Best Truck Insurance Rates - 7 Tips
If you’ve been in the commercial trucking industry for long enough, you know your truck insurance premiums can be one of your largest expenses.
Not only is your commercial vehicle extremely high-dollar, but the gravity of accidents involving commercial trucks can lead to astronomical cost of damage in the even of accidents—all things that can contribute to hiked commercial truck insurance rates annually.
Granted, truck insurance rates are going to climb whether you’re the best driver or the worst—sometimes the cost of operations and current economic conditions will just lead to price increases.
But running your motor carrier or independent business efficiently and safely isn’t enough to avoid unnecessary increases.
Here are 7 tips for the best truck insurance rates whether you’re talking about semi truck insurance for independents or motor carrier insurance policies for trucking companies. These are things you actively do to keep your rates low and avoid truck insurance increases to the best of your ability.
Semi Truck Insurance
1. Contract to large motor carriers or join a trucking association
Warning: this isn’t the best option for those truckers who wish to stay independent. But going with the big carriers or joining trucking associations can actually offer some financial benefits despite the loss of a few freedoms as an independent business owner and one of those is lower semi truck insurance rates. While it may not be worth changing up your employment situation to suit your truck insurance rates alone, large companies and group memberships almost always have special programs with insurers that can pass real savings to independents on semi truck insurance premiums. Weighing the cost of association with this savings is up to you, but knowing that discounted rates are available is always beneficial if you have difficulty crunching your budget numbers at the end of the year.
2. Clean up your driving record AND your credit score
“Cleaning up” your driving record is not easy—most violations will stay on record for quite some time and the option to have tickets removed is not as easy as it used to be. So the best way to keep a clean record nowadays is to do just that—keep a clean record. That means things like speeding, tailgating and aggressive lane-changing need to stop—all are proven to carry a higher risk of accidents when on the road. As far as your credit goes, it’s illegal in some states for insurers to hike rates based on credit scores, but it is perfectly legal in others and most semi truck insurance companies do their best to justify it. A clean record and good credit go a long way in negotiating lower truck insurance premiums. Be aware of publicized safety scores or ratings on you or your business as well—make sure they are accurate because you can bet in the future they will affect your truck insurance rates substantially.
3. Pay semi truck insurance premiums annually if possible.
Every company likes to get paid in full up front. If you can pay your truck insurance premiums annually, you are likely to get a discount for it. Oftentimes, transaction fees are charged if you break up your premium payments monthly. If you can’t afford to pay them annually, consider changing your financing to quarterly payments or as infrequent as you can afford.
4. Go with a higher deductable.
It’s been shown time and time again that maximizing your insurance dollar to pay-out dollar in the case of a claim goes hand in hand with raised semi truck insurance deductibles. From your insurance company’s perspective, you are sharing some of the risk of them paying for damages. From your perspective, you aren’t planning on having accidents that frequently. Choose a higher deductable and save in the long run.
Motor Carrier Insurance
5. Choose your drivers wisely
One way to keep your motor carrier insurance rates lower is to be really careful to ensure that you trust the skills of every driver you hire. If they’re not on the same page as you with regards to pushing shift limits, staying rested on the road, on-road driving techniques and the like, then be assured they’ll hold a higher risk of accidents and subsequent truck insurance increases than other drivers. Experience and even-keeled demeanors are always a plus. Your drivers’ actions will directly affect your motor carrier insurance premiums.
6. Take advantage of safety programs offered by your state, fulfill them and put your safety policy in writing.
Corporations don’t have written safety policies because they enjoy writing—they benefit them in the case of accidents and investigations, but also when dealing with insurance companies. Employee safety programs offered by state or federal agencies are proven to reduce the risk of accidents. Take advantage of them and keep records. If you document your efforts to reduce risk to your truck insurance providers, you are more likely to get rewarded with reduced rates on your motor carrier insurance.
7. Shop your truck insurance rates annually
Many companies out there offer free commercial truck insurance quotes, but most of them don’t advertise the lowest prices. Take advantage of that—you will likely be able to find eager truck insurance companies willing to beat your current rates by offering the same service for less. If you can find such an offer and get it in writing, use it to your advantage. Like your current company? Show them the quote and see if they’ll beat it. If they won’t or can’t, maybe it’s time to switch to the guys willing to fight for your business a little more.
While none of these suggestions will rip through your current coverage rates like a magic bullet of savings, falling into the habit of carrying all of them out annually will definitely have an effect on your premiums in the long run. The safest drivers and lowest risks will get the best rates, and following all of these tips demonstrates that’s the category you want your commercial trucking company to be in.
Additional Truck Insurance Articles and Resources:
For some more related truck insurance reading, browse some of our additional resource pages such as: Trucking Insurance: A Quick Guide to Common Policies and Truck Insurance: Motor Carrier Insurance and Independent Options
