Why Do Truckers Need General Liability Insurance?

BRZ specializes in providing insurance in Massachusetts for trucks and trailers of all sizes, whether you need owner operator insurance, motor carrier insurance, or private carrier insurance.

We work with the best truckers’ insurance carriers to get you the most complete coverage possible, including:

  • Personal injury and advertising injury liability encompass losses caused by negligence to persons or non-physical entities.
  • Medical payments for persons injured on your business’s facilities are covered by general liability medical payments.
  • Damage to property or bodily injury caused by delivering someone else’s goods is covered by products/completed operations.
  • Damage to rented premises, which provides short-term coverage for properties rented for fewer than seven days.

Obtaining comprehensive truckers’ general liability insurance is thus a critical option for your trucking company’s long-term existence.

Purchasing truckers’ general liability insurance in Massachusetts may initially feel like you are navigating a maze.

However, with the help of a knowledgeable agent, it can become a simple process.

Interstate truckers’ insurance, for example, may be necessary based on the radius within which you operate.

The reason for this is that not all policies cover all states and situations.

Furthermore, some regulations exclude certain types of vehicles, such as hearses, garbage trucks, and limos.

BRZ can help you choose the correct coverage for your company and the regulations that come with it.

A well-rounded insurance that covers all of your bases will allow you to focus on your business and its day-to-day operations instead of worrying about the rare mishap and what it might cost you.

To that end, it’s a good idea to talk to your BRZ agent about cargo liability insurance to make sure you’re covered.

Why would a trucker need general liability?

Property damage to customers When client property is harmed, general liability insurance covers your business. If a trucker, for example, drops big boxes onto flimsy shelving at a client’s business and smashes it, your general liability coverage may cover the expense of replacing it.

Why do trucking companies need insurance?

If any of your vehicles are involved in an accident, commercialtruck insurance is a crucial sort of coverage to protect you from high expenditures. You already know that if you drive a personal truck or automobile, you need auto insurance to stay legal on the road.

Commercial trucking insurance protects you when you’re transporting items, animals, customers, or materials in your truck. A commercial insurance truck policy will fill up the gaps left by your personal auto insurance if you use your vehicle both professionally and personally. However, this isn’t always the case with larger commercial trucking firms.

Primary liability is the first coverage in a trucking insurance policy, and it is followed by a number of other coverages. To safeguard property and persons from harm caused by your trucks, you must have primary liability coverage as part of your trucking license. There are, however, various types of commercial trucking insurance to consider.

What is commercial general liability insurance trucking?

  • Commercial general liability insurance can assist cover accidents and property damage to third parties caused by your or an employee’s negligence. If you’re sued, this covers legal fees. Construction sites, for example, may not be covered by this policy and may require extra coverage.
  • Property insurance protects your business’s facilities, furniture, equipment, tools, inventory, and everything else it owns.

Trucking is inherently a high stakes, risky business. There’s billions of dollars in freight being moved every day and the industry touches almost every conceivable good before it reaches its final destination.

The transportation business is undergoing a massive technological transformation, which will bring with it new risks and opportunities.

Auto Liability, Auto Physical Damage, Cargo, and General Liability are the most common lines of coverage for a trucking company. This short post will discuss a significant risk vulnerability in the sector that is frequently overlooked: Cyber Liability.

Three Reasons Trucking/Transportation/Logistics Firms Should have Cyber Insurance

  • If you’ve ever stepped into a trucking company or a freight broker’s office, you’ll know that dispatch is on the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, frantically attempting to discover and book loads. Freight boards, load-matching software, and, most crucially, money are all exchanged during this procedure. Consider the consequences of a cyber-breach or an attack if this process were to be shut down for a lengthy period of time. If hackers can take down the New York Stock Exchange, they can certainly take down any other online exchange. Furthermore, given the volume of confidential and sensitive data stored in these systems, there is a significant risk of a data breach. Consider what would happen if financial information, customer lists, driving information, car information, or any other personal data was hacked or leaked. What would it cost your company if it happened? Suits have been settled for millions of dollars under the Fair Credit Reporting Act for simple examples such as MVR information on drivers being shared without authorisation. What if your entire driver database was hacked and their personal information became public?
  • Cargo Theft: Criminals are becoming more sophisticated than ever before. Instead of stealing actual trucks or trailers, thieves are instead stealing freight by creating bogus companies, invoices, routes, and so on. Consider a cargo loss of $100,000 due to a fake shipment to a bogus carrier. More business is transacted digitally than ever before in the industry, and you must now be exceedingly cautious about who you trade with online.
  • Autonomous Vehicles/Trucks:
  • It’s difficult to find a modern industry piece that doesn’t mention autonomous cars, vehicle safety, or accident avoidance technologies. What if these new fleet management systems were to be hacked? Knowing that hackers could reroute shipments, cause traffic accidents, or steal valuable corporate information from these new emergent software systems is a terrifying concept. In such a case, who would be held liable?

Moving on from those grandiose “sales arguments” for why cyber insurance is necessary, here are the cold hard realities of why few firms buy cyber insurance or are even aware of the issue.

Reasons No One Buys It

  • When their new 2017 $150k tractor gets into a wreck or when their vehicle rolls over and $80k in goods is lost, Safety & Risk Managers can better understand the need of insurance. These are actual, physical losses with significant ramifications. Cyberspace is a unique type of exposure. The loss could be entirely intangible, which is considerably different from the trucking industry’s capital-intensive economic strategy.

The average age of a truck driver is about 50 years old, and the business is struggling to attract and retain fresh talent, with a projected driver shortfall of 75,000 drivers in 2016. Because of the low turnover in the industry, the business model has stayed mostly unchanged, with the same insurance coverages such as Auto Liability, Physical Damage, Cargo, and General Liability. Because the sector is so huge and complex, reform is incredibly difficult.

  • Insurance brokers and agents’ lack of understanding or concern: In the United States, the workers’ compensation insurance market is worth $57 billion, the commercial vehicle market is worth $31 billion, and the inland marine (cargo) industry is worth $20 billion. In contrast, the global premium for Cyber is expected to be only $2 billion. Because the larger lines of coverage account for the majority of the premium, brokers and agents dedicate more time and resources to them. Many companies have been left vulnerable with minimal or no coverage, leaving a major portion of the industry’s risk exposure uninsured. It’s past time for the insurance brokerage industry to take action and address this problem.

What is symbol 47 in a truckers policy?

Numeric symbols are used in the Trucker’s Policy to designate the type(s) of vehicles for which coverage is in effect. A coverage’s symbols can only be utilized if they are listed. Vehicle coverage is provided by symbols 41 through 45. Hired and non-owned auto coverage are included in Symbol 41. If Hired Auto (symbol 47) or Non-Owned Auto (symbol 50) coverage is wanted but symbol 41 is not utilized, those symbols must be checked.

The icons indicate which vehicles are covered by each policy. The symbol serves as a “trigger” for the coverage. Refer to the company’s policy declarations page for detailed policy definitions of the symbols.

Liability insurance is the only type of insurance that can be used. Its use provides coverage for every vehicle with which the insured comes into touch, including owned, rented, and non-owned automobiles. Non-owned auto coverage, no-fault, uninsured motorist coverage, and physical damage coverage are all included.

Coverage is limited to owned vehicles and includes automatic coverage for vehicles the insured acquires in the future.

Coverage is limited to owned business vehicles and includes automatic coverage for new commercial vehicles acquired by the insured.

Applies to owned vehicles where no-fault coverage is required by law, including automatic coverage for vehicles the insured acquires for the first time.

Applies to owned vehicles where a mandatory uninsured motorists statute exists, including automatic coverage for newly acquired vehicles where UM rejection is not permissible by law.

Coverage is limited to scheduled vehicles, with no automatic coverage for new vehicles acquired by the insured.

Coverage is limited to vehicles leased, hired, rented, or borrowed by the listed insured. Employees’ or their family members’ automobiles are not included.

Covers trailers left in the insured’s custody that are listed under a trailer exchange.

49 – Trailers in Another Trucker’s Possession Under a Trailer Interchange Agreement

When your trailers are listed under a trailer exchange and are in the control of another trucker, this coverage is provided.

Liability coverage for vehicles that are not owned by the named insured but are utilized in the trucking company. This includes employee-owned vehicles.

Liability coverage for vehicles that are not owned by the named insured but are utilized in the Motor Carrier company. This includes employee-owned vehicles.

Can you get trucking insurance without a truck?

If you’re operating alone, you’ll need to get commercial vehicle insurance that includes the following coverages:

  • Liability insurance compensates you for harm you cause to others and their property. It usually includes coverages for bodily injury liability and property damage.
  • Physical Damage – Covers the cost of repairs to your truck if it is damaged in an accident, whether caused by another vehicle or a falling tree branch.
  • General Liability for Motor Trucks – Covers injuries or property damage caused by commercial operations that aren’t directly related to driving your truck.

This isn’t a comprehensive list. You’ll probably need to meet particular owner operator insurance criteria before you can start operating, according to the FMCSA and certain contracts. Before you hit the road, double-check that you have the right insurance.

What is non trucking liability insurance?

Non-trucking Liability Insurance protects truck owners from liability claims when the truck is used for non-commercial purposes, regardless of whether or not there is a load on board.