The price for Commercial truck insurance greatly varies depending on:

• type of operations, location, radius of operations
• claims history
• driver’s age
• driver’s accident and violation history
• number of years in business
• CDL experience of drivers
• safety scores (yes, insurance companies check your FMCSA safety records and history of violations)
• truck and trailer age and value
• owner’s credit score

As well as other factors are used to determine your rate. Therefore, if you are in the trucking business for the long haul, you have to monitor not just timely delivery of loads, but the safety of your operations to keep down the cost of insurance.

Type of insurance and associated costs

General Liability

Typical trucking company with 1-5 trucks pays $500-600 a year and larger trucking fleets $1,000 – $2,000.

Commercial Automobile Liability

Safe trucking operators with proven record pay as little as $5,000 – $8,000 a year per truck for $1,000,000 liability limits, however, carriers with minor violations, few or minor accidents or new ventures pay $10,000-$16,000 a year per truck. Companies with poor safety scores, inexperienced drivers or drivers with serious accidents, can be paying as high as $20,000 – $30,000 a year per truck. Cargo Van operators usually pay about 30%-50% less per unit than tractor-trailers.

Motor Truck Cargo Insurance

The price of this coverage is heavily affected by the type of commodities hauled:

Dry van: operators on average pay about $1,000 per truck a year for $100,000 limits, with preferred customers paying as little as $600 – $800 per truck, and high risk operators pay as much as $1,200 – $2,000 per truck.

Many shippers will require high cargo limits to cover replacement cost of expensive products such as; electronics, tobacco and other target commodities, which will increase costs of this coverage.

Refrigerated good hauling: Average operator pays about $1,200 – $1,600 a year, with some of the top ranked operators paying as little as $800 a year per truck, and high-risk operators’ cost can easily exceed $2,000 per truck.

Another factor which increases the cost of reefer breakdown insurance is the type of commodities hauled. For example, operators hauling meats, seafood or pharmaceuticals might be paying 10%-30% extra vs fresh produce haulers. Similarly, dry vans and target commodities may require higher limits, which will affect the cost of insurance.

Flatbed and overweight/oversize operators: Cost of insurance is similar to dry van operators; however, overweight and oversize operators are more likely to purchase cargo limits at $250,000 a truck vs $100,000 for dry van operators, resulting in average price of $1,200-1,800 per truck for preferred customers, and over $2,000 for others. As with any other type of cargo, if you are hauling specialty and hard to replace equipment, you may need to increase your cargo limits.

Car Hauler: Car haulers generally have some of the highest cargo rates in the industry. Normally, operators hauling 5 or more vehicles at the time will need $250,000 cargo limits, which costs $3,000 – $4,000 a year per truck for preferred customers, with the average trucker paying about $5,000 a year per truck. High-risk operators are likely to pay over $6,000 a year per truck. If you are hauling exotic and luxury cars, you may need to purchase $350,000 – $500,000 cargo limits, which usually increases your cargo insurance cost per truck by additional $1,000 – $2,000 a year.

Physical Damage Coverage

Insurance companies calculate this coverage as a percentage of the cost to replace your truck or trailer. For example, if your truck’s and trailer’s combined replacement cost is $200,000, underwriters may rate it at 3%, which will translate into $6,000 ($200,000 x .03). Large fleets with proven safety scores can be paying as little as 2%-3% of total replacement cost, with owner operators and small fleets with good records paying 3%-4% of their equipment value a year. Operators with below average qualifications usually pay 6%-10% rate of the replacement value.

Another interesting and little-known secret in the industry is that insurance companies will charge a higher rate for low replacement cost equipment and a discounted rate for high value equipment. What it means for truckers is that for $20,000 replacement cost of a truck, you may be charged as much as 8% rate, which translates into a $1,600 per year premium, however, if you replace this truck with a brand new unit with insurable value of $140,000, your rate may drop to 3%, which will cost you $4,200 a year (if the original rate remained, the price would be $11,200).

Trailer Interchange Coverage:
Similar to physical damage coverage, it is normally calculated as a percentage of the trailer’s cost. Average customer (dry van, valued at $40,000) pays anywhere from $600 to $1,000 per trailer, with preferred customers paying as little as $400, and high-risk operators paying $1,200 and higher. Specialty trailers with higher replacement cost will drive up the premiums higher.

Occupational and Accident Insurance:
Truckers occupational and accident insurance costs normally range between $120 – $200 per month per driver. Which is relatively expensive to other industries, where costs can be as little as $50 a month.

Worker’s Compensation:
Just like Occupational and Accident Insurance, truck drivers have some of the highest rates, anywhere from 5% to 15% of the payroll, which is more than 20 times higher than a rate for an office employee.

Now that you learned general truck insurance pricing, let’s get your customized quote ready!