Insurance for car hauler?

Of course they will raise their premiums, they are a for-profit business. As for where did the premiums for the last 10 years go, to their shareholders as they should. I for one support higher insurance premiums as it raises the bar for entry into this industry, hopefully keeping some of the "competition" away and leaving the work for those that can afford to operate a company properly.

With your theory, if you made a profit last year you should lower your rates this year and use that money to cover the expenses. Not a very capitalistic view and you won't get far in business thinking that way.

Free business advice, take it for what you paid for it, cost of insurance, fuel, equipment and even driver salary should not matter if you stop letting the customer set the rates and simply refuse to haul work that is below your desired ROI. There are many different types of operations, some that can afford to run the dollar a mile stuff and some that can't.

 

WOW you are so on point in your reply to AST26909...Thank you for sharing...

 

Brian no good deed goes unpunished. You tried to give someone information on a topic that you are well informed on and he decided you are the bad guy for helping him. It would seem he doesn’t want anyone’s advice so I really am not sure why he asked for it.

 

Thanks Banker! I just call it as I see it, facts only. Be safe and have a good holiday weekend.

 

You too Brian.
Since I am a share holder of a “For Profit” publicly traded company who owns one of the largest re-insurers in America, I am happy when premiums go up and claims go down. It is one of the ways I can make money besides hauling cars.
Capitalism is a great thing and works hard for those who understand how it works, who have the fortitude to work hard for many decades, live way below ones means, invest hard, and eventually reap the rewards they have sacrificed to have. I do not feel guilty one bit when something I invest in returns 20% or better yearly returns on my money.

 

One thing that is hard swallow ( but I don’t know how else it could be structured ) is spreading the losses of a few over many.
This means that even though you go many years without claims you are paying higher rates then need be because of the destruction caused by other careless people.

I fully support what Brian said especially the last paragraph.
Imagine calling up an insurance co. and telling them that you have a car haul operation that needs to be insured and It pays x low number of dollars per year but before you will let them insure it they must make you additionally insured on there liability insurance.
Something tells me this would not be agreeable to the insurance co.
But this is how our trucking system works every day.
I am inclined to think our trucking system is a little backwards...

 

One way to combat this is to raise the bar to entry into the industry. I will take heat for this, but it is way to easy for someone with little or no experience in trucking, let alone car haul, to enter our segment of the industry. This ease of entry is what ultimately lead to my decision to sell the trucks and concentrate on consulting full time. When Ready came into the picture and eviscerated the deals I had with the auctions, eliminating almost two decades of relationship building over night, I knew it was time to move on. In the eyes of the companies now doing what was previously mine exclusively, they are happy for Ready as it allowed them to break into my market. That is capitalism and I am ok with it. I simply adjusted my course to make the best of my skills and the opportunities available.

 

That is very true regarding how easy it is to start trucking or even hauling cars. I also think UShip also deserves some of the blame with all their non compliant carriers under cutting the rates for all the legitimate companies out there.

 

Having read this tread a couple times, I am still wondering what insurance companies are out there for haulers beyond the one post with Fralic??? I currently have Progressive, but there premiums keep going up each year. Thanks,

 

So you want to dump Flo?

I had Great West the last few years. My agent co was based in KSC & not sure how many States they work in. So the link will take you to finding agents. Find An Agent

They are not like Northland that will prevent you from hauling cars of a certain age. GW also
reads the agreements when you seek to list a mfg or brokerage as additionally insured. Certs were 24/7 via the agents website.