Every trucking company needs insurance. Insurers provide financial coverage for various incidents, which is important.
Since you never know how much you’ll appreciate insurance until something happens to your company, it’s always best to have insurance. Luckily for you, there are multiple commercial trucking insurance policies to choose from.
How Does Trucking Insurance Work?
New venture trucking insurance provides protections from specific events and incidents. Trucking companies pay premiums to preserve their policies. If they stop paying, they no longer get insured. You never want to file a claim, but an insurance policy can save you considerable money if you must.
3 Types of Trucking Insurance Coverage
Commercial insurance for trucking companies comes in many packages. Each type of commercial trucking insurance coverage provides extra protection for your business. These types of insurance options form the foundation for many trucking companies.
Liability Insurance
Liability insurance covers common business risks, including injuries, advertising damages, and property damage. Many businesses invest in this policy. Specific types of commercial trucking insurance stretch outside of liability insurance’s scope.
Motor Truck Cargo
When you drive a truck, you’ll hit many bumps in the road. Each bump can move around the cargo in your truck. Unfortunately, some truck drivers get into accidents as well. Various incidents can put the freight at risk. If any cargo gets lost or damaged during transport, you would be responsible. Motor truck cargo insurance covers cargo damages. While your drivers will hopefully never lose or damage freight, it is possible.
Non-Trucking Liability/Bobtail Insurance
Bobtail insurance covers a truck when it lacks a trailer. This insurance provides extra coverage if your trucks incur any damage. Bobtail insurance will not provide any protection if your truck carries a trailer, even if the trailer is empty.
Non-trucking liability insurance offers protection when drivers use the truck for personal purposes. Your drivers may drive their trucks to the grocery store to get some food. Non-trucking liability insurance covers these types of instances.
How Do Commercial Trucks Save Money on Insurance?
Commercial trucks save money when filing a claim. Instead of paying out of pocket, the insurance company handles most of the expenses. However, commercial truck companies can still save money before filing claims.
Taking out a policy with a lower limit will reduce your monthly premiums. While your policy may not cover all costs, you can more readily afford premiums. Raising your company’s credit score will also help with insurance premiums.
Insurers access your company’s industry and financial risks. They see struggling companies as riskier clients since they may stop making premium payments.
What Insurers Look for with New Trucking Ventures
New venture trucking insurance comes with risks on both sides. Insurers will assess the following factors when looking at new trucking ventures.
Ownership
The insurance type differs based on whether you lease or own trucks and trailers. Some leasing companies already have insurance to cover their trucks. Leasing the truck decreases your liabilities.
Some people save on insurance premiums by purchasing a truck. You can also customize the truck if you own it. Typically, leasing trucks is more favorable for insurance purposes.
Personal History
Insurance companies like to see reliable history. This history can help your company score lower premiums. However, your new trucking venture won’t have sufficient history in the beginning.
Instead of looking at your company’s history, insurers will review your truck drivers. Hiring truck drivers with excellent driving histories will lower your premiums. Honesty is the best policy when showcasing personal history and for other matters. Don’t hide any history to get more attractive premiums.
Equipment and Loads
Riskier equipment and loads will raise your premiums. Hazmat trucks will carry higher premiums than dry van trucks.
Insurance companies will lower your premiums if your trucks use ELDs. These logging devices allow drivers to measure their working hours. Since mandates limit how long truck drivers can stay behind the wheel on a given day, ELDs decrease crash rates. Insurance companies like fewer crashes, hence the lower premiums.
Company Size
Smaller companies can bundle general liability and commercial trucking insurance together. This process reduces monthly premiums, but not every trucking company can utilize this opportunity.
Trucking companies must meet these conditions to bundle insurance policies:
- Fewer than 100 employees
- Small property
- Transportation for a low-risk industry
- Less than $1 million in annual revenue
- Requires no more than 12 months of business interruption service
Route Locations
Some areas get more accidents than others. Trucking routes across the interstate carry lower premiums than trucking routes in a metro area. If you want to make payments, look for routes that avoid metro areas.
How to Find Trucking Insurance for Your New Venture
Finding the right new venture trucking insurance takes a lot of weight off your shoulders. You can continue growing your business without worrying about one mistake taking you down. A company comes with many moving parts, and you can’t stay on top of all of them.
Find the Right New Trucking Insurance and Focus on Growth
Commercial trucking insurance lets you focus on building your fleet and hiring drivers. Insurance companies can handle the claims and reimburse you accordingly.
FAQ
This varies depending on the type of commercial truck, cargo, fleet, location, and unique business needs. Most insurance companies who specialize in commercial trucking offer free quotes.
While premiums differ based on states and requirements, you can find cheap insurance in Mississippi, Wyoming, Iowa, Nebraska, and Idaho.
The processing time to get a US DOT number and start a trucking company lasts 20-25 days.