Insurance

I think it’s BS to get a rate increase if you have no fillings against the insurance. Just because of other dumb drivers and owners we all have to pay a premium.

 

What if a 4 wheeler caused an accident that wound up totaling your truck, trailer, and whatever you were hauling. And then what if that 4 wheeler kept going and left the scene, leaving your insurance to pay for around $300,000 worth of equipment and cargo? Even though you weren't "dumb" or at fault, your insurance carrier is going to lose their tail on your policy for several years or forever? That kind of stuff happens every single day. People just love to sue trucking companies because they always have such great insurance. Last week I made a post about a guy that hurt his back by running into the back of a trailer in a 4 wheeler, and it wasn't the trucker's fault. A jury awarded the 4 wheel driver over 100 million because he had surgery after the accident that messed up his back so he'll never work again. This is the kind of BS that drives ALL of our rates up. When we have accidents it is the fault of a 4 wheeler over 89% of the time, but we are the ones who end up paying.

 

Ok so instead of jacking up commercial insurance rates, it would be in the best interest of insurance companies to lobby or do whatever to keep this foolishness OUT of court in the first place and keep this foolishness from winning in court by passing new regulation with repercussions against frivolous suers. Redefine at fault, and if the motorist is above 50% at fault then the insurance company of the commercial trucking company doesn’t take the blunt end. That would solve half the battle. The other half is always going to be an algebraic equation that one can’t completely solve until the factors show themselves

 

What you're talking about is called tort reform and yes that would solve a lot of problems in the US. But as long as the vast majority of our lawmakers are lawyers, and as long as other lawyers and judges make great livings on being in court, none of them are in any hurry to change the laws they make their living from.