Cargo Insurance

The basic commercial truck insurance policies only cover the actual truck and driver in the event of an accident. In order to fully protect yourself, you must also realize that other parts of your business need coverage. The most obvious piece of coverage is cargo insurance.

Cargo insurance protects not only the freight that is being shipped in case of a spill, but also the damage that this could cause to other drivers. Sometimes, the cargo is actually the most dangerous element of the truck to fellow motorist on the road.

Purchase cargo insurance if you want extra protection for your freight or if you carry particularly dangerous materials that could be a hazard to other drivers.

Aggregate Insurance

Aggregate is a special blend of rock, dirt, concrete, gravel and asphalt used in construction. This haul tends to be relatively cheap and very durable, so it is not as difficult to insure. Aggregate insurance, or aggregate haulers’ insurance, is designed to be less expensive due to the nature of the cargo. It is understood that aggregate must be properly transported in a closed container, but at the same time there is very little potential damage from an accident. Whereas a driver carrying wood, cement or glass could damage their cargo in an accident, aggregate haulers’ can basically just scoop up their lost cargo if an accident were to causer spillage.

General Freight Insurance

General freight insurance typically cover somewhere between $10,000- $100,000 worth of freight in case that an accident cause the cargo to be damaged or destroyed. This prevents the trucking business from being held personally accountable for the amount. This is amongst the most basic of commercial truck insurance policies and is highly recommended for carriers who transport goods, especially long distances.

Truck Insurance Blog

For more information on various commercial truck insurance policies, visit the Royalty Blog where our experts explain the different options. You can also follow us on Twitter for further updates @RoyaltyTruckIns

Dump Truck Insurance

One of the reasons why dump truck insurance is different from other types of commercial trucking insurance is that the entire back of the dump truck is a moving part and must be insured as such. Like cement mixers and cranes, the dump truck is a piece of machinery as much as it is a simple hauling truck. This means that the driver or operator must receive insurance to not only protect it from damage while transporting materials, but also while dumping them onto the construction site, city dump, or wherever they must be placed.

If a worker were to get injured while operating the mechanism to empty the cargo from the bed, he may be covered under worker’s compensation insurance, based on the situation and safety practices employed. But to fully protect your business from potential damage or lawsuit, purchase dump truck insurance.

Aggregate Insurance

Aggregate insurance protects drivers who transport a sedimentary compound made up of gravel, dirt, mulch, asphalt, rocks, and concrete in different mixtures. These materials are commonly carried by dump trucks because they are easy to, well, dump. Aggregate also has a very low monetary value, so can be cheaper to purchase commercial truck insurance for it. In fact, many dump truck insurance policies include aggregate hauler’s insurance as part of the package.

Ask your insurance agent if your dump truck or business qualifies for this benefit.

Truck Insurance

Don’t wait to see what kind of package you could receive for your dump truck insurance or general commercial truck insurance. The dump truck is an iconic American vehicle; treat yours with the esteem it deserves.

If you want help figuring out which policy to get, contact us for questions.

Want to know more about commercial truck insurance? Read our on-site blog for different protection options like a guide to non-trucking liability.

Insurance Coverage

When insurers are deciding how to determine a policy for private vehicles they take into account the original cost of the car and its age because these types of vehicles depreciate at a fairly standard rate from the moment they are driven off the lot and it is easy to predict and calculate their value.

Large trucks, on the other hand, are actually designed to outlive their engines. They are created to withstand brutal punishment from every day use, so they need the best, most secure parts. Hauling trucks that travel hundreds of thousands of miles each year are expected to have their engines replaced on a semi-regular basis. As an example, a 5-year-old dump truck with a brand new engine would be worth considerably more than a 5-year-old dump truck with its original engine, but the same can’t be said about a min-van or convertible.

Stated Amount

Because commercial truck insurance is more difficult to calculate for heavy trucks and does not require simple equations involving original value and age, truck insurance businesses have developed a unique method called “Stated Amount.” Stated Amount is used for providing physical damage protection and choosing a premium.

Here’s how it works: the person getting insured states the maximum value of his or her truck, and the premium is a percentage of that stated amount. When the deductible increases, the percentage goes down.

Typically, the older vehicles that are worth less pay a higher premium percentage because major physical damage could wreck that truck, whereas it would only do slight damage to a newer truck.

One important thing to note is that Stated Value must be determined in advance by the owners and gets reevaluated with each renewal of a commercial truck insurance policy. If the owner’s claim is significantly varied from the insurance company’s evaluation, then additional justification may be necessary so that an accident does not cause huge claims losses on either side.

The advantage of Stated Amount is that it puts an automatic cap on the amount paid out, makes negotiations easier, and makes comparing quotes and percentages easier for the vehicle owner.

Commercial trucks are also required to carry liability insurance. In most cases, motor carriers have a primary liability policy in place to cover the drivers who work for them. This coverage also often extends to the independent owner/operators who haul their goods on a contract basis.

Primary Liability Coverage Ends When The Job Is Done

Once the job is done and the trailer is detached, the independent driver will find his or herself without that coverage. Primary liability only covers independents when they are on active dispatch and does not even cover return trips from successful hauls.

Because liability insurance is required by law and having liability insurance is simply common sense, independent drivers need to find a way to keep themselves covered when off the job. This is known as non-trucking liability insurance.

Non-Trucking Liability

Non-trucking liability is a handy form of commercial truck insurance because it works just like a primary liability policy when a driver’s contracted employer’s coverage is invalid. It also saves drivers money because they only pay for it when they are not otherwise covered.

Additional Concerns

For full protection you will want to also purchase a comprehensive coverage policy to cover the cost of damages to your own truck, which liability insurance does not cover.

In addition, cargo insurance might be beneficial to most truck drivers, as many commercial truck insurance policies do not cover the actual cargo, just the truck itself. This will provide coverage if the freight is destroyed, stolen, spoiled, or broken.

Among many significant changes, the proposal will reduce the number of hours per day and per week that a truck driver can operate. Additionally, the time it takes to load and unload the truck would now be considered as part of a driver’s limited driving hours, potential limiting productivity.

The American Trucking Association has launched a full-blown counter campaign to stop the new hours-of-service rules from taking effect, calling the proposed changes, “just plain dumb”  and will “make our economy  less competitive”.

Obviously a lot of big administrations and associations, such as the American Trucking Association and trucking insurance companies, have great interest in how these proposals turn out. More important than these large interest groups are the truck drivers. How do our truck drivers feel about the potential impact, and are they for or against these proposed changes in hours-of-service?

Many drivers are wondering if they have any say in this matter. Thankfully Royalty Truck Insurance is informing truck drives about a free method to offer feedback to the Department of Transportation. If you want your voice and opinion to be heard just stop by any Flying J, Love’s, or Pilot truck stop to fill out the appropriate form.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will be holding an open public meeting in Arlington, Va. on February 17^th to discuss concerns about the hours-of-service proposal.

From one side, this protects truck drivers from the pressure above to lie on driving logs. On the other hand, this device protects employers against truck drivers milking the clock. Both parties can benefit from the feature to electronically record drivers’ inspections of their trucks, helping to prevent vehicle-maintenance violations.

Some devices offer a GPS speed management feature that provides insight into driver speed versus posted speed. Some systems have capabilities to calculate scorecards for drivers and spot risky drivers by tracking drivers on speed, fuel economy, hard braking, and other performance and safety factors.

Although these recording devices are only currently only required for companies in violation, U. S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has said a broader rule ordering similar recorders on all commercial trucks and buses will soon come. Aside from attempting to regulate truck drivers’ hours of operation, both drivers and commercial truck insurance companies can benefit from this tracking system by knowing the details of a truck’s speed, velocity, location, etc, in the event of any accident. This can also help prevent fraud for trucking insurance companies, which can, in turn, keep truck insurance costs down.

Kendra L. Adams, executive director of the New York State Motor Truck Association, a trade association of 800 companies in the industry, states “In the last five or six years, we’ve seen a huge increase in technology in the trucking industry,” she said. “A lot of companies utilize tracking so they know where their equipment is. But you’re also working to find that balance between increasing efficiency and safety but making sure we’re not adding to driver distraction elements in the vehicle.”

The proposal to open U.S. roadways to Mexican semi trucks has not come without sharp criticism, especially from the professional truck driving community and commercial truck insurance providers. One of the biggest concerns for U.S. truck drivers (and their employers) is that this will take freight loads away from them and lead to more layoffs and fewer runs. Industry wide, many U.S. drivers’ jobs are created by the loads brought through Mexico to our shared borders where our drivers then finish the load’s journey.

Another particular concern is about the difference in safety regulations on U.S. semi trucks and Mexico semi trucks. If United States roadways are opened up to trucks from Mexico, what safety standards can be enforced to ensure safe and up-to-code trucks are operating on our freeways with full coverage trucking insurance?

This border restriction for trucks was originally passed under President Bush in 2007. Mexico responded by heavily taxing the most popular U.S. products exported to Mexico, in an effort to discourage the purchase of American goods. A lifting of this ban could greatly increase trade relations with Mexico and consequently increase gross exports to Mexico; for this reason U.S. agriculture and manufacturing industries seem to welcome Obama’s proposal. For updates on Mexican border trucking regulations, follow our Transportation Blog for truckers.

With a similar reverence, Overdrive Magazine is reporting that truckers surveyed across the country have voted Petro Truck Stops their “favorite truck stop” of 2010.

The magazine has run their independent study of truck drivers across the U.S. for the past four years and Petro has been ringing up top rankings for the entire span.

The survey includes 17 different categories ranging from “quickest fueling” to “best buffets.” Petro incinerated the competition by taking the No. 1 spot in 15 of the 17 categories.

Petro, owned by parent company TravelCenters of America LLC, is headquartered in Westlake, OH—a town also famous for hosting the 2006 USA Broomball National Championships.

Petro hosts Iron Skillet diners, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Blimpie Subs, DOT screening services, clean restrooms and showers, an assortment of cheesy bumper stickers and beer koozies and a legendary assortment of generic cell phone chargers on revolving racks.

Just about the only things they don’t provide for truckers are licensing and commercial truck insurance.

Some of the categories Petro cleaned up in throughout Overdrive Magazine’s survey included “best food, best breakfast, best buffets, healthiest menu, best travel stores, cleanest restrooms, best parking, easy to maneuver fueling lanes, best employees, best restaurant coffee and best truck stop experience.

Let us Know What You Think in the Comments Below:

Do you agree with the Overdrive Magazine survey? Would you vote Royalty Truck Insurance the best truck insurance provider of 2010?  Tell us below in the comments field!

As a commercial truck insurance company, we know better than anyone just how regulated the industry is. In the midst of a recession where paying truck insurance premiums are the least of most truckers problems, a lot of drivers are worried these new ratings regulations couldn’t have come at a worse time.

The Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 is a new federal program that’s being rolled out by the FMCSA.  The program assigns a score to motor carriers that aims to demonstrate their risk to shipping agencies based on their past safety violations.

Things like driver fatigue, behavioral analysis, driver fitness, alcohol or controlled substance violations and accidents caused are all measured to formulate a final score—kind of like a quarterback rating in the NFL

Some drivers are concerned many shippers will read too much into the numbers, choosing to avoid carriers with lower scores that are still above acceptable standards.  They’re worried this could cost smaller business jobs based on unfair comparisons.

Trucking companies with excellent track records and safety advocates for the FMCSA think otherwise, calling the ratings system a “new nationwide system that will make the roads safer for motor carriers and the public alike.”

Stories have surfaced of freight companies that have suffered lower scores because of violations taken into consideration from the distant past—sometimes even before the violations were even considered safety related at all.  In some cases, these companies have lost major accounts.

Let us Know What You Think in the Comments Below:

Is the new CSA rating system really a bonus for the safest drivers, sort of like lower commercial truck insurance premiums are offered to the safest companies? Or is this an unfair system that divulges too much unnecessary information for shippers to discriminate against the trucking industry?

Should a license in good standing, a qualified driver and proof of commercial truck insurance be all a company should need to be hired?  Will these safety regulations really cost truckers more jobs in the end?

Dump truck insurance is one of the largest categories of commercial truck insurance specialization, probably due to the very different capacities dump trucks are used, the very specific types of cargo dump trucks carry and the different variations of dump trucks themselves.

There is probably not a commercial truck cooler than a dump truck—kids play with dump truck toys and there’s something about a dump truck amidst a construction scene that commands a certain degree of reverence. The dump truck is huge, made of heavy metal and has tons of moving parts—all things that are very cool for any commercial truck enthusiast.

If you know the difference between a standard dump truck, articulated dump truck, side dump truck and superdump truck, than you definitely understand why dump truck insurance is one of the most highly specialized (and important) securities in the world of commercial truck insurance. Dump trucks are big, mean and can cause some serious damage if not used properly, and their commercial truck insurance coverages reflect that.

A typical dump truck is used for transporting earthy or aggregate materials, such as dirt, sand and gravel for construction. Many garbage trucks are dump trucks as well. The dump truck is used off road in many capacities as well, such as in the mining industry, logging industry and in any other tasks that require hefty earth moving.

Usually equipped with a hydraulic lift, the dump truck’s trailer is used to deposit its haul contents safely behind the truck wherever it’s transported.

Generally, if you’re a fleet owner that commissions 1 or multiple dump trucks, you likely need a special dump truck insurance policy and other forms of commercial truck insurance such as specialized cargo insurance.