Automobile Coverage For Restaurateurs
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Maria Vicari
Agent Colstan & Associates, Inc. Huntington, NY |
As a restaurant business owner or foodservice manager, you regularly find yourself sending employees on over the road deliveries pickups or other errands. Situations consistently come up where operators and owners have to hire vehicles for their businesses, too; it’s not necessary to own every auto used by your restaurant or foodservices. To know whether operators are ensuring their vehicle and driver coverage issues correctly, they need to inform their insurance agents about which employees are driving “company” cars, making deliveries and pickups or running errands for their businesses. Agents will want to know whether your workers are dependable and safe drivers. They’re also most likely to want to know operators’ employees are driving their own or hired autos.
As we are all well aware, accidents happen on the road every day. It’s a well-known fact that we are safer in the air than we are on our roads. Operators should ask themselves whether they know what to do if an employee in a catering truck on what seems like a routine delivery gets into an accident with a school bus. The scenario can become even worse than that if that employee is driving a van that was rented because the restaurant’s own vehicle is at the mechanic’s to get a new battery. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade? This time, I think not.
Foodservice operators should be aware that Hired and Non-Owned auto liability policies cover bodily injury and property damage caused by a hired vehicle (including rented or borrowed vehicles) and that caused by non-owned vehicles (vehicles owned by others, including those the property of employees). Hired Auto and Non-Owned auto coverages’ are usually added as endorsements on a General Liability policy. Such policies usually do not pay for physical damage to a vehicle itself; that's covered by the owner's insurance.
Why Operators Need Hired and Non-Owned Automobile Coverage
If employees of restaurants have auto accidents in their own vehicles or in a rented vehicle while on company business and their personal insurance is not enough to cover the claim, your business can be held responsible. These claims can be catastrophic, while the cost of this insurance is usually little more than nominal in annual terms, based on employees driving records and age. Every restaurant business owner should seriously consider this coverage, as auto-related liabilities may be one of the largest exposures for hospitality professionals. Because some clients may even require proof of Hired and Non-Owned auto coverages on contracts now, I will briefly describe coverage options.
Employers' Non-Ownership insurance provides liability protection when employees occasionally have to drive their own vehicles for business purposes. This assumes that the vehicle is not owned by your business, registered in your name or on your behalf.
Hired Auto Insurance provides liability protection when a restaurant owner or employee is driving a vehicle that not owned by the business or the individual nor not registered either corporately or personally. If an operator rents a vehicle for less than 30 days, Hired Auto insurance will provide protection for the duration.
