COI term

Automobile liability

The sub's vehicle coverage. The limit is rarely the problem — the covered-auto boxes are, because they decide whether a hired truck is covered at all.

Key takeaways

Auto liability is a separate policy from general liability. The GL form excludes vehicles, so a sub's GL limit does nothing when their truck backs into a car on your site.
The ACORD 25 shows a column of checkboxes beside the auto line — ANY AUTO, OWNED AUTOS ONLY, SCHEDULED AUTOS, HIRED AUTOS ONLY, NON-OWNED AUTOS ONLY. A sub whose only ticked box is OWNED, whose foreman drives his own pickup to your job, has a gap the limit does not close.
A combined single limit is not the same as split limits. One number covering injury and property damage together is what subcontracts ask for; three smaller numbers is a different, usually weaker, promise.
Your additional-insured endorsement on the GL does not reach the auto policy. Auto has its own — CA 20 48. A GC who required additional-insured status "on all policies" and collected only the GL endorsement has none on auto.

By the Sealinn team · 4 min read · Updated July 2026 · Written for general contractors

It is a separate policy, and that is the point

Automobile liability covers bodily injury and property damage the subcontractor causes with a vehicle. It sits on its own policy — the ISO business auto form — and it exists on the certificate as its own block because the general liability policy excludes autos. That exclusion is the reason the line matters: a sub can carry a spotless GL limit and have nothing at all behind a truck that clips a parked car in your client's driveway.

So when a subcontract requires auto liability, it is not asking for more of the same coverage. It is asking for a second policy that answers a category of loss the certificate's GL section cannot.

The boxes decide, not the number

This is the part that gets skipped. Beside the auto line the ACORD 25 prints a short column of checkboxes, and they describe which vehicles the policy actually covers. The limit sits to the right and gets all the attention; the boxes are what decide whether the vehicle involved in the loss was ever in scope.

ANY AUTO — the broad one. Owned, hired, borrowed, employee-owned, all of it. This is what a requirement asking for "any auto" means, and it is the box you want ticked.
OWNED AUTOS ONLY — only vehicles titled to the business. Common on small trades, and the most frequent real gap: the foreman who drives his personal pickup to your site is not covered by it.
SCHEDULED AUTOS — only the specific vehicles listed on the policy. A truck bought last month and not yet added is outside the coverage the certificate appears to show.
HIRED AUTOS — rented or leased vehicles. The box that matters the week your sub rents a box truck or a lift for your job.
NON-OWNED AUTOS — vehicles the business neither owns nor rents, used on its behalf. In practice: employees' own cars and trucks. On a small crew this is most of the fleet.

A two-person trade whose certificate ticks only OWNED is not being deceptive — it is accurately describing a narrow policy. The gap opens when the limit gets read and the boxes do not. Hired and non-owned are cheap to add, and asking for them is a normal request an agent handles the same day.

Combined single limit vs split limits

Subcontracts almost always ask for a combined single limit — one number that answers bodily injury and property damage together, per accident. Some policies instead carry split limits, written as three figures: a per-person injury cap, a per-accident injury cap, and a separate property-damage cap.

They are not interchangeable, and a split-limit policy can satisfy a headline number while failing the requirement. A serious injury to one person is capped by the per-person figure, which is the smallest of the three — so the certificate's largest number is not the number that would be available. If your requirement says combined single limit, the certificate showing three numbers has not met it, and that is a question for the agent rather than a judgment call for you.

Your GL additional-insured endorsement does nothing on the auto policy

This is the most expensive misunderstanding on this page. CG 20 10 and CG 20 37 amend the general liability policy and only that policy. Additional-insured status on auto requires its own endorsement — CA 20 48, Designated Insured for Covered Autos Liability. A GC whose subcontract said "additional insured on all policies required herein" and who collected the GL endorsement has exactly what they collected: GL status, and nothing on auto. Waiver of subrogation is the same story — the auto policy needs its own.

How to write the auto requirement

Ask for "any auto" where the trade drives to site at all — which is every trade. Where a sub genuinely owns no vehicles, hired and non-owned together is the honest minimum, and it is the combination that covers the pickup and the rental.
Say combined single limit explicitly, so a split-limit policy is a conversation rather than a surprise.
Name CA 20 48 if you want additional-insured status on auto. A requirement that says "all policies" and names no auto endorsement will be answered with the GL one.
Check the expiry separately. Auto is its own policy with its own dates, and it does not renew in step with the GL — what to do when a certificate lapses mid-job applies to this line as much as to the GL.

Copy-paste to the sub’s agent

Subject: Covered-auto symbols and CA 20 48 — [Project]

Hi [Agent name],

We're the general contractor on [Project]. I have [Sub name]'s certificate and I need to confirm two things about the automobile liability policy that the certificate itself doesn't settle.

1) Which covered-auto symbols apply — is it "any auto", or is it limited to owned/scheduled? If it is limited, can hired and non-owned be added?
2) Is the limit shown a combined single limit, or split limits?

And if our subcontract requires additional-insured status on the auto policy, could you send the CA 20 48 endorsement (or the equivalent your carrier uses)? The GL additional-insured endorsement doesn't reach this policy, so a copy of the certificate won't answer it.

Thanks,
[Your name], [Your company]

Where Sealinn stops on this one

You can set an auto-liability minimum, and Sealinn blocks a certificate whose combined single limit falls below it — or that shows no auto section at all. A missing limit and a short one are the same answer, because "we could not find the coverage you required" is not a pass. That was not always true: the check used to compare only when the certificate actually showed a number, so a certificate with no auto row went through. It no longer does. What Sealinn still does not read is the covered-auto boxes — Any Auto, Hired, Non-Owned — so which autos are covered stays your check.

Where this comes from

ISO — Business Auto Coverage Form (CA 00 01) — covered-auto symbols 1, 8 and 9
ISO — Designated Insured for Covered Autos Liability Coverage (CA 20 48)
ACORD — Certificate of Liability Insurance (form 25)

The limit is the part that gets read. The boxes are the part that bites.

Sealinn keeps every certificate, endorsement and expiry date in one place, so the questions worth asking your sub's agent are the ones you can still ask before a crew mobilizes.

Start free