Non-Owned and Hired Auto Coverage for Sports Organizations
Non-Owned and Hired Auto coverage, or NOHA, protects a sports or recreation organization when a volunteer or staffer drives their own car, or a vehicle the organization rents, on its business and causes an accident. The organization can be pulled into the claim even though it never owned the vehicle, and this is the coverage that answers it.
Non-Owned and Hired Auto at a Glance
What’s covered: the organization’s liability when a volunteer or staffer drives a personal or rented vehicle on its business and causes an accident.
Why it matters: the organization’s other policies usually will not respond, and this is one of the most common gaps in a sports program.
Who needs it: every organization whose volunteers or staff run errands or travel on its behalf.
Cost: inexpensive relative to the size of the claim it answers.
Two parts: non-owned (personal vehicles used on the organization’s business) and hired (vehicles the organization rents).
Non-Owned and Hired Auto is one coverage in a larger stack. For the full set a sports organization needs, see our guide to what sports insurance covers. This page goes deep on this one.
What Does Non-Owned and Hired Auto Cover?
The exposure is the everyday errand. A volunteer drives to the bank to make the organization’s deposit, to the sporting goods store for supplies, to the field to drop off equipment, to and from games and practices. Most of the time nothing happens. But if that volunteer causes a serious accident while doing the organization’s business, the injured party’s attorney will look for every person or entity who could possibly be sued and the organization is on the list. The organization has what is called vicarious liability for the acts of its agents (i.e. administrators and volunteers) while they are driving on the organization’s behalf.
Picture the most ordinary version of it. The treasurer leaves the field, stops at the bank to deposit the weekend’s registration fees, and rear-ends another car at a light on the way home. The treasurer’s own auto policy responds first, but the other driver’s attorney learns the errand was league business and names the organization in the claim. That is the moment this coverage earns its keep, because it stands up for the organization, which is the party with the assets and the name most worth suing.
That is the claim Non-Owned and Hired Auto Liability answers. It covers the organization’s liability arising out of a vehicle the organization does not own but that was being used on its behalf, whether that is a volunteer’s personal car or a vehicle the organization rented. It protects the organization as an entity, which is what is at risk when the organization’s name shows up in the suit.
What it does not do is replace anyone’s personal auto insurance. The driver’s own policy is still the first line for their vehicle. Non-Owned and Hired Auto sits behind that to protect the organization itself.
Why Every Organization Needs It
The reason this coverage gets skipped is that the name hides the exposure. A board hears "auto" and thinks "we do not own any vehicles, so this does not apply to us." That is exactly backwards. The fact that the organization owns no vehicles is the reason it needs non-owned coverage: the everyday driving that happens on its behalf is being done in personal and rented vehicles, and nothing on a standard sports policy reaches that exposure unless this coverage is added.
A General Liability policy without this coverage added will not respond to an auto claim. An organization with no vehicles has no commercial auto policy to respond either. The volunteer’s personal auto policy is primary for their own car, but it can be too small for a serious accident, and once it is exhausted the organization is exposed for the rest. The driver’s vehicle may be uninsured or terribly underinsured with minimum limits to merely satisfy state law. This is one of the most common gaps I find when I review a league’s existing policy, and it is inexpensive to close relative to the size of the claim it answers.
Non-Owned vs Hired Auto: The Two Parts
The coverage has two halves that often travel together. They answer related but distinct exposures.
| Non-Owned Auto | Hired Auto | |
|---|---|---|
| What it covers | The organization’s liability when someone uses a personal vehicle on its business | The organization’s liability for vehicles it rents or borrows |
| Typical example | A volunteer drives their own car to the bank or the sporting goods store on league business | The organization rents a truck to move equipment to a championship site |
| Who owns the vehicle | The volunteer or staffer | A rental company |
| Why you need it | The organization can be named in a claim from that volunteer’s accident | The organization assumes liability the moment it rents the vehicle |
Most sports organizations need both, because both exposures show up in normal operations: people use their own cars for organization errands, and from time to time the organization rents something to get equipment or staff where they need to be. A specialist builds both into the program rather than leaving you to discover the gap after a claim. The league does not build good coverage; the agent does.
"Non-Owned and Hired Auto is the coverage I see missing more than almost any other, and it is the one whose name does it a disservice," says John M. Sadler, JD, CIC, President of Sadler Insurance. "An organization that owns no vehicles assumes it has no auto exposure. Then a volunteer running an errand for the organization is in a bad accident, and the organization is named in the suit. The coverage costs very little. The gap costs a great deal."
Does Your Organization Already Have This Coverage?
Many organizations are not sure whether they carry Non-Owned and Hired Auto, because it is a line item inside a broader policy rather than something most boards remember buying on its own. There are two quick ways to check. The first is to look at the declarations page of your General Liability or package policy for Non-Owned and Hired Auto coverage, sometimes shown as a set of covered-auto symbols. The second, and the more reliable, is to ask the agent or specialist who built your program to confirm it in writing.
If it is not there, adding it is usually straightforward and inexpensive. This is the kind of gap a sports specialist closes as a matter of course, because the exposure is close to universal: nearly every organization has someone running an errand on its behalf at some point in the season. Confirm it before the season starts, not after an accident has already happened.
Common Mistakes
Assuming General Liability covers auto claims. It does not on its own. Auto exposure is its own coverage, added to the program rather than assumed from the base policy.
Skipping it because the organization owns no vehicles. That is the precise situation non-owned coverage exists for. No owned vehicles does not mean no auto exposure; it means the exposure is sitting in personal and rented vehicles instead.
Leaning on a volunteer’s personal policy. That policy protects the volunteer’s car, not the organization, and it can run out. The organization needs its own protection for the claim that names the organization.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Non-Owned and Hired Auto insurance?
It is coverage that protects an organization’s liability when a volunteer or staffer drives a personal or rented vehicle on the organization’s business and causes an accident. It responds for the organization, which can be named in the claim even though it does not own the vehicle involved.
Does a sports league need commercial auto insurance?
Most leagues do not own vehicles, so they need Non-Owned and Hired Auto coverage rather than a full commercial auto policy. It covers the organization’s liability for personal and rented vehicles used on its business, which is where the real exposure sits for an organization without its own fleet.
What is the difference between Non-Owned and Hired Auto coverage?
Non-owned covers the organization’s liability when someone uses a personal vehicle on its business, such as a volunteer driving their own car on a league errand. Hired covers vehicles the organization rents, such as a truck rented to move equipment. Most organizations need both.
How much does Non-Owned and Hired Auto coverage cost?
It is inexpensive relative to the claim it answers, and it is usually added to the broader sports program rather than bought on its own. The exact cost depends on the program and the organization, and most can see it as part of an instant online quote.
Does our General Liability policy cover auto accidents?
Not on its own. General Liability responds to bodily injury and property damage claims, but auto exposure is a separate coverage. If a vehicle is involved in the claim, you need the auto coverage, and for most sports organizations that means Non-Owned and Hired Auto. However, many General Liability policies can add an endorsement which adds Non-Owned and Hired Auto Liability.
To confirm whether your program includes this coverage, start with Sadler’s business auto coverage page, with the coverage spelled out in plain English, or read the explainers on Non-Owned and Hired Auto liability for sports organizations and rental vehicle insurance.
Related Guides
This page is part of our complete Sports Insurance Coverage guide, which walks through every coverage a sports organization needs and what to check before you buy.
- General Liability Insurance for Sports Organizations: the foundation coverage and how the rest of the stack attaches to it.
- Excess Accident Insurance: the medical coverage for injured participants that pairs with liability.
- What to Look For in a Sports Insurance Policy: the full checklist of coverage flaws and gaps to check before you buy.
- Sports Risk Management: the written plans that prevent claims and make the ones that happen defensible.