Question on truck insurance

And TIS Limited for Cargo / Liability.

 

I got a question for you guys. A young gun who's the son of one of my colleagues wants to get into the trucking industry. He's 26/27 and will have 0 CDL experience when he applies for insurance. I know he has $ saved up for a truck, well $ for some sort of investment. Is it even possible to get coverage? I told him I'd do him the favor of helping him keep his $ and spending it on a nice sports car instead and would like some opinions to show him. Thanks!

I got another question, what are the biggest factors that set your insurance rate/premium? I know CDL experience, tractor/equipment value and possibly what freight you're hauling is another. I'm guessing location is another. Are there any others? Which have the biggest influence? Thanks, I come more from the accounting side, haven't researched insurance much beyond what I've seen in the books.

 

It depends on the type of insurance. Liability and cargo are extremely difficult to find an insurance company that will cover a driver with no experience. I have spoken to a few who have managed to get insurance through Progressive with no experience, but most want a minimum of 1-3 years experience. The better insurance companies want 2-3 years of current experience. You didn't mention whether he plans to get his own authority or lease to a carrier. Finding a carrier that will lease on a driver without any experience is next to impossible. Many will lease on drivers who have a minimum of 6-12 months experience. If he leases to a carrier, he will need bobtail or unladen liability insurance and if the truck is financed, he will usually be required to have collision or comprehensive insurance. They will still look at his history, including how long he has been driving.

Insurance companies use a number of different criteria when writing policies. Your length of time holding a CDL and how long you have been driving is at the top of their list. They will check your MVR, credit, where you run the truck and where it will be housed. He would help himself if he could find a company driving job for at least a year before buying a truck. His options will be limited when it comes to being able to lease on his truck without experience. Then, after a couple of years or so with a clean record, he can take the truck pretty much anywhere he wants.

 

That was very useful thank you. I'll pass on the info. I also have a friend who has been wanting to get his own authority but this guy does have over 5 yrs experience and hes pretty much clean so I'll pass it on to him too. I didn't know they checked your credit but I guess everyone does. I'm surprised I can buy a steak dinner without a credit check

 

Your friend with 5 years experience should not have a problem finding insurance. I see no need for anyone to check credit for insurance. Too many people or organizations have access to your credit. That is one reason we have so much identity theft. I don't think anyone should have access to your credit file unless they are checking to give you a loan. I also don't think any organization should be able to periodically check your credit without your permission. Most credit card companies and others who extend credit will check credit annually. It isn't necessary. I have debated the credit checking with insurance companies in the past to no avail. In fact, I have not done business with some insurance companies who want to check my credit in order to give me a quote on auto insurance. By the way, most commercial insurance companies require the last 4 quarters of your IFTA once you have had your authority for a year. Although I have been in business for many years, they still want to see my IFTA reports. It tells them where we are running and they use that information, along with the other things I mentioned, to put a rate together.

 

G/man is spot on... I would add the amount of cargo coverage can increase your insurance cost sharply. Going from 100K to 250K could be a yearly increase of $1400. Also what you haul matters, cargo insurance on reefer in more expensive than flatbed due to higher frequency of claims.

 

Some insurance companies won't even write reefer or car hauler insurance, due to the potential for claims. You can expect to be hit with a higher premium from those who are willing to cover these two segments.

 

No reason why your insurance rates should be expensive. No reason at all. You seem like a safe person to be around.

 

Called progressive for a policy...

I'm 30 no experience and don't currently hold a CDL

They could not write me a general liability policy if I had another job in addition to trucking. This doesn't make sense to me.

What I would like to do is get a truck and haul grain during harvest. Rates are high during that time. I would then continue with my normal day job for the remainder of the year.

They could write me an auto liability policy and using some basic figures for a 1994 Freightliner C120 and an unsown 20K value hopper trailer would be $5900/yr with a 200 mile radius.

An agent with great west said that they could not write me with my own authority but said they would help me if I was interested in leasing directly to a farm.

 

Are you talking about auto liability or general liability? They are two different policies.