truck insurance

Some states will not accept certain companies also. Not sure about the one you name, but I have been told some brokers will refuse some policies, if the company is not rated high enough.Look them up. Insurance is one place you do not want to be cheap. Frugal and competitive, yes. Cheap- no.

 

I've not had any problems with progressive and I have $5,000,000 for hazmat solid rocket fuel, pays good but I can't park near truck stop buildings and I've got to have a guard watch my truck if I go inside but like I say, it pays good.

 

Some brokers and shippers may not accept insurance from insurance companies that don't have an AM Best rating of B+ or higher. Some require a rating of A- or better. It has nothing to do with the company, but their assets. The higher the rating the greater their assets. OOIDA offers insurance that is not rated, as I recall, so a few brokers may not accept the insurance. It has nothing to do with the quality of the insurance, only the assets of the company. Check with a few broker to see if they will accept the insurance. Or, you can go to AM Best's website and look up the company.

 

Used to be the State of Florida did not recognize OOIDA liability insurance for trucks domiciled in Florida needing an IRP tag. Same with Progressive, but I think they changed the wording in their policy to suit Florida.Cost me several days sitting about 4 years ago, so I learned to make sure insurance company is recognized by the state I will be licensing the truck in.

 

Ptwn1 - Spirit Commercial RR is a captive vs a traditional insurance company. I could explain it here in three paragraphs or you can google it and find the differences quicker. I will try and do a few quick bullet points on what you have gotten into.

Typically captives are non-rated because they will not submit financials to AM Best or pay AM Best to rate them. Captives are not "admitted" which means they do not guarantee they have enough money to pay large claims. More than likely they do have the money however the way most policies are written contain far more exclusions on the liability and cargo portions and in general just offer less coverage on the physical damage portion of a policy.

Captives are popular in the trucking world and taxi fleets and ironically most of the cruise ships all use there own captive system. Typically the cost is less than an admitted company ( Northland, AIG, Canal, Carolina Casualty, Great West, ) however as mentioned the coverage is less which causes an issue with some brokers and as jbatmick said the state of FL. Let us know how it works out and best of luck!!

 

On this subject, I had heard that Landstar does not accept OOIDA insurance....anyone know if that's the case?

 

Yes that is correct. We asked for a quote last year from OOIDA. Besides being higher than our current provider, the exclusion from using landstar was a deal breaker. We don't run that many landstar loads, however the last thing you want to do is limit your options. If you are getting multiple quotes and one comes in much cheaper you have to ask why. We found some cheaper policies wouldn't allow you to haul in certain cities, etc.

 

I always get multiple quotes at renewal time. I am amazed at how high some will quote. Progressive quoted me double my current company. Some people have gotten good rates from them. They always seem to be higher when they quote me. There are a lot of factors that enter into rates. I have a friend who lives in an adjoining state from me and our rates are pretty close and we use the same company. Great West has also been high when they quote rates, but I know others who have gotten better rates from them than my insurance company quoted. It pays to check around to find the best rate. I have been with the same insurance company for a number of years and they still quote me lower than other insurance companies.