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Truck Insurance Basics

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As an owner operator, you will need to carry your own commercial trucking insurance to keep you fully protected. These include Liability, Bodily Injury Liability Insurance and Property Damage Coverage. As well as Physical Damage Coverage, Motor Truck Cargo, and Motor Truck General Liability Insurance. The list can seem daunting, but a quick call to McSweeney & Ricci and we will help make sense of it all and make sure you are fully protected.

As an independent driver leased to a motor carrier, your Owner Operator coverage needs are mostly determined by the lease agreement you have with your motor carrier. In many cases, the motor carrier provides Primary Liability insurance coverage when you’re working on their behalf. However, you may need to purchase additional coverages including, Non-trucking Liability Insurance, Physical Damage coverage and Motor Truck Cargo insurance.

This insurance covers damages to someone else’s property, or an injury to someone else during an accident where you were found at fault. This protection is for the public and is required by FMCSA in order to obtain your own authority.

This insurance provides coverage for damages and injuries to others while your truck is not dispatched on a job, in other words, when you are using your truck for personal use.

This insurance helps fix damage to your truck if you’re involved in an accident. On certain occasions, this coverage can protect your truck from theft.

This insurance coverage protects you if the load your truck is carrying is damaged or lost during transit.

This insurance covers you and your truck when you’re not hauling a trailer or other load. For instance, if you drop off a load in Boston and bobtail to Providence to pick up your next load for a different company, bobtail insurance covers you for that portion of the trip. This type of insurance also applies when you tractor home after dropping off a load and the trailer.

This coverage protects you from risks that happen when you’re not on the road, such as a slip and fall at the office.

This insurance provides liability coverage while your truck is being operated with an attached empty trailer, or without a trailer at all, whether you have been dispatched or not.

This provides Physical Damage insurance for trailers being pulled under a trailer interchange agreement. This coverage is basically Physical Damage insurance for non-owned trailers. This coverage protects you if the trailer is damaged by a collision, fire, explosion, theft, or vandalism. Since you don’t own the trailers, they require separate insurance because they aren’t covered under your regular Physical Damage Insurance.


Optional Coverage when purchasing Physical Damage

Provides towing coverage for a mechanical failure or breakdown. Other benefits may include jump starts, fuel delivery, tire delivery and replacement assistance, lockout and key replacement, oil, fluid and water delivery, winching and extricating, mobile mechanic and hotel and travel discounts.

This coverage helps you get back on the road in a rental vehicle or helps you make your truck payments and cover other bills if your vehicle is inoperable after an accident.


In your world, time is money and don’t waste either. Work with the professionals at McSweeney & Ricci that understand your business needs and keep you on the road – fully protected.