A member of a church in Doral offers to drive an elderly congregant to a Wednesday evening service, the way she has most weeks for two years. On the way home she is at fault in an intersection collision. The other driver is seriously hurt.
Her personal auto policy pays its limit. The claim exceeds it, and the plaintiff’s attorney names the church, because she was doing church business at the time.
The church owns no vehicles. It has no commercial auto policy. It assumed none of this applied.
Two Separate Exposures
Churches face auto liability from two directions, and most congregations only recognize one.
Owned vehicles. Vans, buses, and any titled vehicle the church holds. This requires commercial auto coverage, and Florida’s financial responsibility requirements apply the same as to any owner.
Vehicles the church does not own. Volunteers and employees driving their own cars on church business — picking up supplies, transporting members, delivering meals, running errands, driving to an off-site event. Every one of those trips is church business, and the church can be named when something goes wrong.
The second exposure exists whether or not the church owns a single vehicle, and it is the one most congregations have never insured.
Hired and Non-Owned Auto Coverage
This is the coverage that addresses the second category.
Non-owned auto responds to the church’s liability arising from vehicles it does not own or lease — primarily volunteer and employee personal vehicles used on church business. It sits excess of the driver’s own personal auto policy, which pays first.
Hired auto covers vehicles the church rents or borrows — the truck rented for a move, the van rented for a youth trip, the bus chartered for a mission project.
Neither one covers damage to the volunteer’s own vehicle. Their personal policy handles that, including any deductible.
The coverage is inexpensive, particularly for a church with no owned fleet, and it belongs on nearly every church policy.
Why the Church Gets Named
The legal concept is straightforward: an organization can be responsible for the acts of people performing work on its behalf. A volunteer driving a member home from a church service, or picking up supplies for a church event, is doing the organization’s business.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys name every party with a potential source of recovery. The church will be in the suit whether or not it agrees it should be.
Without non-owned auto coverage, the church is defending that claim on its own.
Fifteen-Passenger Vans
Churches that own vehicles usually own one of these, and carriers treat them as a category of their own.
Large passenger vans have handling characteristics that differ from ordinary vehicles, particularly when fully loaded, and rollover risk has been a documented concern for decades. Carriers ask about them specifically, and some restrict or decline them.
Practical considerations that also affect underwriting:
Who drives it. Some carriers require designated drivers, minimum ages, or specific training.
Loading. Weight distribution changes handling, and cargo on the roof or behind the rear axle makes it worse.
Tires. Van tires age out before they wear out, and age-related failure at highway speed is a known contributor to serious accidents.
Seatbelt use, particularly with youth groups.
A church transporting minors in a fifteen-passenger van should expect underwriting scrutiny and should welcome it.
Driver Screening
Motor vehicle record checks are the basic control, and carriers ask whether they are being done.
Anyone who drives a church vehicle should have their record checked before driving and periodically after.
Anyone who transports minors should be screened more carefully than that, and this intersects with the church’s child protection requirements.
Volunteers driving personal vehicles on church business should at minimum be confirmed to carry current insurance and a valid license. Some churches require proof of minimum liability limits from anyone driving members.
That last point deserves emphasis. Non-owned auto coverage sits excess of the driver’s own policy. A volunteer carrying state-minimum limits leaves a large gap for the church’s coverage to absorb.
Practical Steps
Add non-owned auto if it is not on the policy. This is the single most important item on the list.
Establish a driver approval process. A short list of people cleared to drive on church business, with records checked, is easier to maintain than it sounds.
Set a minimum liability requirement for volunteers transporting others, and collect proof.
Decide what the church will and will not transport. Some congregations conclude that certain trips should use a chartered service rather than volunteer vehicles. That is a legitimate answer.
Document trips involving minors — who drove, who rode, who authorized it.
The Coverage Gap Most Churches Have
If your church owns no vehicles and has no commercial auto policy, and volunteers regularly drive on church business, the gap is real and the fix is cheap.
Prestige Insurance Group works with churches, synagogues, ministries, and religious schools across Florida and can review your auto exposures, including the ones that do not involve a vehicle the church owns.
Call our Miami office at 305-969-8776, our Orlando office at (407) 993-2331, or our Stuart office at 561-983-4333, or request a quote online.
This article is general information and not legal advice. Coverage depends on the terms of each policy and liability depends on the facts of each situation; consult qualified counsel and your carrier regarding your organization’s circumstances.
