O/O's with own Authority, should I get hazmat?

Only you can answer that question. It depends what lanes you will be running, who you will hauling for. What is the extra expence, insurance? If you feel the expence is prohibitive right now you could try going without it for now and see how much it is costing you.

 

the increased insurance cost alone will not justify hazmat

 

You also have to ask yourself if you want to deal with the additional headaches that go with it, and jump through the hoops to get the endorsement.

 

BINGO.
It's big time cost....unless you can justify it with loads that will offset that.

FMCSA Authority for hazardous materials requires minimum of $5,000,000
of BI & PD liability insurance coverage.
I would get a quote for that and start there...It might answer your question instantly...

 

File your MC online at the FMCSA site. Don't use any of the 'authority/permit' companies.
All they do is what you can do yourself but charge you MORE for it...

If you mail an application in, it adds 2-3 weeks to the processing time.

 

Bin a independent o/o for 22 years now and i don't have it. Only bin asked a few times to haul hazmat load's and the rate of pay for the loads do not justify the extra cost for insurance.

 

I feel this way about Haz-Mat. If you want to specialize and haul it go ahead. There aren't very many companies that really do it anymore. The one that comes to mind is Robbie A. Wood. That's all they haul and have been at it a good many years. As was stated before the Minimum liability is $5,000,000 and that's a chunk of change, plus cargo,plus the endorsements, plus the hoops you have to jump through. The last carrier I leased to dropped their Haz-Mat because of the increased cost of the premiums. So it comes down to: do you wanna do it? It's not gonna improve your bottom line that much or help you with general loads "unless you specialize". Bottom line for me was " no way". Just didn't pay enough generally to haul it. JMO

 

I would get my authority and work a while before deciding. There is plenty of freight out there to support you without dealing with hazmat. Stepnfetchit said it all with the specialization word. Presently, I don't have enough experience to acquire hazmat insurance if I wanted it. Based on my current business, I doubt that I will consider it in the future either. I'm not certain I want hazmat in my reefer.