However, remember you are still new to the industry, and for starters, you need to secure your venture with a financial product against any or all unfortunate underlying circumstances and risks that could damage your business in the future. In this situation you have liability exposure if you negligently damage another vehicle or injure the individuals in that other vehicle, it could cost you a lot of money to pay for their medical bills or the damage to their vehicle. That is why you need to buy commercial truck insurance. This is a financial tool that will protect your trucking business costs against all unfortunate events should an accident occur.

But before you start cruising past the competition, you’ll want to make sure you have the right coverage. Because commercial trucking insurance can be tricky, here’s a quick guide:

1) DO YOU HAVE OPERATING AUTHORITY?

This is your right of operating a commercial motor vehicle for the purpose of conducting your trucking business venture. You are granted the operating authority to drive the motor carrier by your respective government. Each and every good that your transport is regulated by the government. Make sure to get your operating authority approved by the government before you hit the road. So if you possess an operating authority, the following are some tips and added insurance policies that you should own with your present commercial trucking insurance.

Commercial Auto Insurance

If you drive a truck for personal usage or own a trucking business, you and your drivers need commercial trucking insurance as it is required by the law for you to buy insurance. This will not only help you to protect against the unintentional damages that your vehicle may cause to someone else's vehicle or injury them. Commercial truck insurance will pay for all the medical bills and damages in case of any major injury caused while on the job.

General Liability Insurance

In conjunction with commercial truck insurance, you may also want to buy general liability insurance. General liability or commercial liability insurance policy is the one that pertains to any occurrence in which when you’re conducting your daily business an unforeseen event takes place, let’s say while off-loading a heavy object falls off of your truck and damages or injures the vehicle/person standing next to your truck. Your general liability insurance can help you in situations like these when you are not on the road, and subsequently, provide coverage for all the damages incurred.

Motor Truck Cargo

If your business is concerned with the delivery and logistics of moving cargo for a contractor, from one place to another over long distances, you should probably consider buying motor truck cargo insurance as well. This insurance policy will protect you against all the events such as theft or vandalism damages to the commodities and valuable goods your trucking business transports for a third-party contractor. This will also cover the legal settlement expenses and damages due to fire, explosion, and collision of vehicles. When choosing motor truck insurance, you also have to determine at the very start how much the insurance policy will cover and also the deductible amount. A deductible is basically the amount that goes out of your own pocket when you have a claim in the accident. Your motor truck cargo insurer might sometimes also include added options such as debris removal expense coverage; which covers the cost of debris accidentally dumped out of the truck on the roadway. The following are two major categories of motor truck cargo insurance.

1.  Broad Form

This will primarily cover all the named perils and losses that were defined at the time of buying your insurance policy. As mentioned earlier it can cover fire, explosion, theft, and product loss in the process.

2.  Reefer coverage

This coverage policy as the name suggests is mainly meant for perishable cargo items that are spoilt and gone off because of broken refrigerator systems in your truck.

Non-owned Trailer insurance

Over the course of your trucking business history, there will be times when contractors will lease a trailer or they will want you to transport items in their own trailer. Therefore, your business should consider the trailer interchange or non-owned trailer insurance as well. The benefit to this insurance policy is that it will cover some or all the physical damages that are done to the trailer and the products it carries. And similar to motor truck cargo insurance, trailer interchange insurance will also protect against theft, vandalism, fire, and collision, while keeping in mind that this trailer is not your property.

2) ARE YOU DRIVING FOR SOMEONE ELSE WITH OPERATING AUTHORITY?

In any case, truck drivers do not own the rig they drive but instead choose to lease someone else’s truck, but in any case, you do work for an organization or employer who owns the commercial trucking insurance and other insurance policies like general liability policy, etc. However, there are still some times when you’re on your own.

Non-trucking liability insurance

Now, it is crucial to realize that there will be times when you will be driving your rig out of work when you are probably not on dispatch. But since you are using someone else’s property even though you are not carrying the consignment, driving does not come risk-free and so unanticipated circumstances can occur at any time. Therefore, we recommend non-trucking liability insurance for your safety off the work. This will shield you against damages and injuries to others when you are driving the truck off the working hours and probably without carrying any cargo load or in fact without any trailer attached.

Occupational Accident

Apart from damages and injuries did to others in an accident, there is also a very high probability that you can also get severely injured yourself. This will cover your medical fees by damages caused on your behalf or someone else, either way, you could be indirectly involved in an accident on the job. This is why we strictly advise occupational accident coverage. This policy will provide you with complete medical treatment coverage i.e. medicines, doctor prescriptions, and hospital stay.

You wouldn’t step into a truck that doesn’t have all the things you need, like good lights, brakes, and rearview mirrors. But you probably wouldn’t waste money on a bunch of gadgets and bling that you don’t need either. That’s how it should be with your trucking insurance.

Depending on your business needs, a licensed agent can steer you to the combination that makes sense for you.

Call a licensed agent and get a custom consultation for a business on the move.

Get a free insurance quote today: https://zurl.co/aQIu