Drive Other Car Coverage endorsement

A company may provide a vehicle to a senior employee for work and personal use. That employee may not own a personal car and may therefore lack a personal auto policy that ordinarily follows them when they drive someone else’s car. A business auto policy usually focuses on the business’s covered autos and defined insureds. Drive Other Car Coverage can address this gap by naming a particular individual and extending scheduled coverage while that person uses certain other autos.

The endorsement is often known by the name “Drive Other Car Coverage—Broadened Coverage for Named Individuals.” The commonly cited ISO form number is CA 99 10, but insurers may file or use their own forms, wording, or state amendments. This article describes the concept and a representative commercial-auto arrangement; it does not claim every Texas policy uses identical ISO language.

The coverage problem it addresses

A commercial auto policy generally identifies a business as the named insured and describes the vehicles or classes of vehicles for which coverage was purchased. A company executive may be an insured while driving a company auto but not necessarily while driving a neighbor’s car, a rental auto, or a vehicle owned by a spouse. The executive’s household may also have no separate personal auto policy. A Drive Other Car endorsement can extend listed commercial-auto coverages to a scheduled person for some non-owned-auto situations.

The need often arises when an employer regularly furnishes a company vehicle to a person who does not have their own auto policy. The company may want the person to have liability protection in a borrowed vehicle, and possibly other coverages if selected. The endorsement makes the individual and the scope of coverage visible in the policy paperwork instead of leaving the parties to assume the underlying business policy follows the person everywhere.

What the endorsement may extend

Depending on the form and schedule, Drive Other Car Coverage may extend one or more commercial-auto coverage parts to the named individual while using an auto not owned by that individual or a resident family member. Typical possibilities include liability, medical payments, uninsured/underinsured motorists, and physical damage. Do not assume every coverage is included. The declarations or endorsement schedule should show which coverage parts apply, the limits, and any deductibles.

A coverage appearing on the employer’s regular commercial policy does not automatically appear on the endorsement. A business could have liability for scheduled company trucks yet select only liability under Drive Other Car Coverage for the individual. Physical damage may require a separate schedule and premium. The exam question should be answered from the endorsement schedule, not from the broad title.

Who and what may be insured

The endorsement typically lists a person by name. Some wording also extends defined protections to a spouse or resident family member, while other versions may not. Never infer household coverage from the word “individual.” Check every person specified in the endorsement and the policy’s definitions of spouse, family member, or resident relative.

The vehicle must also meet the endorsement’s other-auto conditions. A privately borrowed sedan used with permission may be within the intended risk, while an auto owned by the named person, furnished for regular use, or used in a commercial operation may be treated differently. Certain commercial vehicles, employer-owned autos, autos available for regular use, vehicles used to carry people for compensation, or autos used in a delivery or racing activity can be restricted by the policy. The actual exclusions are controlling.

How to analyze a claim scenario

1. Find the endorsement on the policy and confirm the individual is scheduled. A company role or job title does not substitute for being named where required.
2. Identify the vehicle involved and who owns, leases, or regularly furnishes it. Decide whether it is an eligible “other auto” under the issued wording.
3. Determine the driver’s purpose and use. Personal errands, business travel, delivery, livery, and vehicle-sharing activities may be treated differently.
4. Check which coverage parts are selected on the endorsement schedule. Analyze liability, injury benefits, UM/UIM, and physical damage separately.
5. Apply the limit and deductible for that coverage. Do not borrow limits from the underlying company fleet schedule unless the form says to.
6. Read exclusions, insured definitions, and other-insurance provisions. A separate policy on the vehicle may be primary, excess, or otherwise coordinated.
7. Apply Texas law and any state amendatory endorsement that changes the form.

Examples

Executive borrows a friend’s car

A corporation provides a company SUV to its president. The president has no personal auto policy. On a weekend, the president borrows a friend’s sedan with permission and causes an accident. If the president is scheduled for Drive Other Car Coverage and the sedan meets the endorsement definition, the liability coverage shown in the schedule may respond to the president’s covered liability. The analysis still must check the friend’s policy, priority language, business policy terms, and any exclusions.

Executive drives spouse’s vehicle

If the endorsement extends to a spouse or resident family member, the spouse’s car may be addressed differently than a friend’s borrowed car. If it excludes autos owned by the named individual or household, the result may be no coverage under the endorsement. The spouse’s own auto policy is likely an important contract to review. Do not assume an endorsement designed for non-owned autos replaces a household auto policy.

Scheduled person rents a car while traveling

A rental car may fit non-owned-auto wording, but a business rental and a personal rental can involve different policies and agreements. The endorsement schedule may extend liability but not damage to the rental. The rental contract may impose responsibility for damage, loss of use, or administrative costs. Confirm the form’s rented-auto terms and the rental agreement before drawing a conclusion.

Employee drives a company vehicle furnished for regular use

The company vehicle itself may be insured under the base business auto policy, so it is not necessarily the “other auto” the endorsement targets. The endorsement’s purpose may instead be to broaden protection when the scheduled individual drives an eligible non-owned auto. Analyze the base policy and endorsement as separate layers.

Drive Other Car versus Individual Named Insured

These names sound similar because each can address a person who needs auto protection, but they modify different insurance arrangements. Drive Other Car Coverage is commonly attached to a business auto policy and identifies an individual for certain other-auto coverage. An Individual Named Insured endorsement is associated with a personal-auto policy issued in a person’s name and can modify how the named-insured provisions operate for an individual without an owned auto. The exact form purpose and effects depend on its wording.

How it differs from a personal auto policy

A personal auto policy is normally purchased around an individual or household’s described vehicles and drivers, subject to its own non-owned auto and temporary-substitute terms. A commercial Drive Other Car endorsement attaches to a commercial policy and is designed around an identified person and defined other-auto exposure. It should not be used as a casual substitute for insuring a household’s routinely owned vehicles. If the individual buys or acquires a car, the personal policy question changes.

The difference can matter where the policy is issued by an employer, the named individual is not the commercial named insured, and the employer seeks limited personal protection for that person. The schedule helps establish who receives the extension. A business should confirm the endorsement is attached and correctly completed rather than relying on an agent’s or employer’s general statement that the executive is “covered.”

Limits, exclusions, and coordination issues

• The endorsement may apply only to the individual named in its schedule and any expressly included household person.
• The selected limit can differ from fleet liability limits. Check each coverage line and any split or combined limits.
• An auto owned by or furnished regularly to the named person may not qualify as an eligible other auto.
• Business use, public or livery use, delivery, racing, or carrying property for a fee may be excluded or specially restricted.
• A vehicle rented or borrowed from an employer, household member, or affiliated business may be treated differently from a truly non-owned auto.
• Physical damage to a borrowed or rented auto may require a scheduled coverage and may have its own deductible or valuation clause.
• The auto owner’s insurance, the commercial policy, and rental agreement may each allocate responsibility differently.
• The endorsement cannot create coverage that the base policy excludes unless the endorsement expressly changes that exclusion.

Questions to confirm with an insurer

For an actual policy, verify the individual’s name and spelling, whether a resident spouse or family member is included, which coverage parts and limits are selected, whether the person owns or has regular access to another auto, and what happens when the person uses a rental car. Ask whether coverage applies during personal use as well as business use, and whether it is primary or excess. Keep a copy of the issued endorsement and schedule with the policy.

This is especially important when a company changes who receives a vehicle, when an executive acquires a personal car, or when a household member moves in or out. A change in the person’s vehicle access can alter whether the original endorsement remains appropriate. The named schedule should be reviewed at renewal and whenever an employee’s arrangement changes.

Exam takeaways

• Recognize the commercial policy context and the endorsement’s named-person schedule.
• Do not equate Drive Other Car with blanket coverage for all autos. The endorsement covers only the scheduled exposures under its wording.
• Separate the individual’s covered status from whether the specific vehicle is an eligible other auto.
• Check selected coverages and limits on the schedule; the endorsement may broaden only selected parts.
• Distinguish Drive Other Car Coverage from an Individual Named Insured endorsement and from the base business auto coverage for company-owned autos.
• Treat ISO CA 99 10 as a representative form identifier when cited; an insurer’s issued policy and Texas amendments control.

For related material, see Personal Auto Policy coverage parts, Who is insured under a Personal Auto Policy?, Individual Named Insured endorsement, and Owned, non-owned, and hired autos. Prepare with the Texas Property and Casualty exam prep course.