Anyone who has owned and operated any kind of company knows that you need insurance that is specific to the business you are in as well as the standard policies required by law. How little or much you buy is usually up to you as long as you meet the basic minimum established by law. If you want greater protection, you buy more. If you want smaller premiums and only basic coverage, you buy less. All in all, most companies offer each of the following types of insurance for your rig or fleet, whichever is pertinent.

Primary Auto Liability

This type of insurance is required by federal law. Each rig must be insured even if you don’t own it and it is being leased. This protects you in the event that someone else (a 3^rd party) is injured and you are found at fault.

General Liability

This insurance would actually be on your premises and not your trucks. It is like any other standard General Liability product that would kick in if someone was injured on the ground at your location. It also covers such things as exposures from advertising. This is required across the board in any industry.

Physical Damage

This particular type of coverage is value based on your truck and trailer and the premiums reflect the amount of coverage. Therefore, a 3 axle truck would probably be much less costly than a 2 axle truck and so forth. Also the year of your truck is important in valuation among other considerations.

Non Owned Trailer Physical Damage

This coverage applies to trailers you may be pulling for another party and the same type of coverage is applied. The industry standard is typically $20,000.

Non Trucking Liability

Often referred to as bobtail liability or deadhead coverage, this applies to trucks when they are not on a run within the confines of business activities.

Non Owned Trailer Liability

If you are pulling a trailer for someone other than your company, this is the coverage you need to protect it should it be damaged.

Trailer-Interchange Liability

If you have an interchange agreement in effect, this type of coverage protects the trailer you pull. This would be such as when meeting up with a steamship or train line that would continue the transport from your joint meeting place.

Terminal Coverage

This type of insurance covers any freight/cargo when it is docked at specific terminals should a loss occur. Most often you will find that time limitations are in place. An example would be a 72 hour maximum for each load when it is stationary in the terminal. Here again, the amount of coverage will be dependent on the amount of goods that are at the terminal when the loss occurs. This means goods still on the trailer and not in the warehouse – there is separate coverage for this.

Cargo Insurance

Cargo insurance has a great many exclusions so it is suggested that you know and understand this coverage before initialing on the dotted line. Some of the more common exclusions include a vehicle that is unattended and maximum theft on certain loads.

Warehouse Legal

This coverage, as mentioned above, covers loss when goods are in the warehouse such as from a fire, theft or even sprinkler damage.

These are the types of insurance your trucking company needs but there are other types of insurance that you may want to purchase in addition for even better protection.

Categories: Insurance