Hired and Non Owned Auto (HNOA) covers your business when employees drive their own or rented cars for work. Clients ask to see it because your general liability policy excludes auto entirely, and a certificate showing no auto line is a gap they can see from across the room. Who this is for: businesses with no company vehicles.
The short version
- General liability excludes auto claims, so there is no accidental coverage here.
- An employee's personal auto policy protects the employee, not your business.
- Hired and non owned auto usually costs $250 to $750 a year.
- It can be added to a general liability or business owners policy and shown on the auto line.
- Certificates showing a blank auto line get flagged by any reviewer who is paying attention.
What the two halves mean
| Term | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Hired auto | Vehicles your business rents, leases, or borrows for work |
| Non owned auto | Employee owned vehicles used for business errands and client visits |
| What neither covers | Physical damage to the employee's own car, which stays on their policy |
| What it protects | Your business, when it is named alongside the driver in a lawsuit |
How it appears on the certificate
On the standard certificate form the automobile liability section has check boxes for any auto, owned autos only, hired autos only, and non owned autos only. A business with no vehicles will show hired and non owned checked, with a combined single limit, usually $1M. Reviewers look at exactly that: is there an auto line at all, and what is checked.
Why the gap exists so often
- Nobody thinks of themselves as running a fleet, so the coverage never comes up.
- The exposure is invisible until an employee runs an errand and causes a serious accident.
- Plaintiff lawyers name the employer because the employer has assets and the employee has a personal limit.
- The premium is small enough that it is rarely the reason it was skipped.
What to do
- Ask your broker to add hired and non owned auto to your existing policy.
- Require staff who drive for work to carry personal auto limits of at least $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident.
- Put an umbrella over the top, because auto claims are what exhaust primary limits.
- Write down whether staff may transport clients, and share it with the team.
- Check the auto line on every certificate you send, since a blank one invites questions.
Related reading: hired and non owned auto.
What this looks like in practice
Illustrative example. It is typical of what we see and is not a promise of how any specific situation would be handled.
The setup: A consulting firm with no company vehicles sends a client a certificate with the automobile liability section blank.
What went wrong: The client's compliance reviewer flagged the missing auto line, and a week later an employee driving to a client meeting caused an injury accident.
What it cost: The firm was named alongside the employee, funded its own defence for two months, and settled above the employee's personal limits.
The fix: Add hired and non owned auto liability. A few hundred dollars a year would have put an insurer on the file from day one and cleared the compliance flag.
Frequently asked questions
Q: What is hired and non owned auto coverage?
Liability coverage protecting your business for vehicles it does not own, meaning rented vehicles and employee cars used for work. It does not cover damage to the employee's own vehicle.
Q: Do I need it if my business owns no cars?
If anyone drives for the business, including short errands and client visits, yes. General liability excludes auto, so without it the business has no coverage when it is sued.
Q: How much does it cost?
Usually $250 to $750 a year added to an existing general liability or business owners policy, which makes it one of the cheapest meaningful coverages available.
Q: Will my employee's personal policy protect my company?
No. It protects the employee up to their limits. Your business is a separate defendant with no coverage unless you carry hired and non owned auto.
Q: How is it shown on a certificate?
On the automobile liability line, with the hired autos and non owned autos boxes checked and a combined single limit shown, typically $1M.
Q: Does it cover rental cars on business trips?
The liability portion, yes. Physical damage to the rental itself needs hired auto physical damage, which is a separate and inexpensive addition.
How Morrow helps with certificates of insurance
Morrow is a licensed independent commercial insurance brokerage that specializes in certificates of insurance and the endorsements behind them. Adding non owned auto coverage so your certificate has no blank lines is the kind of thing we handle every day, for clients across construction, trades, professional services, trucking, real estate, and hospitality, so we know what a compliance reviewer will reject before you send it.
- We issue certificates the same day you ask, and usually within the hour.
- We read the contract first, so the endorsements the certificate reports actually exist on your policy.
- We push back on requirements the market will not issue, and give you language your client will accept.
- We keep a record of who was issued what, so renewals go out before anyone chases you.
Get in touch and we will see how we can help. Send us the contract or the certificate request and we will tell you what your current policy can support and what needs to change. Start at morrowinsure.com or reach the team through the contact options on that page.
One more thing. This article is general information and is not legal advice or a statement of coverage. Certificates report what a policy says, and the policy wording controls in every case. Forms and requirements vary by carrier, by state, and by contract, so have a licensed advisor review your own policy and your own contract before relying on any of it.
Last updated: Reviewed by the Morrow commercial lines team. Last updated August 2026.