The Most Common Types of Truck Insurance in US Explained!
If you are into a business that is solely about transiting goods from point A to any point. Then except for you, no one knows how important it is to protect your commercial trucks from potential risks whenever they hit the road. The safety of shipments, trucks, and carriers is crucial. To ensure the safety of your fleet, picking the right type of truck insurance comes in handy.
There are over 3.6 million transporters in the United States who works for approximately 7, 11,000 businesses. With this much volume of commercial vehicles on the road every day, having the best truck insurance is a prerequisite.
Like any other personal vehicle policy, truck insurance provides liability, comprehensive, and collision coverage. But commercial vehicle needs extended coverage as they are more valuable, heavier, and haul massive cargo on a daily basis.
In order to provide your vehicle with the best protection, you need to understand what type of coverage it actually needs.
What is truck insurance? Which type of policy do you need for your commercial vehicles?
Truck insurance is an important investment for businesses and owner-operator. This policy protects from several potential risks to vehicles on and off the road. The key purpose of taking this insurance is to provide legal and financial protection from property damage or physical injury done to self or third-party. However, before signing up for any insurance you should understand the sort of coverage you need while adhering to state and federal law.
Understanding all types of truck insurance will help you make the right choice for your vehicles.
1. Primary auto liability
As per the federal regulations, you need to have this insurance coverage for your commercial vehicles. Whether you own trucking business or have some leased units, carrying commercial truck insurance is a must. Primary liability insurance will protect you from damages done or physical injury to a third party from your vehicle.
2. General Liability
Every state in the US requires general liability insurance. If one of your transporters does any kind of property or bodily damage to the third party after a crash then this insurance provides financial support in meeting the cost.
This insurance also protects against on-loading and offloading losses. It also covers your trucker’s activities while operating on other person premises like loading docks or vehicle stops.
3. Bobtail insurance
This insurance is well known as non-trucking liability. This policy provides coverage against situations when your transporter drives the truck after dispatching the shipment or for personal motives. In those circumstances, where the independent trucker is not covered by primary liability cover, bobtail insurance comes in handy.
However, the bobtail cover doesn’t protect the truckers when it is used for pulling a trailer, using the vehicle for trucking business, or making money.
4. Physical damage cover
This cover protects the truck from the damages resulting from theft, natural calamities, collision, and vandalism. It will also pay for the trailer repairs which get damaged after pulling heavy vehicles or other weighty objects.
Furthermore, if your commercial vehicle becomes so damaged that it is beyond repair then this cover will help you get it replaced. The premium associated with this policy depends on the truck cost and its equipment.
5. Trailer interchange
The trailer interchange policy protects the insured from all the physical damages when trailers are pulled for interchange purposes. This cover is an essential damage cover for those drivers who don’t own the trailers.
If your trailer gets damaged due to collision, explosion, vandalism, and fire then this policy coverage protects you from the expenditure.
6. Motor truck cargo
When your truckers transport cargo then those items on transit needs coverage. No matter what type of cargo it is or what volume your truck is carrying. You need motor truck cargo insurance as it provides coverage if the items get damaged or lost due to an accident or fire.
7. On-hook towing
Tow trucks do a unique task that involves some amount of risk. As these trucks keep hauling vehicles frequently so having an on-hook towing cover is essential. You will get reimbursed for the cost that you pay for the replacement or repair after any damage to your tow truck.
8. Motor truck general liability cover
This insurance provides comprehensive coverage including physical injuries and property damage. Motor truck general liability also protects from damage when the shipment gets delivered to an incorrect address, truck stop, and loading dock.
9. Reefer breakdown insurance
Refrigerated trucks also deal with many potential risks when they are on the road that can be protected by reefer breakdown insurance. To protect your trucks from the cost of refrigeration breakdown, damage to items after a collision, or loss of cargo. You will need this policy.
Some insurance companies don’t provide coverage for a few products like seafood, tobacco, and frozen foods. So check for these exclusions before partnering with any insurance provider.
10. Medical payments
This cover is also known as Medpay which provides coverage for medical treatment expenses after an accident. No matter who was at fault this policy offers financial support when you pay for yourself or your passenger’s medical bills.
To conclude
Truck insurance is a legal requirement in almost every region of the US this means that whether you are an owner-operator or own a trucking business you need to carry this policy. Having a basic insurance policy that ensures protection from vandalism, theft, accidents, and weather conditions is a must. Especially when you haul cargo frequently.
When there are several types of commercial vehicles it makes sense that there would be different types of truck insurance as well. But you will be able to pick the right one only if you know its kind.
By now you must have understood all the sorts of truck insurance. However, don’t get tempted by a policy that is quoted at a low price as it might not cater to your need. There are many exclusions in such policies that you might end up paying for the loss from your own pockets. First, examine all sorts of cover needed for your truck then pick one which provides blanket coverage.