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LimitsStandard / Universal

Commercial Auto — $1M CSL

What this clause says

Commercial Automobile Liability covering all owned, hired, and non-owned vehicles with a combined single limit of not less than $1,000,000.

What this means in plain English

Auto liability covering company vehicles and employees driving on company business.

What it means for a CDMO program

The hidden trap is "hired and non-owned" — if you do not own vehicles you may have dropped this coverage to save premium, but the MSA still requires it. Hired/non-owned auto is cheap (often under $1,500/year) but is a frequent gap.

How this evaluates

The Decoder applies these rules in order; the first match wins.

  • auto › csl is at least $1M → Compliant: Auto CSL meets $1M.
  • auto › hired non owned only is set → Borderline: Hired/non-owned only — verify the policy form satisfies the MSA, which usually requires symbol 1 (any auto).
  • auto › csl is not set → Gap: No commercial auto coverage indicated.

See this in your MSA

Pre-loaded with this clause selected.

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Questions about limits

Commercial Auto — $1M CSL — common questions

When do CDMOs need commercial auto coverage?

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Whenever you have owned, leased, or hired vehicles used in operations — including delivery vans, sales fleet, or equipment trailers. Most sponsor MSAs require $1M combined single limit. Pure office operations with no fleet typically can use a non-owned/hired auto endorsement on the CGL.

What does "combined single limit" mean?

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Single limit applies to bodily injury and property damage combined. Older auto policies use split limits ($250K BI per person / $500K BI per accident / $100K PD). The combined single limit is simpler and now standard in commercial auto.

Does my fleet need to be on the COI to my sponsor?

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Yes if your work involves transporting sponsor materials or visiting sponsor sites. The sponsor may require additional insured status on the auto policy via a CA 20 48 endorsement.