Tips For Insuring Your Commercial Trucking Operation
Posted on: 1 April 2016
If you're just starting out as an owner-operator in your own trucking company, you need to understand the insurance options available to you and how you can best protect your truck. Your insurance coverage options and premiums will be dependent not only on the type of truck that you're operating, but also the types of loads you haul. Here's a look at what you should know about the coverage fundamentals for your commercial insurance.
What Is Covered Under Commercial Trucking Insurance?
Like any other auto insurance policy, your commercial trucking policy will come with basic coverage. This includes comprehensive and collision protection. It's important that you not overlook these coverage options, because they extend coverage to repair your truck if you're in an accident that's your fault as well as protection to replace broken windows and deal with any damage that isn't due to an an accident.
Along with the standard coverage, commercial trucking insurance extends specific protections for commercial operations. As an example, commercial truck insurance will provide you with protection for the cargo you haul. It also gives you some commercial liability coverage, which is essential in the event that you damage someone else's car or you injure a person.
Many commercial trucking policies also provide you with coverage for other problems related to your operation. For example, you'll want to ensure that the policy covers your truck even when you're not hauling a trailer. This is called bobtail protection. Some policies will even offer riders to protect your personal belongings inside the cab. This is a valuable investment, because you'll likely have a lot of stuff in the cab, particularly if you'll be an over-the-road driver.
What Factors Affect The Premiums?
There are a number of things that will contribute to the premiums you pay for commercial trucking insurance. The estimated value of the cargo you haul is a serious consideration. Your insurance company will have to pay the value of damaged cargo in the event of a serious accident, so they need to rate accordingly.
Like with standard insurance policies, your driving history is also a factor. If you're insuring a fleet of trucks, you're going to be rated according to the records of all of your drivers. You can help keep this cost at bay by doing a thorough DMV history on each driver before you hire them, opting only for safe drivers.
While choosing a high deductible can also reduce your premiums, it's important to be objective about the amount you're able to pay. Especially if you have multiple drivers working for you, consider the effect of having several drivers experience accidents within weeks of each other. Would your company be able to financially meet the deductible for each of those accidents?
Set the deductible in a reasonable range so that you can be sure you'll be able to afford the repairs to get your trucks back on the road quickly.
Talk with a commercial insurance agent like http://www.xmetropolitan.com as soon as possible if you're starting a commercial trucking business. He or she can help you choose the best possible coverage for your situation.
Share