and usually the cheapest route. If you are not sure you need a full commercial auto policy, start here: Do I Need Commercial Auto Insurance?.
2. Buy a standalone HNOA policy if your business has no other commercial auto needs.

Either way, compare quotes from multiple providers. Coverage definitions and pricing vary more than most buyers expect. When you are ready for quotes, the form on the page connects you to Bold Penguin’s marketplace, where you may be matched with leading carriers.

Get covered before the next errand. Quickly compare hired and non-owned auto insurance quotes. Or start from the homepage to compare quotes across all your business coverages.