12.1 Business Auto Coverage Form and Covered Auto Symbols

The Business Auto Coverage Form

The Business Auto Coverage Form (BACF), filed by the Insurance Services Office (ISO) as form CA 00 01, is the workhorse contract that insures vehicles owned, rented, or used by a business. It combines liability and physical damage into a single form, replacing the personal auto policy for commercial operations.

A complete Business Auto Policy (BAP) is assembled from four parts: the BACF (CA 00 01), the Common Policy Declarations, the Commercial Auto Declarations, and any endorsements. The declarations carry the schedule of covered autos and limits.

Covered-Auto Designation Symbols (1–9)

The BAP does not automatically cover every vehicle. Instead, a covered-auto symbol is entered next to each coverage on the declarations. The symbol defines which autos are insured for that coverage, and the choice of symbol is the single most-tested concept in this section.

How symbols drive coverage

A trap candidates miss: physical damage (comprehensive and collision) cannot use symbol 1. Only symbol 7 (scheduled), 8 (hired), or 2/3/4 (owned categories) apply to physical damage, because an insurer will not buy ACV protection on "any auto" it has never seen.

Liability commonly uses symbol 1 so that newly acquired autos, hired autos, and non-owned autos are all picked up automatically. Symbol 7, by contrast, only covers autos listed on the schedule — newly acquired autos get coverage only under the Newly Acquired Autos provision (typically 30 days to report).

Worked example

A bakery schedules its delivery van under symbol 7 for liability and physical damage. The owner's spouse runs a deposit to the bank in her personal car. A collision occurs. The van's symbol 7 liability does not reach the spouse's car. Had the bakery used symbol 1 for liability and added symbol 9 for non-owned autos, the business's vicarious liability for that errand would be covered (though the spouse's own car still needs her personal policy for its physical damage).

Symbol-selection strategy and combinations

Producers rarely use a single symbol. A typical small business buys symbol 1 for liability (broadest, auto-includes newly acquired, hired, and the limited use of non-owned), then symbols 8 and 9 to extend coverage for hired and employee-owned vehicles, and symbol 7 for physical damage on the specific autos the business owns. Symbols 5 and 6 are not coverage grants the insured "picks" for breadth - they exist so the form complies with a particular state's no-fault (symbol 5) or compulsory uninsured-motorist (symbol 6) statute on owned autos.

Connecticut, as an at-fault state with mandatory UM/UIM, makes symbol 6 relevant on owned commercial autos.

Newly Acquired and Temporary Substitute Autos

When liability uses an owned-auto symbol (2, 3, or 4) rather than symbol 1, a vehicle the business buys mid-term is a newly acquired auto. The BACF automatically covers it, but the insured must report it - generally within 30 days - for physical damage if the policy already insures other autos for that coverage. A temporary substitute auto (used while a covered auto is out of service for repair, breakdown, or destruction) picks up the broken vehicle's coverage automatically.

Hired vs. non-owned - the distinction that drives losses

Hired autos (symbol 8) are vehicles the business leases, rents, or borrows under contract - it pays for their use. Non-owned autos (symbol 9) are vehicles the business neither owns, hires, nor borrows but that are used in its behalf, most often employees' personal cars run on company errands. A business that reimburses mileage but carries no symbol 9 has a major uncovered vicarious-liability gap; this fact pattern appears repeatedly on the exam.

Symbol cheat-sheet and the physical-damage restriction

Because the symbol drives coverage, candidates should memorize the practical groupings: symbol 1 = any auto (liability only); symbol 2 = all owned; symbols 3 and 4 = owned private-passenger vs. owned non-private-passenger; symbol 7 = specifically described (the only owned-auto choice routinely used for physical damage); symbol 8 = hired; symbol 9 = non-owned. Symbol 1 is unavailable for physical damage because no insurer will provide ACV protection on vehicles it has never underwritten or rated. A reliable test pattern presents a loss and asks whether the symbol chosen for that coverage reaches the vehicle involved.

Worked symbol scenario - newly acquired auto

A landscaping company insures liability under symbol 2 (all owned) and physical damage under symbol 7 (scheduled). Mid-term it buys a new truck. For liability, symbol 2 picks the truck up automatically because it covers all owned autos. For physical damage, symbol 7 covers only scheduled autos, so the new truck has collision/comprehensive coverage only under the Newly Acquired Auto provision and only if the insured reports it within the policy's reporting window (commonly 30 days) since the policy already insures other autos for physical damage.

Miss the deadline and a total loss to the new truck is uninsured - a frequent exam consequence that shows why symbol choice and timely reporting both matter.

Exam Tip: Liability commonly uses symbol 1 for breadth; physical damage cannot use symbol 1; and newly acquired autos need reporting under symbol-7 physical damage within about 30 days.