Dumb Question regarding Insurance

I would head for the closes International border, wait for nightfall, cross over and then learn Spanish or French, depending on what border I crossed, Mexico or Canada. Then deny, deny, deny. I know nothing.

 

Too many variables. Company truck? Lease Truck? Your buddy's truck he just put back on the road after being down for 10 years? It's obviously NOT your truck as you would KNOW if it was covered or not.

 

Well. Either your company whose truck is being repo'ed will be billed EVERYTHING. or the Bank will have to suffer the problem.

Insurance coverage is a must. I think in this case the company that once owned this rig being repo'ed and somehow had a accident... (How coincidental...) will come down to whose hands are on the actual ownership of the truck and also if the company sent the truck out to try and make some hidden money on the side.

In any case, it will be a problem. Once you are in fact in a vehicle you own without insurance coverage at the time of that accident (Remember after the smash, everything is frozen at that moment in time.) Buying a thousand valid insurances tonight will not save you from the liability as the owner. Whomever it is.

Some of these rigs when they wreck, they have the big potential to essentially destroy a entire company and it's entire workforce. Poof out of business. Poof out of work. It only takes one.

 

Would structuring the entity as an LLC prevent a 'disaster' that you describe? If the owner financed the sale he surely should have known if the buying 'party' carried current insurance as the state of registration would have notified him otherwise?

 

It does not matter. LLC does not remove the requirement that the tractor trailer must have current and valid insurance to it plus registration, current tags, permits and so on etc. down the line to the stickers on the cab. All of it needs to be valid and current to date being used. Most trucks carry a permit bag behind drivers seat where all of it's specific things are kept ready to show at a moment's notice. And the trailers usually have a small holder containing it's own registration etc.

If you as a driver fails to see that the tractor trailer is valid for taking onto the public road, it is no problem and a few minutes time in the office to obtain what you require or are issued another tractor that is valid with paper.

If that office person blabbed and said that particular tractor you were given is pending repossession and so on.. your first thought would be to jump the sinking ship and find a company that is not going under. I once had a truck sold out from under me while I was on the interstate. Upon arrival at the frederick yard, the dispatchers allowed themselves some fun. "Clean out your truck Mister." Wot? After the laughing they said it was sold to another owner. SO clean it out. And they found me another.

If you for some reason skipped the necessary time in the office and put that 18 wheeler onto a public roadway and somehow two blocks later smashed into a house guess what. Your company now owns the house, the losses of the hurt and dead inside that house and you get to be punished for not doing a pretrip to ensure that rig is legally ready on paper to go out today. And your company will further will have to eat the cargo in retail value and so on. Etc etc etc. That is just the beginning. Once the law gets through writing tickets and or jailing you etc. You will also have to stand a civil lawsuit by the family.

The tragety is that civil defensive insurance for you personally (I carried about half a million in civil liability for personal insurance when concealed carry for a few dollars a month) is so cheap. But no one takes the time to make sure they have it. So when a civil suit is rendered against you for judgement. You get to pay. And sometimes three lifetimes is not enough to cover that.

LLC means limited liability company. The only defense I know of offered by LLC is that if for example we owned a tavern growing up. Our parents who owned it had a corporation with a LLC or equivalent on paper. If something happened and we were sued for everything, they could only seize the business and it's assets down to the last can of beer in the basement. But they cannot touch any of the personal cars, personal home or other non business assets at that location or anywhere within the ownership of the tavern owner being sued.

A very ling time ago, a truckstop owner took the tag of my trailer for whatever reason. I let it go. The problem was I did not try to get a replacement at he yard a while. Eventually the Texas DPS pig piled me on the interstate demanding explaintion of no trailer tag. Papers in cab showed valid along with the stored paper inside the trailer holder was also current. Welp, I get another from the boss, it must have fell off or something. They let it go.

 

The situation that started this thread holds a scary lesson or two...1. Always report any new vehicle that joins the fleet and 2. Don't rely on anyone else for your own insurance needs.

An employee isn't up the creek in this situation like a business owner is...I hope the person in the situation you know @Tigger0216 is the former rather than the latter.

Also, LLCs will never protect from certain kinds of negligence from the owner (lookup "piercing the veil and LLCs" in a Google search"). For example, if you buy a property knowing the roof was in bad condition, but you decide to rent it out anyway without any kind of insurance, and the roof falls and kills a mom...the LLC you owned the property with is not going to protect the negligence of the person who owns the LLC.

 

A Certificate of Liability does not necessarily have all owned and operated vehicles listed. The COI ( Certificate of Insurance what's being called a Certificate of Liability ) will only have what the insurance agent / agency puts on it. They rarely come from the actual insurer. Some agencies have a 24/7 portal that a customer can print their own COI's, but the only info they can change at that point is the certificate holder.
The policy in question could be on a reporting form. This is common with fleets. A unit can be used and not reported until the next month's form. If this is the case the vehicle may be used but a cert may not show it.
Look at the COI and see if a box is checked indicating listed vehicles only.
Lastly, have a lawyer handle this. There is a certain number of days a vehicle can be used before added to a policy. The number varies by state but all are around the same time frame. Playing games with listed owners and company names can extend this time for a shady outfit.
Hopefully you had a form of contingent physical damage and liability on the truck in question. If so you could at least file on your insurance and let your insurer handle subrogation for reimbursement.