{ "$schema": "https://bestinsuranceresearch.com/llms-full.txt", "recordType": "coverage", "id": "commercial-auto", "canonicalUrl": "https://bestinsuranceresearch.com/insurance/commercial-auto", "contentVersion": "2026.08.31", "generatedFor": "2026-09-06", "operator": { "legalName": "WJB Services, Inc.", "dba": "Bollinsure Insurance Services", "license": "6013787", "licenseAuthority": "California Department of Insurance" }, "license": "Text on this page may be quoted with attribution and a link to the canonical URL.", "notice": "Public page facts only. This record contains no visitor question, no tool input, and no identifier. It is not a coverage determination, an eligibility decision, or individualized advice.", "name": "Commercial Auto Insurance", "line": "commercial-auto", "family": "commercial", "definition": "The coverage part that responds when a vehicle used in a business injures someone or damages their property. On the standard form it is built differently from every other commercial line: the policy does not cover \"your vehicles\" as a category, it covers whichever autos the numbered symbols on the declarations page designate for each individual coverage. Two businesses holding the same form with the same limit can therefore have entirely different coverage, and the difference is readable only in Item Two of their declarations.", "protects": [ "A business against sums it legally must pay as damages for bodily injury or property damage arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of a covered auto", "Employees and others driving with permission, where they fall inside the Who Is An Insured provision and outside its five stated exceptions", "The business against defence costs, which the insurer has a duty to pay for suits seeking damages the insurance applies to", "A business that hires or borrows vehicles, but only if a hired-autos symbol is shown for that coverage", "A business whose employees drive their own cars on its behalf, but only if a non-owned symbol is shown for that coverage" ], "commonlyCovers": [ { "item": "Liability for bodily injury and property damage from an accident involving a covered auto", "note": "The insuring agreement pays sums an insured legally must pay as damages because of bodily injury or property damage caused by an accident and resulting from the ownership, maintenance or use of a covered auto. Whether a given vehicle is a covered auto for that coverage depends on the symbol shown, so read Item Two of your own declarations." }, { "item": "Defence of a suit seeking those damages", "note": "The form gives the insurer the right and duty to defend an insured against a suit asking for such damages, and states there is no duty to defend a suit seeking damages the insurance does not apply to." }, { "item": "Hired autos, where a hired-autos symbol is designated", "note": "Symbol 8 covers only autos you lease, hire, rent or borrow, and expressly excludes any auto hired or borrowed from your employees, partners, members, or members of their households. Borrowing an employee's car is therefore not a hired auto." }, { "item": "Non-owned autos, where a non-owned symbol is designated", "note": "Symbol 9 covers autos you do not own, lease, hire, rent or borrow that are used in connection with your business, including employee-owned autos, but only while used in your business or your personal affairs." }, { "item": "Liability assumed in an insured contract", "note": "The contractual exclusion does not apply to damages assumed in a contract that is an insured contract, provided the bodily injury or property damage occurs after the contract was executed, or to liability the insured would have had without the contract. What qualifies as an insured contract is defined in the form." }, { "item": "Bail bond costs, up to a stated amount", "note": "Supplementary Payments include up to $2,000 for the cost of bail bonds, including bonds for related traffic law violations, required because of a covered accident, and the form states the insurer does not have to furnish the bonds." }, { "item": "Anyone liable for the conduct of an insured, to that extent", "note": "Who Is An Insured includes anyone liable for the conduct of an insured described in the provision, but only to the extent of that liability." } ], "commonlyExcludes": [ { "item": "Any auto the declarations symbols do not designate for that coverage", "note": "This is the structural one and it is not written as an exclusion. Section I states that the symbols entered next to a coverage designate the only autos that are covered autos for it. A vehicle can be owned, insured elsewhere on the policy, and still not be a covered auto for the coverage in question." }, { "item": "Injury to an employee arising out of employment", "note": "Exclusion 4 Employee Indemnification And Employer's Liability removes bodily injury to an employee of the insured arising out of and in the course of employment, or of performing duties related to the conduct of the insured's business, and extends to that employee's spouse, child, parent, brother or sister as a consequence. It applies whether the insured is liable as an employer or in any other capacity." }, { "item": "Anything owed under a workers compensation or similar law", "note": "Exclusion 3 removes any obligation for which the insured or its insurer may be held liable under any workers compensation, disability benefits or unemployment compensation law or any similar law." }, { "item": "Liability assumed under a contract that is not an insured contract", "note": "Exclusion 2 removes liability assumed under any contract or agreement, and the exception is limited to insured contracts and to liability the insured would have had anyway. A promise in an ordinary commercial agreement is not automatically inside the exception." }, { "item": "Injury expected or intended by the insured", "note": "Exclusion 1 removes bodily injury or property damage expected or intended from the standpoint of the insured." }, { "item": "Pollution cost or expense standing alone", "note": "The insuring agreement covers a covered pollution cost or expense only if there is also bodily injury or property damage to which the insurance applies caused by the same accident. A clean-up demand with no accompanying injury or damage does not meet that condition." }, { "item": "The owner of a vehicle you hire or borrow", "note": "The first exception to Who Is An Insured removes the owner or anyone else from whom you hire or borrow a covered auto, except where the covered auto is a trailer connected to a covered auto you own." }, { "item": "An employee driving their own car, as an insured", "note": "The second exception removes your employee where the covered auto is owned by that employee or a member of their household. The business may still be covered; the employee is not an insured under this provision." } ], "limitsAndDeductibles": [ "Covered Autos Liability Coverage is written with a single limit of insurance rather than the split per-person and per-accident structure common on personal auto.", "The duty to defend ends when the Covered Autos Liability Coverage Limit of Insurance is exhausted by payment of judgments or settlements. Defence is therefore not unlimited in time; it is limited by the limit.", "Supplementary Payments are stated separately from the limit, and include all expenses the insurer incurs plus up to $2,000 of bail bond cost.", "Each coverage on the form carries its own symbol, so the limit that applies depends on whether the vehicle involved is a covered auto for that specific coverage.", "Physical damage coverages, where purchased, ordinarily carry their own deductibles shown on the declarations rather than a single policy deductible. Read the declarations actually issued; no physical damage form was read for this page.", "A contract that specifies a combined single limit is specifying a figure, not a form. What the policy pays on behalf of a designated insured is governed by the endorsement attached." ], "endorsements": [ { "item": "CA 20 48 Designated Insured For Covered Autos Liability Coverage", "note": "The point most often misunderstood on this line. The endorsement states in terms that it does not alter coverage provided in the Coverage Form, and that each person shown in its Schedule is an insured only to the extent they already qualify as an insured under Who Is An Insured at Paragraph A.1.. It names; it does not extend." }, { "item": "Hired and non-owned coverage by symbol rather than by endorsement", "note": "On the standard form these are added by designating symbols 8 and 9 for the relevant coverage rather than by a separate endorsement. If a certificate says hired and non-owned is included, the declarations symbols are where that is confirmed." }, { "item": "State-specific changes endorsements", "note": "Commercial auto forms are routinely amended by state endorsements that override the base wording. None was read for this page, so nothing here describes what any state amendment does." } ], "relatedPolicies": [ "Workers compensation and employers liability, which answers the employee-injury exposure this form excludes at Exclusion 4 [S:iso-ca-00-01-10-13]", "Commercial general liability, which answers premises and operations exposures that do not arise from the use of an auto", "Umbrella or excess liability, which sits above the auto limit and ordinarily requires a stated underlying limit", "Personal auto, which is where an employee's own vehicle is insured for their own use" ], "underwritingInputs": [ "A vehicle schedule: year, make, model, VIN, garaging location, and stated value or cost new for each unit", "The radius of operation and whether any vehicle crosses state lines", "What each vehicle is used for, and whether anything is carried for hire", "Driver list with licence numbers and dates of birth, and the written policy for checking motor vehicle records", "Whether employees drive their own vehicles on company business, and how often. This is the fact that decides whether a non-owned symbol is needed, since Symbol 9 reaches employee-owned autos only while used in your business or personal affairs [S:iso-ca-00-01-10-13]", "Whether vehicles are hired, leased, rented or borrowed, and from whom. Autos hired from employees, partners or members and their households sit outside Symbol 8 [S:iso-ca-00-01-10-13]", "Loss runs, ordinarily several years, valued currently", "Contract requirements the business has accepted, including any demand to name a party as an additional insured on the auto policy. What that produces is governed by the endorsement, which does not alter coverage [S:iso-ca-20-48-10-13]", "Which symbols are being requested for each coverage, because the symbols and not the vehicle list determine what is a covered auto [S:iso-ca-00-01-10-13]", "This list describes information commonly requested in practice. It is common practice rather than a filed requirement, and whether any insurer offers terms at all is its own underwriting decision." ], "stateVariations": [ { "state": "CA", "note": "Symbols 5 and 6 are written by reference to the law of the state where an auto is licensed or principally garaged, covering autos required to carry no-fault benefits and autos that cannot reject uninsured motorists coverage. California is not a no-fault state, so the operative question here is the uninsured motorists one, and the answer sits in state law that was not read for this page." }, { "state": "TX", "note": "The copy of the base form read for this page is hosted by the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas rather than by the publisher. The wording is the ISO wording; the guarantee that it is current is not the publisher's. Texas requires personal injury protection and uninsured motorist coverage to be offered with a written rejection on the personal auto side, and no commercial equivalent was read here." } ], "effectiveDate": "2026-09-02", "lastReviewed": "2026-09-02", "author": "Aaron Bollinger", "reviewer": "Brian Bollinger", "sourceIds": [ "iso-ca-00-01-10-13", "iso-ca-20-48-10-13", "tdi-auto-guide" ], "sources": [ { "id": "iso-ca-00-01-10-13", "title": "Business Auto Coverage Form CA 00 01 10 13 (ISO)", "publisher": "Insurance Services Office, Inc. (page footers read \"Insurance Services Office, Inc., 2011\"); copy hosted by the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas", "url": "https://www.iiat.org/uploads/files/general/InfoCentral/Commercial-Auto/ca0001.pdf", "sourceType": "policy-form", "jurisdiction": "US", "authorityLevel": "standards-body", "primary": true, "publishedDate": "2013-10", "effectiveDate": "unknown", "accessedDate": "2026-09-02", "lastChecked": "2026-09-02", "updateCadence": "annually", "status": "active", "supportsClaims": [ "Every page carries the form line CA 00 01 10 13, the title BUSINESS AUTO COVERAGE FORM, and the footer \"Insurance Services Office, Inc., 2011\"; the form runs 12 pages.", "Section I Covered Autos states that Item Two of the Declarations shows the autos that are covered autos for each coverage, and that the symbols entered next to a coverage on the Declarations designate the only autos that are covered autos.", "Symbol 1 is described as Any Auto.", "Symbol 2 is Owned Autos Only: only those autos you own, and for Covered Autos Liability Coverage any trailers you do not own while attached to power units you own, including autos you acquire ownership of after the policy begins.", "Symbol 3 is Owned Private Passenger Autos Only, and Symbol 4 is Owned Autos Other Than Private Passenger Autos Only.", "Symbol 5 is Owned Autos Subject To No-fault: only those autos you own that are required to have no-fault benefits in the state where they are licensed or principally garaged.", "Symbol 6 is Owned Autos Subject To A Compulsory Uninsured Motorists Law: only those autos you own that, because of the law in the state where they are licensed or principally garaged, are required to have and cannot reject Uninsured Motorists Coverage.", "Symbol 7 is Specifically Described Autos: only those autos described in Item Three of the Declarations for which a premium charge is shown.", "Symbol 8 is Hired Autos Only: only those autos you lease, hire, rent or borrow, and it does not include any auto you lease, hire, rent or borrow from any of your employees, partners if you are a partnership, members if you are a limited liability company, or members of their households.", "Symbol 9 is Non-owned Autos Only: only those autos you do not own, lease, hire, rent or borrow that are used in connection with your business, and it includes autos owned by your employees, partners or members, or members of their households, but only while used in your business or your personal affairs.", "The Covered Autos Liability Coverage insuring agreement states that the insurer will pay all sums an insured legally must pay as damages because of bodily injury or property damage to which the insurance applies, caused by an accident and resulting from the ownership, maintenance or use of a covered auto.", "The same insuring agreement covers sums an insured legally must pay as a covered pollution cost or expense caused by an accident, but states that the insurer will only pay for the covered pollution cost or expense if there is also bodily injury or property damage to which the insurance applies caused by the same accident.", "The form states that the insurer has no duty to defend any insured against a suit seeking damages for bodily injury, property damage or a covered pollution cost or expense to which the insurance does not apply.", "The form states that the duty to defend or settle ends when the Covered Autos Liability Coverage Limit of Insurance has been exhausted by payment of judgments or settlements.", "Who Is An Insured at Paragraph A.1. lists as insureds: you for any covered auto; and anyone else while using with your permission a covered auto you own, hire or borrow, subject to five stated exceptions.", "The first exception to Who Is An Insured removes the owner or anyone else from whom you hire or borrow a covered auto, and states that the exception does not apply if the covered auto is a trailer connected to a covered auto you own.", "The second exception removes your employee if the covered auto is owned by that employee or a member of his or her household.", "The third exception removes someone using a covered auto while he or she is working in a business of selling, servicing, repairing, parking or storing autos, unless that business is yours.", "The fifth exception removes a partner, if you are a partnership, or a member, if you are a limited liability company, for a covered auto owned by him or her or a member of his or her household.", "Who Is An Insured also includes anyone liable for the conduct of an insured described above, but only to the extent of that liability.", "Exclusion 2 Contractual removes liability assumed under any contract or agreement, but states the exclusion does not apply to liability for damages assumed in a contract or agreement that is an insured contract, provided the bodily injury or property damage occurs subsequent to the execution of the contract, or that the insured would have in the absence of the contract.", "Exclusion 3 Workers' Compensation removes any obligation for which the insured or the insured's insurer may be held liable under any workers' compensation, disability benefits or unemployment compensation law or any similar law.", "Exclusion 4 Employee Indemnification And Employer's Liability removes bodily injury to an employee of the insured arising out of and in the course of employment by the insured or performing duties related to the conduct of the insured's business, and to the spouse, child, parent, brother or sister of that employee as a consequence.", "Exclusion 4 states that it applies whether the insured may be liable as an employer or in any other capacity, and to any obligation to share damages with or repay someone else who must pay damages because of the injury.", "Exclusion 1 Expected Or Intended Injury removes bodily injury or property damage expected or intended from the standpoint of the insured.", "Supplementary Payments include all expenses the insurer incurs and up to $2,000 for the cost of bail bonds, including bonds for related traffic law violations, required because of an accident the insurer covers, and the form states the insurer does not have to furnish these bonds." ] }, { "id": "iso-ca-20-48-10-13", "title": "Designated Insured For Covered Autos Liability Coverage, endorsement CA 20 48 10 13 (ISO)", "publisher": "Insurance Services Office, Inc. (page footer reads \"Insurance Services Office, Inc., 2011\"); copy hosted by the New York State Office of General Services", "url": "https://ogs.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2021/09/ca-20-48-10-13.pdf", "sourceType": "policy-form", "jurisdiction": "US", "authorityLevel": "standards-body", "primary": true, "publishedDate": "2013-10", "effectiveDate": "unknown", "accessedDate": "2026-09-02", "lastChecked": "2026-09-02", "updateCadence": "annually", "status": "active", "supportsClaims": [ "The form carries the designation CA 20 48 10 13, the title DESIGNATED INSURED FOR COVERED AUTOS LIABILITY COVERAGE, and the footer \"Insurance Services Office, Inc., 2011\"; it is one page.", "The endorsement states that it modifies insurance provided under the Auto Dealers Coverage Form, the Business Auto Coverage Form, and the Motor Carrier Coverage Form.", "The endorsement states in terms: \"This endorsement does not alter coverage provided in the Coverage Form.\"", "The endorsement states that it identifies persons or organizations who are insureds for Covered Autos Liability Coverage under the Who Is An Insured provision of the Coverage Form.", "The operative paragraph provides that each person or organization shown in the Schedule is an insured for Covered Autos Liability Coverage, but only to the extent that person or organization qualifies as an insured under the Who Is An Insured provision contained in Paragraph A.1. of Section II Covered Autos Liability Coverage in the Business Auto and Motor Carrier Coverage Forms, and Paragraph D.2. of Section I Covered Autos Coverages of the Auto Dealers Coverage Form.", "The Schedule has one heading, Name Of Person(s) Or Organization(s), and the form states that information required to complete the Schedule, if not shown in the endorsement, will be shown in the Declarations.", "The endorsement states that it changes the policy effective on the inception date of the policy unless another date is indicated on it." ] }, { "id": "tdi-auto-guide", "title": "Auto insurance guide (CB020) - Texas Department of Insurance", "publisher": "Texas Department of Insurance", "url": "https://www.tdi.texas.gov/pubs/consumer/cb020.html", "sourceType": "regulator-guidance", "jurisdiction": "TX", "authorityLevel": "regulator", "primary": true, "publishedDate": "unknown", "effectiveDate": "n/a", "accessedDate": "2026-08-31", "lastChecked": "2026-08-31", "updateCadence": "TDI revises its consumer guides periodically; re-verify annually and after each legislative session.", "status": "active", "supportsClaims": [ "TDI states that Texas law requires at least $30,000 of coverage for injuries per person, up to a total of $60,000 per accident, and $25,000 of coverage for property damage.", "TDI states that all auto policies in Texas include personal injury protection coverage, and that a policyholder who does not want it must tell the company in writing.", "TDI states that insurance companies must offer uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, and that a policyholder who does not want it must tell the company in writing.", "The guide carries a last updated date of December 11, 2025.", "The guide states no effective date for the minimum amounts." ] } ] }