Inexpensive truck insurance for hot shot service and RV hauling

call daily underwriters in Penns,,great ins and prices,,look them up on the net

 

They would know. If you are using the vehicle for commercial purposes, you need a commercial policy. Period. This isn't exclusive to trucking, either. Pizza delivery drivers, couriers, etc. who use their own personal vehicle on the job often find out the hard way that they are in deep doo-doo after an incident when the insurance they THOUGHT had them covered denies their claim due to the commercial use of the vehicle. If it is a liability claim, you might find yourself with a "driving without insurance" citation after your insurance company says you didn't have the proper coverage. Yes, they will cover you pulling the exact same trailer behind the exact same pickup truck if you own it and are traveling on vacation. That isn't the case, however, when you have transporter tags, a USDOT#, and there is an FMCSA inspection report attached to the crash report.

Do it right or don't do it at all.

 

You need commercial insurance, and YES they will know if you don't have proper insurance. No company will give you RVs to deliver if you can't provide proper insurance for hauling said RVs. They will want proof before they dispatch one to you.

 

I guess you're not going to get one of those pesky MC and DOT numbers either, right?

 

The OC is probably looking into bobtail insurance or non trucking liability.
This insurance is used while not hauling a trailer.

 

I pay $90 a month for unladen liability, for from ludicrous. If the OP is just talking bobtail, no trailer like I am require to have, that typically is in the $30 range. A typical private insurance policy for a late model dually is going to exceed those costs.

 

If you plan on hauling freight of any kind, you need the correct insurance. It doesn't make a difference whether it is RV's or general freight. You are not required to have your collision with the same company as your cargo and liability. I would check around because rates can vary widely. If you lease to a carrier, then they take care of the cargo and liability insurance. Running your own authority, you are responsible. In any case, you don't want to get into an accident without having the right insurance. If you cannot afford the insurance, then you are probably taking freight that is too cheap. Everything related to this industry is expensive. It isn't worth the risk to not have adequate insurance.

 

You would be surprised how many Hot Shot Operators are out there hauling expensive loads without the proper insurance. If the agent you use is not familiar with commercial insurance you could find out the hard way that your policy is virtually worthless. It's not just the coverage and the rate you should be concerned with - it is what information was submitted to get the quote. If the information submitted was incomplete or incorrect your coverage may not be there at the time of loss - don't find out the hard way. Ask for copies of your Accord application forms, what was used to get the quote and if the information there is not correct you are in for trouble. There are a lot of agents that will quote it to get the lowest rate knowing they didn't disclose all the pertinent information such as normal radius of operations (do you do local only, state only, or nationwide pickups and deliveries), do you use your pulling unit for personal use as well as business or business only, any other drivers at any time - they need to be disclosed, limits of coverage for cargo, liability limits on your pulling unit, type of trailers pulled (gooseneck or bumper pull), types of cargo hauled, typical limits of value on your cargo, are you required to have any additional insured or any hold harmless agreements? If you get a quick quote for Hot Shot Service there is a 96% chance the quote was not done correctly. If you haul oilfield equipment and go to the rig site that's another whole ball of wax. Make sure what you are applying for by having copies of the data that went into the quote. That is your only proof that you disclosed all the relative information correctly and it's on the agent if they then misrepresented the risk. After a loss is not the time to find out you were sold something that doesn't fit the risk.

 

These guys are all offering very good advise, because it's such an important topic I'm going to add a little bit to it.

If you were going to be hauling any LTL freight at all, you'd want to make sure that your cargo policy covers each individual piece of freight that'll be loaded on your trailer. For instance My cargo policy is for $100,000.00 but, if I was to have multiple pieces of freight on my trailer from different Brokers, and Shippers, each Bill of Laden on the load is covered for upto $100,000.00. A full load (one single BOL) is just covered up to the $100,000.00. At any time though if I was to run across a load that needed more coverage all I have to do is pick up the phone and call my Agent and ask them to bump it up for this one particular load. I've done that several times over the years.

Another thing, Never let a Insurance Agent place you with a Offshore Insurance provider. Make sure you're placed with a Insurance Company thats based right here in the U.S.A. If your Insurance Provider happens to be based in another country and they refuse to pay off a claim? You'd have to travel to their country to try and sue them. Good Luck with that.

Like the rest of these guys were saying, shopping around for cheap insurance prices will likely land you with cheap insurance coverage.

As far as hauling RV trailers, tell your insurance agent you want unidentified trailer coverage on your policy. It doesn't cost that much more.

You can see from all thats said in this thread thats it's going to be critical that you have a good Insurance Agent. You want one that you can reach, to ask questions, send out certs, or possibly bump your limit up at anytime during normal business hours. Some of these auto insurance companies that are now offering commercial trucking insurance could care less about you and your needs after they get your down payment.