Business Auto Declarations and Coverage Symbols

This discussion details the sections of the business auto declarations and provides an analysis of each of the available business auto coverage symbols and its respective coverage application.

Karen Sorrell, CPCU | June 26, 2023

Summary: Effective January 1, 1987, the Insurance Services Office (ISO) introduced a business auto coverage form that was compatible with the ISO commercial package policy program. Before that auto form, ISO had issued various bridge and amendatory endorsements in order to make the existing commercial auto forms usable with the property, liability, and other commercial lines forms introduced in 1986. The main thrust of the 1987 auto form was to incorporate the bridge and amendatory endorsements into the actual commercial auto form. In addition, ISO made some minor changes in policy coverage, most of which could be classified as liberalizations of the coverage. Since its inception, the business auto form has naturally been subject to revisions. The most recent revision was in 2020 with CA 00 01 11 20.

This article analyzes the beginning pages of the current business auto coverage form, CA 00 01 11 20, with a review of the auto declarations, the coverage symbols, and miscellaneous information from section I of the form. Separate articles analyze other sections of the auto form. Refer to the ISO Commercial Lines Contract Analysis Directory to locate a specific form analysis.

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