Small Business - Commerical Insurance Advice

It sucks that you are having so much trouble finding insurance. Try looking up insurance quotes for hot shot drivers to see if there are any in your area.

 

Try Expediter Insurance Services. They're very active on the Expediter boards and may be able to provide the insurance that meets your needs. However, you are looking for Commerical Insurance and Commercial Insurance expects professional experience, just as you read over and over in this Forum.

 

You might call

Brown & Brown Insurance-Pam St. John @ 1-800-846-7873

or CCR Insurance-Dwayne Goad @ 1-877-814-1236

 

Hot Shotting or any other type of trucking is not a part time job/business.

 

I can not recommend Progressive for insurance. The quoted me $3200/yr and I have 16 years experience driving 18 wheelers. I checked out OOIDA and got insurance there for over $900/yr less. Talk to OOIDA, tell them what you want to do and they will give you a free quote. Word of advice if your looking at finding your own freight and and doing it for profit you will need to get your own authority and will need to get cargo insurance. The $3200 quote for progressive was just for physical damage and bobtail insurance. As I leased on to an RV Transport company they cover the insurance on the unit I haul and they find the freight for me. There are other companies besides RV transporting you can do.

As far as vehicle: A gas engine doesn't have he longevity of a diesel. It simply won't hold up to the strain we put on them. Suggest a minimum of 3/4 ton diesel. If you can, get one before 2007ish when the dpf filters started being installed.

Progressive is wrong you don't need a semi to pull boats, unless it's a really BIG boat (err, Yacht). lol

 

Antimattercrusader,
I got commercial coverage on my pick up ('05 Dodge dually, diesel) for $2000 a year. Like Bigfoot_Trucking said call Pam St. John @ 1-800-846-7873.

That being said, you don't have the right equipment to pull freight for a living. Blueagle is right, you need a diesel.

 

Is there a long process involved in getting/setting up your own authority?

Is there a thread in these forums that explains the process?

Thanks,
Roger

 

There's several places online where all the requirements are listed. There's even a couple places that for some money will make it all happen for you. However, YOU need to know all the details intimately, so you don't end up on the wrong side of the law through ignorance. And the law is extremely punitive and totally unforgiving.

However - and this is a big one - there's more to it than filling out paperwork, writing checks, and driving.

There's a sequence to follow, there's certain timing considerations involving insurance, dot, mc#'s, and assorted other items.

Seriously, you're getting good responses, though not detailed. What you need to know, is all the ins and the outs, how the game is played, what the rules are and how to comply. And there's no good way to get all that in your head without having someone else's experience to benefit from. If you don't start out knowing what you're doing, you can end up in a huge world of hurt - even dead. There's a load of skills, including driving, safety, loading, moving, securing, and other things that you can't learn haphazardly on your own. You need someone to teach it, or to have a background of doing it before you get here.

This business is physically, financially, and personally risky. You will go through money very fast, and can end up totally broke very fast. Insurance is not kind to new people, it is NOT designed or priced for part time, the expenses are insane, and the only way to get ahead of them is to be relentless piling up the miles - or to have a WELL DEVELOPED SPECIALTY MARKET that pays way above average. The same with every other fee and expense. None are designed with part time in mind.

There was once a time when common sense would you get you through the minefield. No more. Much of it makes little sense, and has arbitrary rules.

Don't be in any hurry to pull the trigger. And if you think you know enough, you can be assured you do not. Take that on faith, and start spending time learning from the experiences of others. You may just decide to find other things to do.

 

Not in a hurry at all, and quite frankly I'm asking questions because I already know that I don't possess enough knowledge.

None the less, I appreciate your suggestions and insite.

Thanks,
Roger

 

I read somewhere the biggest part of knowledge was knowing what you don't know. Once you got that licked, the rest seems to be a lot less diffcult