Commercial Trucking Insurance for Veteran Truckers: How to Save Money, Time, and a Lot of Headaches

By Arthur Williamson

Business owners and owner-operators alike know how difficult it can be to make a living with commercial trucks. There's a lot of maintenance work that goes into keeping your operations spic and span, and road accidents are an everyday possibility-this is where insurance comes in. Insurance is an integral

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bliss Drive Media, LLC
• Release date: Mar 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736555125

Book preview

Chapter 1 - The Basics of Commercial Truck Insurance

Commercial truck insurance is a specific type of auto insurance policy developed to cover the various needs of a commercial trucking business. Whether you’re an operator or a business owner, having some form of a commercial truck insurance policy is often required to get a trucking permit. Not only does it protect people and property from potential physical damage caused by your trucks, but it keeps your business protected as well.

Most commercial trucking policies start with primary liability and build from that with various options of additional coverage, which we’ll cover in a later chapter. Primary coverage often covers any harm done to another vehicle or an individual in the event of an accident caused by one of your trucks. On the other hand, general liability offers additional business insurance in the event of a lawsuit against your organization.

Why Get Commercial Truck Insurance?

Insurance agents often encourage a company to invest in a comprehensive commercial trucking insurance plan for a variety of reasons. For one—it’s required for companies who want to operate legally. The United States’ FMCSA usually requires commercial trucking companies to show evidence of general liability insurance for truckers.

Besides being required by federal and state law, commercial truck insurance is necessary for drivers and owners to offset financial costs from accidents. Case in point, there were approximately 499,000 police-reported crashes involving large trucks in 2018 alone. It’s worth noting that this figure only covers crashes that were reported, so it’s likely that the number could be much higher than that. This is only a glimpse into how much repair costs could be.

Trucks are definitely expensive assets, but commercial truck companies aren’t just looking after the vehicles. Being a truck driver is grueling work, and accidents can happen on the road. Serious accidents have the potential to even be life-threatening, such as if a truck crashes due to poor road conditions.

It also goes without saying that commercial truck companies can face serious lawsuits if something happens. Employee lawsuits are just one example, and these lawsuits alone can set a company back in terms of both money and time.

Overall, getting commercial truck insurance isn’t just some requirement that companies need to fulfill. It’s also just a smart move in general, and it shows potential clients that you’re serious about running your company the right way.

What’s the Difference between Commercial Truck Insurance and Personal Auto Insurance?

The primary difference between commercial truck insurance and personal auto insurance lies exactly with the name. Personal auto insurance is appropriate for personal use vehicles, such as traveling from home to work and doing chores. Commercial truck insurance, on the other hand, deals with vehicles concerned with and vital to the operation of the business. However, even if a truck is used for personal reasons, the law still requires the truck to be insured since it can be heavier and be more difficult to operate as compared to lighter vehicles.

Higher Limits

Since commercial trucks are mostly heavier than personal vehicles and are harder to operate, the accidents concerning trucks have more cost. In this light, insurance policies covering a truck will have limits higher than for personal and standard use vehicles.

Insurance Coverage

Other than personal and property liability coverage, both personal use vehicles and commercial trucks have comprehensive coverage that covers non-accident related incidents, such as theft and disasters. However, commercial trucks have coverage that’s exclusive to them, such as non-trucking insurance, which pertains to the personal use of a truck during non-operational hours.

The most common truck insurance coverage offered are, but not limited to:

Title 49, Section 387 of the United States Code of Federal Regulations also enumerates the required coverage according to the combined value of the