$5 Million Liability Insurance?

**Working Class Patriot** · 07.04.2012

I'm in the process of getting a contract with a General Contractor for moving pilings from one job site (15 miles away) to another.
The contract administrator says his company requires AL to include an "All Autos" endorsement (Just in case I sub-haul)...GL....."Excess Liability" endorsements...In addition to other requirements that my insurance carrier has never even heard of.....All this adds up to carrying a $5 million liability policy ....

My insurance carrier says he can draw up a policy but, it will add an additional $20K to my premiums for the year...

The contractor says they can guarantee 6 weeks worth of work out of it.....But....If do go into a contract with them....I would have to charge them at least $500 per load.....Huge increase over my original bid of $200 per load...

Has anyone ever heard of such high requirements to haul general freight?

I have heard of high rates for specialized like HH/OD hauling steam generators as an example....

But all I'll be hauling are pilings.........

**skateboardman** · 07.04.2012

thats does seem a high, they are basically having you assume all liability. your bid of 200 a load was low to begin with in my way of looking at it. what would the profit increase be for a 20,000 dollar outlay, and if the contract goes beely up after 3 weeks will they still cover the ins. cost?

this one may be best left alone if they wont take the million you normally have. now if they would accept 5 mil in general liability that wouuld be far cheaper.

**MNdriver** · 07.04.2012

only time I have heard of that high a liability is for HazMat.

**BigBadBill** · 07.04.2012

Are they asking for general liability? That is more common and not that expensive.

**windsmith** · 07.04.2012

See if you can find insurance that only applies to that one job, and only for the duration of the job. I know you can get cargo insurance for a single hival load, maybe they have something similar for liability?

**Working Class Patriot** · 07.05.2012

Originally Posted by BigBadBill

Are they asking for general liability? That is more common and not that expensive.

They're asking for G/L and Umbrella Liability along with additional endorsements...

I did some more calculations and figured that the minimum would be $300 per load and a guarantee of 90 loads.....

**dannythetrucker** · 07.05.2012

that seems crazy to haul pilings. Is there such a thing as meeting with this guy and trying to explain to him that this is going to cost you both a lot of money for no reason ? you can have all the general liability and umbrella insurance in the world but chances are if someone gets hurt on the jobsite it would just be an insurance battle and I suspect in the end his company would be liable for it. Also, if you would have anyone else haul the loads that's easy to check if they have insurance, why would you need a policy ?

**Working Class Patriot** · 07.05.2012

Originally Posted by dannythetrucker

that seems crazy to haul pilings. Is there such a thing as meeting with this guy and trying to explain to him that this is going to cost you both a lot of money for no reason ? you can have all the general liability and umbrella insurance in the world but chances are if someone gets hurt on the jobsite it would just be an insurance battle and I suspect in the end his company would be liable for it. Also, if you would have anyone else haul the loads that's easy to check if they have insurance, why would you need a policy ?

The contractor didn't call back today......

Oh well...If they can't work it out..No problem.....I have plenty of loads in my normal lane....

I was just trying to work close to home for awhile.......

Sometimes when it looks too good to be true...It probably is.....

**chalupa** · 07.05.2012

It's not the what but the where......

It takes 5m-gl to enter a refinery to drop pipe, haul dirt etc. ( the where) The refinery has to be co-named on the policy as insured also. That's in-case you kill somebody then the refinery is protected from the family.

The policy is also verified several times before you start work and checked randomly during the work schedule.

That help?

**Working Class Patriot** · 07.05.2012

Originally Posted by chalupa

It's not the what but the where......

It takes 5m-gl to enter a refinery to drop pipe, haul dirt etc. ( the where) The refinery has to be co-named on the policy as insured also. That's in-case you kill somebody then the refinery is protected from the family.

The policy is also verified several times before you start work and checked randomly during the work schedule.

That help?

Hmmm....I have hauled into and out of major mines....

Been to oil fields....
Major construction projects....

And my current coverage was never questioned.....

This is also a government job.....
So even if I had the required coverage....
The other obstacle would be that I'm not registered as a designated biz......

I was just reminded about that from a someone who is, while discussing this over the email....