We are listing the best features of the 5 insurance providers, that we reviewed:

What is a commercial truck insurance policy?
Commercial Truck insurance covers the owner operator or trucker based on the plan taken and insurance cover or premium paid.
Having an accident or even a small incident is inevitable. If you as a driver don’t have insurance coverages to protect you from the unanticipated expenses, you will make a loss in business. You can protect yourself and safeguard your interests by buying a commercial insurance policy.
This insurance covers bodily injury, equipment damage, medical expenses, cargo damage, 3rd party liability.
After an accident or incident, the driver will report the claim to the insurance company and pay the coverage amount.

What is the cost of commerical truck insurance?

Commercial truck insurance is dependent on various parameters. The cost of the insurance depends on the equipment being insured, driver records of the trucker, travel radius, cargo begin hauled, coverage limits chosen, trucking business experience, age, and experience of the driver.
According to Progressive Insurance national average monthly cost of trucking insurance premiums is between $640 to $982 per month.

How much commercial trucking insurance coverage do I need?

According to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), trucks are supposed to carry a minimum insurance amount based on the size, specific load or cargo, and hauled weight. The more significant, heavier, and costlier the cargo is more you pay as insurance coverage premium.

Minimum commercial truck insurance limits are currently:

• • For non-hazardous cargo under 10.001 pounds limit is $300,000

• • For non-hazardous cargo over 10,001 pounds limit is $750,000

• • For-hire/private carriers who transport oil have a policy limit of $ 1 million

• • For-hire/private carriers who transport other hazardous materials or explosives have a limit of $5 million

• • Cargo coverage (additional) for household goods begin transported. $5,000 per vehicle or $10,000 per occurrence.

Remember that these are federal minimums; additional minimums may be required by certain states, companies, or when hauling specific cargo.

How we chose the best commercial truck insurance?

To help truckers and owner-operators find the best insurance company, we compared 5 of the top insurance providers and aggregators, CoverWallet. Progressive, Three from Berkshire Hathway, Sentry, and Nationwide.
We looked at parameters like coverage options, type of trucks covered, availability, customer support and satisfaction, feedback, etc.

Our review team also looked at what kind of commercial truck insurance coverage the company specializes in providing. We also looked at the discounts offered and how ratings indicate the company’s financial position.

How to select the best truck insurance Plan?

Determine your unique needs:
Few you are planning to take truck insurance, you need to know: What coverages do you need? What is the deductible you are willing to pay? How much premium are you willing to pay monthly? What are the sorts of loads that you plan to carry?

Your unique needs may be different from other truckers; you must go with coverages that protect your valuable assets, people, and cargo.

Access your risks on an ongoing basis:

There is no one size fits all insurance coverage, you need to access your risks based on loads you carry, weight, height and length of the equipment, type of cargo carried etc.

You need to make sure that you are not underinsured, and figure out a list of risks that you need to cover using your different policies. The risks would be driver injuries, vehicle damage, lost or damaged cargo, and loss of income after an accident.

Find insurance providers that meet your requirements:
You, as a trucker, need to look for insurance providers that align with your requirements—big insurance companies with a Pan America presence, significant discounts, and combo offers.
It would be best if you found a company that fits your priorities.
Finding an insurer who provides different and good discounts on coverages can help you reduce your insurance premiums.
Check trusted third-party ratings:
It would help if you did solid internet research to find out your insurance provider’s quality, customer care, responsiveness, and payouts. Look at reviews in Trustpilot, Better Business Bureau, J.D. Power, and AM best.
J.D. Power conducts independent, unbiased reviews and ratings regarding the customer experience with popular truck insurance providers.
Consider the experience:
Another vital aspect of your interaction with the company is how your insurance provider deals with things. Is your company native to the internet and mobile, or are you the old-fashioned in-person player?
Are they a digitally native organization with an app, and portal? Can you easily interact, pay your premium, make changes, or file your claims in a digital environment? Then you will feel at ease in doing business with your insurance company.

Update or change your insurance coverage yearly:

Every year if you as a trucker update your insurance coverage, you could hunt for the best deals with the best insurance providers.

You need to consider if you are planning to increase your fleet size, if so insurance companies provide handsome discounts for planned fleet expansion. If you add new clients, they may require you to have expansive and sufficient cargo insurance to carry loads.

Is there any change or addition to the kinds of cargo you haul? If there is, you need to check if your current policy covers these changes.

Compare insurance quotes based on coverage:

When shopping for truck insurance, comparing quotes from multiple carriers is essential to ensure you’re getting the best rate.

However, simply comparing rates isn’t enough. It would help if you also compared quotes for the same coverage level so you can accurately represent each carrier’s cost.

If you’re not sure how much truck insurance you need, it can be helpful to work with an insurance agent. A licensed insurance agent can listen to your situation, understand your circumstances and recommend appropriate coverage types and levels.

Once you’re confident in the coverage types and levels you need, you can match those levels across all the quotes you request.

Other requirements for choosing a policy:

Comparing monthly premiums and inclusions/exclusions is the best way to choose an insurance policy. Consider whether you would rather have a bigger deductible and smaller monthly premium, or vice versa. Review your insurance annually to make sure it still meets your needs – you might need to increase coverage or add another area of coverage. An insurance expert can help explain your options and guide you through choosing the right policy for you.

At the end of the day, you will need commercial insurance whether you decide to purchase your own rig or drive for an established fleet. Keep in mind that primary insurance is required, while general liability might be required or suggested. Endorsements will only serve to strengthen your protection, so choose wisely!

Types of truck insurance plans In the USA:
Commercial truck insurance companies provide truckers and fleet owners with different kinds of insurance based on business size, size, number and types of trucks, and cargo pulled.

We are listing the most common types of insurance for commercial trucks below.

Primary liability insurance:
Primary liability truck insurance covers bodily injury and property damage you or your driver cause while your equipment is on the road. Before driving or leasing your truck, the Federal government needs you to have this insurance.

General liability insurance:
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires you to protect yourself from incidents off the road.
It covers incidents during day-to-day operations like loading delivery problems, slips and fails accidents, and parking errors.

Non-trucking liability or bobtail insurance:
During use on an off-day or nonbusiness purpose, if you get into an accident or cause liability, non-trucking liability or bobtail insurance will come to your rescue.

If you are involved in an accident while driving without a trailer attached or bobtailing, bobtail insurance covers drivers and owner.

Physical damage coverage

Physical damage insurance covers repairs made on commercial trucks due to theft, collision, vandalism, and natural disasters. If your vehicle is repairable, this truck insurance policy can also cover its replacement cost.

Truck cargo insurance:

The broker or shipper who provides you with the load dictates that if you carry freight, whatever it may be, you need to take cargo insurance. The cargo insurance protects the goods you ply from losses due to events such as collisions, fire, striking, or weather trouble.
For instance, if your equipment gets stuck in traffic or ice storm, heavy rain or inclement weather, the commercial truck cargo insurance protects your cargo.

Trailer interchange insurance :

Business Auto Policy for a trucker or carrier has Trailer Interchange policy as an endorsement. This policy covers damages to 3rd party trailers that drivers or carrier use.

Business umbrella insurance:

The business umbrella protects trucking business by increasing the limit of liability coverage. It generally extends coverage over automobiles, general liability and employer’s liability. 

Workers’ compensation:

Employer purchases worker’s compensation insurance for employees. This insurance covers medical expenses, lost wages and/or death benefits for employees who suffer work-connected injury or illness.

Uninsured or under-Insured Motorist:

This coverage pays insurance to the affected when you get into an accident with an uninsured or underinsured motorist.

Medical payments:

Medical payments is coverage which offers payments for injuries to you, an employee or any authorised driver of the truck. This coverage offers compensation for accidental death while driving the truck, it can include compensation for suffering or deep injury if applicable.

Why buy the best truck insurance policy?
Anything can happen to a commercial vehicle or its driver while you are en route to deliver a load. So need to be prepared with comprehensive coverage, whether for your truck, freight cargo, 3rd party liability, medical expenses, damage coverage, etc.
Insurance expenses and money for repairs or third-party compensations do not come from your pocket if you have good coverage.

Your trucking business will suffer losses if you don’t have good insurance. Coverage for road fatalities, cargo damage, inclement weather (windstorm, rain, hailstorm, etc), and theft is necessary for truck operations.

Factors affecting Your truck insurance plan’s premium

• • Weight, height, and length of the load carried or equipment operated

• • Whether the equipment is light duty, medium duty, or heavy duty

• • What cargo are you carrying is it hazardous, or does it contain sensitive items like electronics

• • Distance covered by the truck, weight of the truck in the picture

• • Driver’s driving record

• • Age of the driver

• • The age and condition of your equipment

• • How far your drivers are driving, etc.

• • State requirements

How to reduce the insurance premiums for your policies?

There are multiple ways to save money while taking an insurance policy. But cheaper is always advisable or better when taking an insurance policy. Here are some of the ways to reduce premiums if you are looking for a specific policy.
There are a few things you can do to help lower your commercial trucking insurance rates. One is to only hire drivers who have impeccable driving records.

Another is to be careful on the roads — even a single speeding ticket can affect your rates.

You can also implement safe driving classes and seminars for employees.

Additionally, you can raise your deductibles and pay your premium in full each year (most insurance companies offer discounts for doing so).
Finally, always keep your payments current and be aware of the cargo you are hauling so you can adjust your needs accordingly.

Ask about discounts — some insurers offer them for things like having a GPS tracking system installed in your vehicles.

There are other ways to get discounts, there are handsome discounts for people with CDL licence, if you had a CDL licence for more than 2 years, you can also get another discount if you have been in business for more than three or more years.

Conclusion:

The above is the list of the top 5 best commercial truck insurance companies in the US. We have tried to answer what is the best commercial truck insurance platform. The CoverWallet is the clear winner here due to ease of use, transparency, affordability, and choice.

FAQ’s on Best Commerical Truck Insurance Companies:

Other urgent requirements for an owner operator:

Firstly, there are a few operational adjustments an owner-operator should make while he or she is in the nascent stages of operation. Like enlisting a dispatcher to help you get good and well-paid loads.

Secondly, you need a good load board, with which you can book high paying and quality loads for your business. 

Thirdly, we need to enlist a factor that has competitive rates and above-par service quality to make your business financial bottleneck-free. This will help you to have a good cash flow and working capital.

Saving money on fuel can make your bank account healthy. So use a Fuel card to get enormous savings on diesel.

For more information on Dispatch, Factoring, Insurance, Fuel card, etc click on the links on the line.