Starting out need help with Insurance question

Gotcha. Been on the west side too long.

 

Hi There

I am new to the auto carrier industry, I recently purchased my 99 ford f350 and a 4 car hauler (I have 5 yrs driving with my cdl in the oil industry) I am only looking to run intrastate in texas. My question is this, as a carrier in texas, the minimum for running interstate is 500k liability, why do auto brokers need a carrier to carry 1million liability? I will be carrying 200k cargo insurance, I was of the thinking that the cargo insurance is what should concern the broker, my liability insurance should only come in as a requirement to meet the legal status...
Am I missing something here? After all if I am involved in an accident, my cargo insurance covers the cars and my liability insurance which has nothing to do with the broker covers 3rd party damage, pls educate me.

In my view brokers put unnecessary cost on carriers to carry more than the required in other for them not to take the additional insurance they are supposed to have, and carriers being the bottom of the food chain always bear the brunt.

 

It has nothing to do with brokers. Auto haulers are considered to be the bottom level of hazmat. Not enough to need hazmat endorsements and placards but enough to make us carry the 1mil liability.

 

I beg to differ, auto carriers are not hazmat haulers, state law requires auto carriers to have 500k liability if you operate intrastate and your weight class above 26k. You then purchase additional cargo insurance.

 

You know everything so why are you even asking?

I can't say for TX intrastate but what I said is most definitely true for interstate. Even if you do get by with less liability you will likely have to explain yourself while booking loads which will get old fast

 

Brokers require what they require from past experience. Terry is correct, in the interstate world auto haulers are required to carry the same public liability as haz-mat haulers, we just do not need the permits so most likely the brokers are not making any distinction between interstate and intrastate for insurance requirements. Secondly, the broker is also held liable if you have an accident, it is called negligent hiring, and many brokers have been successfully sued by personal injury lawyers and when I had my towing company I was successful in collecting accident cleanup bills from brokers when the trucking company was under insured, so that is the other reason they want the $1 million liability. Bottom line, the broker is your customer and if they want $1 million it doesn't matter what the state minimum coverage is, the customer can always demand more. My primary customer requires a lot more than $1 million in public liability because they have a big target on their back should one of my trucks kill someone.