Yes, changes in equipment will impact your insurance rates. Insurance companies look at many factors, here are things you need to keep in mind and discuss with GIA insurance agent before buying a new truck:

Truck Age – Newer trucks have more safety features, which translates into lower liability rates with many carriers. However, new trucks have higher market value and replacement cost, meaning in case of an accident, the insurance company will need to pay more to fix or to replace the truck. The cost of collision and comprehensive coverage (physical damage coverage to your truck and trailer) is likely to be more expensive with a new truck than with the used one. You may want to ask GIA agent to quote higher deductibles to mitigate the increase.

If you are considering buying an older model, please keep in mind that many insurance companies do not accept or surcharge for older equipment. Some insurance companies do not accept trucks over 20 years old, or surcharge heavily for trucks over 15 years old. For specialty operators, such as car hauler and refrigerated goods haulers, some insurance companies will not accept trailers that are older than 10 years old. Please make sure to discuss purchase of used equipment with your GIA agent before committing to a purchase.

New Driver – For many fleets, purchase of a new truck, also means hiring a new driver. We see many clients commit to purchasing a truck, only to find out that the new driver is not insurable or does not have proper endorsements on CDL. For example, we had a client who leased a truck with manual transmission, but their new driver’s CDL was endorsed for automatic transmission only. In other instances, drivers had unconfirmed accidents that turned out to be at fault which resulted in heavy surcharges. There is only one solution to this problem, contact your GIA representative to check new driver’s records and impact on insurance prior to purchasing or leasing equipment for new drivers.

Ready to commit to a purchase? Before you head to the dealership, email GIA Group the following:

1. Expected purchase date
2. Year, make, model and VIN
3. Purchase price (please keep in mind that we need to know the higher of the two, either market value or the replacement cost of the truck, extra services purchased, such as warranties are not covered by insurance and should not be included in the replacement cost or market valuation)
4. If you are financing or leasing your new purchase, please provide a loss payee information:
   1. Name of the bank (or company)
   2. Mailing address
   3. Loan number if applicable
   4. Email address of the finance manager or sales representative, so we can email them a certificate of insurance with loss payee information.
5. Enjoy your new purchase!