Daly & Alexander Insurance
Get a Quote
← Back to Blog

Small Businesses: Ask for the CA 99 33 on Hired and Non Owned Auto

  • September 30, 2026

Hired and non-owned auto (HNOA) is the liability coverage a business needs when employees drive their own cars for work or the business rents or borrows a vehicle. It protects the business, not the vehicle, and it typically sits as excess above the driver’s personal auto policy. If your team runs errands in personal cars or you rent a van for a job, HNOA is worth a serious look.

TL;DR:

  • Businesses relying on employees’ personal vehicles for work should confirm their personal auto limits exceed potential liability exposure to avoid coverage gaps.
  • HNOA typically responds as excess coverage after personal auto policies, but many policies only cover third-party injuries and property damage, excluding vehicle damage and workers’ compensation.
  • The active symbols in your policy, such as symbol 8 for hired autos and symbol 9 for non-owned autos, determine the scope of coverage; incorrect symbols can lead to costly claims.
  • Regularly mapping driving exposures, reviewing client contract requirements, and documenting endorsements can help prevent coverage misunderstandings during claims.
  • Larger or constant-use fleets often require commercial auto policies, which may be more cost-effective and comprehensive than layering HNOA onto a business auto policy.
Dalyandalexander
Review Your Business Auto Coverage
Daly & Alexander provides personalized property and casualty insurance guidance for businesses with specific protection needs.

Visit Daly & Alexander

Table of Contents

Definitions and Business Examples of Hired vs. Non-Owned Auto

The two halves of HNOA cover different situations, and knowing which one applies to you starts with understanding what each word means.

A hired auto is any vehicle your business rents, leases, or borrows, typically without a driver included. Think of a moving truck rented for a one-day job, a van leased for a busy season, or a car borrowed from a friend to cover for a broken-down company vehicle. A non-owned auto is a vehicle your business doesn’t own but that an employee drives for work purposes, most often their own personal car.

Here’s how that plays out in real business situations:

  • A landscaping company rents a trailer-hauling truck for a weekend job: that’s a hired auto exposure.
  • An office manager drives her own car to the bank for a deposit: that’s a non-owned auto exposure.
  • A contractor borrows a client’s truck to move materials: this creates a gray area depending on who directs the work and who’s listed as the driver.
  • A volunteer at a nonprofit event drives their own vehicle to transport supplies: this counts as non-owned exposure even though there’s no paycheck involved.

Insurance carriers track these exposures using numeric symbols on the coverage form: symbol 8 designates hired autos only, and symbol 9 designates non-owned autos only. Your declarations page should show which symbols are active, and that’s one of the first things worth checking with your agent.

What HNOA Covers and What It Excludes

HNOA pays for third-party bodily injury and property damage when a covered vehicle causes an accident during business use. If an employee driving their own car to a client meeting hits another vehicle, HNOA can respond to the resulting liability claim against your business.

What it doesn’t cover matters just as much:

  • Physical damage to the hired or non-owned vehicle itself (no collision or comprehensive protection).
  • Workers’ compensation claims for an injured employee, which fall under a separate policy.
  • Personal errands unrelated to business, even if the employee was technically “on the clock” for part of the day.
  • Damage to property your business already owns, which general liability or property coverage handles instead.

HNOA typically pays as excess coverage, meaning the employee’s personal auto policy responds first, and HNOA steps in only if damages exceed those personal limits or the personal policy denies the claim. Businesses that lean heavily on employees running errands in personal vehicles often underestimate this gap, since a minimum personal auto limit can leave a lot of exposure uncovered.

There’s a wrinkle worth flagging: rental agreements or client contracts sometimes require your business to carry primary coverage instead of excess. Read those contracts closely, because a mismatch between what you’re required to carry and what your policy actually provides is exactly how coverage gaps happen.

Illustration of primary and excess coverage layers

Who Needs HNOA: Common Business Classes and Use Cases

Almost any business where employees drive for work, even occasionally, carries some non-owned auto exposure. A few patterns make HNOA especially relevant:

  1. Service businesses where staff drive to client sites, run supply errands, or make bank deposits in personal vehicles.
  2. Delivery operations, including food service or courier work, where frequent driving raises both frequency and severity of potential claims.
  3. Businesses that occasionally rent trucks or vans for moves, seasonal work, or special projects.
  4. Event producers who rent vehicles or trailers for setup and teardown.
  5. Contractors who borrow equipment-hauling vehicles or direct subcontractors who use their own trucks.

The exposure grows with frequency, distance traveled, whether passengers are involved, and whether client contracts require proof of coverage. A business that rents a truck twice a year has a different risk profile than one that has five employees driving personal cars daily. If your operation owns and uses vehicles constantly rather than occasionally, a commercial auto insurance policy built for a fleet is usually the better fit than layering HNOA onto a business auto policy.

Cost and Underwriting Factors That Determine HNOA Premium

Underwriters price HNOA based on how much driving exposure your business actually creates, not just whether you own vehicles.

  • Business class matters most: a delivery-heavy operation prices differently than a consulting firm with occasional errands.
  • Claims history and driver records for anyone who drives on the business’s behalf factor directly into rates.
  • Number of covered drivers and territory shift premiums up or down depending on how many people are exposed and where they typically drive.
  • Limits and deductibles you select directly affect price, and low underlying limits can force a heavier reliance on umbrella layers later.

Pro Tip: Ask your agent whether a written vehicle-use policy, telematics program, or driver safety training could earn a credit before you accept a quote at face value.

Reducing employee reliance on personal vehicles for business tasks, or tightening who’s authorized to drive at all, is one of the more direct ways to control this cost over time.

How HNOA Fits With Personal, Commercial, and Umbrella Policies

Coverage order matters more than most business owners realize until a claim exposes the gap.

  • For a non-owned auto, the employee’s personal auto policy is typically primary, and HNOA responds only after those limits are exhausted.
  • The business auto coverage form uses symbols to define what’s covered: symbol 1 means any auto, symbol 8 means hired autos only, and symbol 9 means non-owned autos only. Getting the wrong symbol on your policy is a common and costly mistake.
  • An umbrella or excess liability policy sits above your underlying auto liability and can respond when a serious accident exceeds both the personal policy and the HNOA limit.
  • The CA 99 33 Employees as Insureds endorsement extends insured status to employees driving non-owned vehicles on an excess basis, which reduces the odds of the carrier pursuing subrogation against your own staff after a claim.

Getting this order wrong doesn’t just cost money in a claim. It can also mean an employee gets pursued personally for damages that should have been the business’s responsibility, which is a fast way to damage trust with your team.

How to Buy HNOA and What to Bring to Your Agent

Placing HNOA well starts with the right paperwork, not the cheapest quote.

Gather a list of everyone who drives for business purposes, any written vehicle-use policy you already have, prior loss history, and copies of client contracts that specify insurance requirements. Then ask your agent or carrier direct questions: is this primary or excess, which symbols are active on the form, are delivery or towing operations excluded, and are there limitations on hired vehicles that come with their own driver.

  1. Map your exposures by listing every scenario where an employee or hired vehicle is on the road for work.
  2. Ask targeted underwriting questions about symbols, exclusions, and primary versus excess treatment.
  3. Compare limits against your umbrella layering to see where a gap might open up in a severe claim.
  4. Document every endorsement in writing, especially CA 99 33, so there’s no ambiguity when a claim happens.

Pro Tip: If a carrier hesitates to cover delivery-class operations or pushes you toward an excess and surplus lines market without explanation, treat that as a signal to get a second opinion.

How Daly & Alexander Structures HNOA Protection

Daly & Alexander Insurance approaches HNOA by mapping a business’s actual driving exposures first, then matching endorsements to what’s found, prioritizing employee-as-insured status and correct symbol selection over simply raising limits. Tailored limits paired with an umbrella layer often protect a business more efficiently than stacking high limits onto a single endorsement. The agency’s approach centers on matching real exposure to real coverage rather than guessing.

Three Moves Every Small-Business Leader Should Make Now

Map every scenario where employees or rented vehicles touch your business, then confirm your team’s personal auto limits before you assume HNOA fills every gap. If your operation is driving daily rather than occasionally, a full commercial auto policy deserves a second look. Documentation of endorsements is what makes a claim go smoothly instead of contentiously.

— Nathan

How Daly & Alexander Can Help With Your Coverage Review

If your business rents vehicles, sends employees on errands, or handles deliveries, a quick review often reveals gaps that a standard policy never mentioned. Daly & Alexander Insurance works through your actual exposures with you, not a generic checklist, and helps place the right combination of coverage for how your business actually operates.

Dalyandalexander

Worth bringing to that conversation:

  • A list of everyone who drives for business purposes and how often.
  • Any rental or lease agreements tied to your operations.
  • Client contracts that specify minimum insurance requirements.
  • Prior claims history, if any, involving vehicles or drivers.

Coverage worth discussing includes a Business Owners Policy, commercial liability, and umbrella layering to sit above your auto liability. Schedule a consultation through Daly & Alexander’s services page to get a coverage picture built around what your business actually does on the road.

Where to Learn More About HNOA Rules and Terms

  • NAIC: regulatory perspective on small business auto coverage.
  • Daly & Alexander Insurance: local agency contact for policy-specific questions.

Sources

FAQ

What does hired non-owned auto mean?

Hired non-owned auto (HNOA) is liability coverage for a business when it rents or borrows a vehicle (hired) or when an employee drives their own vehicle for work (non-owned). It protects the business against third-party injury and property damage claims, not damage to the vehicle itself.

How does a non-owned auto policy work?

A non-owned auto policy typically pays as excess coverage, stepping in after the employee’s personal auto policy responds first. It’s designed to cover the business’s liability exposure, not to replace the driver’s own insurance.

Can you have additional insured on hired and non-owned auto?

Yes, businesses commonly add clients or landlords as additional insureds on an HNOA policy when a contract requires it. Employees themselves are typically added through the CA 99 33 Employees as Insureds endorsement rather than a standard additional insured designation.

What is the difference between Drive Other Car coverage and hired and non-owned coverage?

Drive Other Car (DOC) coverage is an endorsement for specific named individuals, often executives, who may not carry a personal auto policy of their own. HNOA, by contrast, is an employer-level endorsement that covers the business’s liability whenever any employee drives a non-owned vehicle or the business hires a vehicle.