What Coverage Do You Need if Your Drivers Gets in a Collision?

If your trucking company also has a freight brokerage division, it might seem like you’re not directly involved in the handling and transportation of cargo. Even if your role is limited to matching up shippers and carriers, you can be brought in as an additional defendant in litigation or be named as another party in a legal claim. Make sure you have the liability coverage to respond to these filings.

Why can your freight broker division be held liable for what happens to cargo?

Whenever a someone with in-depth knowledge and experience gives advice or performs a service, they’re considered a professional in that service. That means any harms that result in their errors need to be covered by professional liability insurance, or errors and omissions coverage. The same is true for your freight brokerage: you are advising on the viability of certain carriers and providing the service of connecting the two. If something wrongs wrong as a result of that, you can be found just as liable as the carrier at fault.

What kind of coverage do you need to address these incidents?

Get freight coverage for third party legal liability. Each specific area of coverage in your total insurance plan covers specific types of claims. This type of coverage, which is also called contingent auto liability insurance, protects your company if the carrier you connect a company with gets in a collision or otherwise causes damage to an unrelated third party. If the driver you recommended for a specific job gets in a car wreck, this coverage protects you.

You also need contingent cargo insurance to cover claims made by your customers regarding the damaged or lost cargo from that collision. While the carrier responsible for the loss may be the primary defendant, shippers may reach out to your business next if they don’t fully recoup their losses. Go to J.E.B. Insurance Services, LLC for the best coverage for each division of your company. We provide commercial truck insurance in the states of Florida, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska.

David Ott

David Ott