Ohio Subscriber

You are correct in your analysis about the coverage gap under the business auto form. The BAP liability insuring agreement concerns the ownership, maintenance, or use of a “covered auto,” and the symbols used by the insured in this case do not make the supervisor's pickup truck a “covered auto.” And, because of this, neither the named insured nor the supervisor is covered by the business auto policy for this BI claim. But, there are ways to provide liability coverage for the business owner and the supervisor should the business owner continue the practice of hiring or renting his employees' autos for use in the landscaping business.

The use of symbol 1 is, of course, always an option. Symbol 1 would give the named insured coverage for the use of any auto; it wouldn't help the supervisor if he is using a vehicle that he owns, but the supervisor has his personal auto policy to help him in that case. There are some endorsements that may be of use also. For example, CA 99 16 12 93 — hired autos specified as covered autos you own — makes any auto described in the endorsement's schedule a covered auto and makes the owner of that auto an insured; if the insurer permits it, the insured could describe the autos on CA 99 16 as “any vehicles hired, rented or borrowed from an employee.” Endorsement CA 99 47 07 97 — employee as lessor — is similar in wording to CA 99 16 and would accomplish the goal of insuring both the named insured and the supervisor for a claim like you have described. Endorsement CA 99 54 07 97 — covered auto designation symbol — allows the insured to use symbol 10 to describe an auto that will be designated as a covered auto, and an employee's auto can be described in general terms on the endorsement; as with symbol 1, this endorsement would make the named insured an insured through the use of a “covered auto,” but would not help the supervisor as the owner of the covered auto.

Finally, the supervisor's personal auto policy should be considered. Under the terms of that policy, the supervisor is an insured for the use of any auto, and the business owner is an insured with respect to legal responsibility for the acts of the supervisor. So, if the supervisor is using his auto on company business and injures someone, his personal auto policy will provide liability for both him and the business owner since a case can be made that the business owner is legally responsible for the acts of his employee. The personal auto policy has an exclusion for using a vehicle in any business, but that exclusion does not apply to the use of a private passenger auto or a pickup.