New policy insurance thread

Yes all of it was the same. Even after asking for the rate breakdown there was no "extra" fees listed that would explain the difference. When you ask the agents they couldn't explain it either.

 

I think OOIDA can do something for him. If not, there is Great Lakes or Great Western, I belive its the company name out of Tenn- they work with new truck insurance.

 

The value of your rig also impacts the cost of your insurance. The insurance company has to consider if you are in a wreck do they have to repair a $100,000 truck or a $15,000 truck.

Using progressive's commercial online quote calculator I input the FMCSA's minimum $750k bodily injury/property damage amount and zeroed out the comp/collision for the vehicle and the policy was $3k-$5k a year, depending on a limited 500 mile range per day or unlimited mileage. This could be doable if you can pay cash for your truck and you buy an older model at a lower price. However, you have to consider if the insurance savings is worth the financial loss you will take if your truck is stolen or otherwise damaged.

 

The value of your truck is a small part of the equation. I will say the online calculator is pretty misleading because it allows you to estimate with options that aren't really feasible.

- First, it is true that FMCSA's minimum is the $750K; however, most brokers won't give a load for less than $1M of liability AND $100K cargo coverage
- Second, if you are financing your truck, you are typically required to carry Comprehensive (basically covers everything except collision) & also Collision because the bank wants to be paid out for their portion of their losses too
- Lastly, older trucks can be difficult to place with an insurance company in addition to the unknown maintenance costs that you may inherit

At the end of the day, your biggest costs in this business are Truck/trailer, FUEL, insurance, and maintenance. Some of those are controllable, others not so much.

 

Hopefully you've found insurance by now. If not try Capps Insurance / Higginbotham in Mount Pleasant TX. They have appointments in 30 some states and access to many markets.

I spent some time out of the truck and worked there as an agent, account manager and CSR. It was all one job titled account manager on the non-fleet desk. I actually had some midsize fleets due to another account manager retiring.

Some brokers deal with different underwriters. Example, I dealt with Great West often and we had a dedicated underwriter for fleets and another for non-fleet. We had some customers in TN that received a quote from GW's TN office that varied in price from what we had out of their Arlington TX office. The same with brokers like IMS-London American or Chub group. I ran into renewals, and even new business quotes, that varied for the exact lines and limits of coverage. When I would go to our underwriter I was told that quote came from another underwriter in another office. If it was a current customer I was renewing our underwriter would get the lower quote for us. So there is some variation, but it seems to depend on the underwriter, the agents relationship with that underwriter, the agencies loss ratio with that insurer and whether that broker has "the pen" which means they have flexibility to reduce the premium a bit.

Something else we would do at times was agree to a reduced commission to the agency in order to stay competitive. We never did this with a new venture though.

Progressive is funny about where they write and where they won't. Insurers also change "appetites often" so wait a few months and try again or try them at the next renewal.

Halmark was a staple for us with new ventures, but you have to find an agent or broker that has access to that market. That's why I'm a big fan of an independent agency. They have access to multiple different markets and can garner numerous quotes for you.

Caution with OOIDA, they are not an insurance company but a risk retention group. The draw back is the amount of cash on hand that they have which causes their rating to fluctuate from B+ to A. They pay claims, but due to cash on hand they never get a rating as high as a traditional insurer. This prompts some brokers to refuse anyone with OOIDA Risk Retention coverage.

 

Actually, I was doing some digging about insurance related stuff not too long ago and one thing that really got under my skin was and I quote "if carrier can provide proof of a substantial amount of money they can opt to self insure." Now what really got me thinking was how much are we talking? I mean I would say atleast a million sitting there and I guarantee you that's what the Mega's are doing while little Johnny gets bent over the back of the couch for his insurance...

 

i would estimate that as much as 75% of the top 100 carriers are self insured. The rules for this are complicated and not something that can be summarized in 2 or 3 pithy comments. HOWEVER they still have to get an insurance carrier to administer it. This is one reason these carriers can be independent about their hiring decisions. Just so you know though. You should see what these carriers per average are paying out! last I heard that 2010 Colorado driver for USA Truck that was driving Drunk and in the wrong lane caused the self insured USA Truck a 8 figure settlement. <<< USA Truck ate that one. I have been told that swift was self insured too. I have been told that Swift's annual payout on settlements was 9 figures. These large carriers have to self insure because to pay the actual cost of the liability insurance would put most of them out of business.

As per usual, don't believe me on this. If you drive for a mega ask them!

 

Ha yeah I can believe that with swift! Man they catch so much crap from some of their drivers lack of experience. But when you think about it if they are paying out that much JUST for claims. What are they bringing in?

 

From THIS website.

 

Yep.. I'd say that's enough to keep em going! ####! Totalled almost 15,000 tractors?!?! That's insane!