12.1 Business Auto Coverage Form and Covered Auto Symbols

The Business Auto Coverage Form (CA 00 01)

The Business Auto Coverage Form (CA 00 01) is the ISO form most P&C exams test for commercial vehicle exposures. It is paired with the Commercial Auto Declarations (CA DS 03) and the common Commercial Auto Conditions, and it covers liability and physical damage for autos a business owns, hires, or borrows. "Auto" means a land motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer designed for travel on public roads, plus (in the current edition) mobile equipment that must be registered or that carries certain compulsory insurance.

The form is organized into five sections: Section I — Covered Autos, Section II — Covered Autos Liability Coverage, Section III — Physical Damage Coverage, Section IV — Business Auto Conditions, and Section V — Definitions. The current edition is the CA 00 01 11 20 (November 2020), which most state outlines now reference.

Covered auto symbols

Coverage is not assumed for every vehicle. Instead, the producer enters numeric symbols (1–9) next to each coverage on the declarations. The symbol entered defines which autos that specific coverage applies to. This symbol logic is the single most heavily tested concept in commercial auto, so memorize the table.

Key trap: Symbol 1 (any auto) is the broadest and is the only symbol that automatically picks up newly acquired autos and trailers without notice. Physical damage cannot use Symbol 1 because you cannot insure damage to autos you do not own — physical damage typically uses Symbols 2, 7, or 8.

Newly acquired, temporary substitute, and hired/borrowed autos

When liability is written with a broad symbol (1, 2, 4, or matching descriptions), newly acquired autos are automatically covered. Under physical damage with Symbol 7 (specifically described), the insured must report a newly acquired auto within 30 days to keep coverage if it is an additional auto, but a replacement auto is covered automatically until reported. A temporary substitute auto (used while a covered auto is out of service for repair) is also covered. Hired and borrowed autos require Symbol 8 (hired) and Symbol 9 (non-owned) to be insured.

The Nine Symbols in Full

Memorize all nine covered-auto symbols because the form assigns coverage by symbol, not by listing every vehicle. Symbol 1 (Any Auto) is the broadest — used mainly for liability. Symbol 2 is Owned Autos Only. Symbol 3 is Owned Private Passenger Autos Only. Symbol 4 is Owned Autos Other Than Private Passenger. Symbol 5 is Owned Autos Subject to No-Fault. Symbol 6 is Owned Autos Subject to Compulsory Uninsured Motorists Law. Symbol 7 is Specifically Described Autos (only those listed on the schedule) and is required for physical damage, because you cannot insure "any auto" for collision.

Symbol 8 is Hired Autos Only (leased, rented, or borrowed, but not from employees). Symbol 9 is Non-Owned Autos Only (employees' and others' autos used in the business).

Liability vs. Physical Damage Symbol Strategy

A common, exam-correct combination is Symbol 1 for liability (the broadest protection, covering owned, hired, and non-owned autos) paired with Symbol 7 for physical damage (you can only insure the value of vehicles you specifically schedule). Hired and non-owned liability is folded into Symbol 1, but if a narrower owned-autos symbol is used, the insured needs Symbols 8 and 9 added to pick up hired and employee-owned vehicles.

Because physical damage requires Symbol 7, a newly acquired auto must be reported — an additional auto within 30 days, while a replacement auto receives the same coverage as the vehicle it replaces automatically. This reporting rule is among the most tested commercial-auto details.

Common Conditions and Two-or-More Coverage Forms

The Business Auto Coverage Form is governed by the Business Auto Conditions, split into loss conditions (duties after accident, legal action against us, transfer of rights, appraisal for physical-damage disputes) and general conditions (bankruptcy, concealment/misrepresentation/fraud, liberalization, no-benefit-to-bailee, other insurance, premium audit, policy period and coverage territory, and two-or-more coverage forms). The coverage territory is the U.S., its territories, Puerto Rico, and Canada, with limited worldwide liability for private passenger autos hired or borrowed for 30 days or less.

The other insurance condition makes coverage on an owned auto primary and coverage on hired or borrowed autos excess, a frequently tested allocation rule.

Reading a Symbol Question

On the exam, a symbol question usually gives a fact pattern (an employee drives their own car on a sales call, the business rents a truck, the company buys a new delivery van) and asks whether coverage applies. Map each fact to a symbol: the employee's own car is non-owned (Symbol 9), the rented truck is hired (Symbol 8), and the new van is a newly acquired auto automatically covered for liability under a broad symbol but requiring 30-day reporting for physical damage under Symbol 7.

If the declarations show only Symbol 2 (owned autos only) for liability, the employee's car and the rental are not covered unless Symbols 8 and 9 are added — the precise gap the exam wants you to spot.