Whether you are an owner operator or a fleet owner, you need to make sure that your business is well protected. The best way to do this is by making sure that you are fully insured. Though this can be complicated, it is essential that you have enough insurance to take care of anything that could happen.
So, what types of insurance should you have?
Commercial Truck Liability Insurance
This insurance is needed by anyone that drives a commercial truck. This includes the following types of insurance:
Bodily Injury Liability
Bodily injury liability covers any expenses that occur due to injury to death to another person if you are found to be at-fault. It can cover any medical costs, lost wages, and even pain and suffering for the injured party. If you find yourself facing legal ramifications, this will help cover the costs associated with that.
Property Damage Liability
If you cause damage to any property, your property damage liability insurance will cover the costs. It will also cover any legal costs, if you find yourself in trouble with the law.
Uninsured and Under-insured Motorists Insurance
If you find yourself in an accident with someone who is uninsured or under-insured, this will cover your expenses, even if they were at fault.
Personal Injury Protection
You may want to make sure that your insurance covers personal injury protection. This will help cover your medical expenses, lost wages, and damages, no matter who is at fault.
Medical Payment Insurance
This will cover the costs for medical and funeral expenses, no matter who caused the accident.
Non-Trucking Liability Insurance
Non-trucking liability insurance is also known as bobtail insurance. This covers any accidents that occur when the driver isn’t carrying a load (or technically driving). He or she may just be driving to their next haul.
Non-Owned Trailer Liability Coverage
If you are pulling a trailer for someone else, you need to protect that trailer with non-owned trailer liability coverage.
Hired Auto Liability
If you rent or borrow trucks, you need hired auto liability to make sure that you are covered in case you are in an accident while driving someone else’s vehicle.
Excess Liability
Excess liability insurance will just make sure that you are fully protected by providing insurance coverage with limits over and above the regular policy.
General Liability Insurance
If you have a place of business, you are going to need general liability insurance. This will protect you against any property damage or bodily injury that may happen at your place of business (and don’t involve a truck).
Commercial Truck Cargo Insurance
This may include the following types of insurance:
Motor Truck Cargo Insurance
If you hire drivers, you are going to need motor truck cargo insurance to protect the loads that they are hauling.
Contingent Cargo Insurance
Contingent cargo insurance goes a step farther than motor truck cargo insurance. It helps to protect a transportation broker or freight forwarder against the liability that occurs when making arrangements for hauling.
Terminal Coverage
This is used to protect freight located at certain terminals for a certain amount of time. This amount of coverage depends on how many goods you are storing at a certain time.
Warehouse Legal Coverage
If you are keeping your goods for more than a few days, you are going to need warehouse legal coverage. This will protect your goods that are stored at a certain location for a certain amount of time. It will protect them against theft, fire, and much more.
Commercial Truck Physical Damage Insurance
This may include the following types of insurance:
Collision Insurance
Collision insurance is used to cover damages that may occur due to an accident.
Comprehensive Insurance
This type of insurance covers any damages that occur to anything other than accidents. This may include fire, theft, vandalism, and much more.
Combined Deductible Coverage
This coverage allows you to pay for one deductible, instead of many different ones. The deductible will help you pay for any damage toward the truck, the trailer, and cargo.
Trailer-Interchange
If you are hauling a trailer that you don’t own and you have an interchange agreement, you should protect yourself with trailer-interchange insurance.
Non-Owned Trailer Physical Damage
If you are hauling trailers that you don’t own, you are going to need this coverage. This will protect you in case anything becomes damaged.
GAP Insurance
If you are still paying off your truck and trailer, you are going to want to have GAP insurance. This will pay the difference between the actual cash value of your rig and what you still owe on them.
Personal Property Insurance
This will cover any of your personal property that you store in your truck while you are driving.
Family Emergency Travel
If you drive all over the country, you may want to make sure that you have family emergency travel. This will help your family members get to your side if you are injured or hospitalized while you are on the road.
Commercial Truck Fleet Policy Insurance
If you own a fleet of vehicles, you are going to need fleet insurance. There are different options, depending on the amount of vehicles that you own. Here are some options that you may want to consider:
Scheduled Auto Reporting
If you own a smaller fleet, you may want to pay per vehicle that you own. Your price will not go up if your income goes up. Instead, you simply pay per vehicle.
Gross Revenue Reporting
This is a good option for larger fleets. You will have a premium rate and this may go up or down depending on how well your business does.
Mileage Reporting
If you are a consistent driver, you may want to go with a mileage reporting plan. Your insurance company will be able to look at your records to determine how much you are going to pay every month. They know roughly how much you are going to do and will charge you accordingly.
Getting the right amount of insurance is essential if you want to protect your business and your livelihood. For this reason, you need to talk to someone that you trust to make sure that you are getting a good deal on your insurance, while also protecting yourself. You shouldn’t have to worry about what could happen. Instead, you should be focused on running your business the best way that you know how!
Contact us for all of your commercial truck insurance needs. We are proud to serve Florida, Georgia, Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, and Tennessee.
