Trucking Insurance

Core coverages in this program

• •Primary Auto Liability (with MCS-90 endorsement)
• •Motor Truck Cargo
• •Physical Damage (tractor, trailer & reefer breakdown)
• •Non-Trucking Liability / Bobtail
• •Trailer Interchange
• •General Liability & Workers' Compensation

The core trucking coverages, and what each one actually pays

A motor-carrier program is a stack, not a single policy. Each line answers a different loss, and a gap in any one of them is what turns a routine claim into an out-of-pocket disaster.

• •Primary auto liability — bodily injury and property damage you cause to others; $750,000 federal minimum, $1,000,000 in practice for nearly every shipper and broker
• •Motor truck cargo — the freight itself; $100,000 is the common limit, with higher limits for electronics, pharma, and high-value loads
• •Physical damage — your tractor and trailer, written at stated value; required by every equipment lender
• •Non-trucking liability (bobtail) — covers the unit when it's off dispatch and the motor carrier's policy doesn't respond
• •Trailer interchange — damage to a trailer you pull under a written interchange agreement
• •General liability — premises, loading/unloading, and completed-operations exposure the auto policy excludes

The MCS-90 endorsement and your filings

The MCS-90 is not coverage — it's a federal financial-responsibility endorsement guaranteeing that a member of the public injured by your truck gets paid up to the statutory limit even if your policy would otherwise exclude the loss. Your insurer pays, then has the right to seek reimbursement from you. Interstate for-hire carriers of non-hazardous property must carry $750,000; most shippers contractually demand $1,000,000, and hazmat haulers face $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 depending on commodity. Filings are separate from the endorsement: FMCSA requires a Form MCS-90 plus a BMC-91X on file for your MC number, and intrastate carriers in states such as California (CA number, MCP filing), Texas (TxDMV), and Arizona file at the state level. KTL files these electronically with your carrier so your authority isn't revoked mid-quarter.

What trucking insurance costs: owner-operator vs. fleet

Trucking is priced per power unit, then adjusted for radius, commodity, driver history, and loss runs. These are the annual per-truck ranges KTL sees across A-rated markets:

• •Owner-operator under authority, local/regional — roughly $9,000–$14,000 per truck for liability, cargo, and physical damage
• •Owner-operator, long-haul over 500-mile radius — roughly $12,000–$20,000 per truck
• •Small fleet (2–10 units), clean loss history — roughly $8,000–$13,000 per truck; fleet credits begin around 5 units
• •Fleet (11–25+ units) — roughly $7,000–$11,000 per truck, with loss-rated or deductible programs available
• •New authority (under 12 months) — expect a 25–50% surcharge until you have a year of clean loss runs
• •Hazmat, tanker, auto-hauler, and flatbed steel — priced above dry van, often materially

What actually moves your rate

Underwriters price the operation, not the truck. The levers you control usually beat shopping on price alone:

• •CSA BASIC scores — unsafe driving and HOS violations are the fastest way to lose preferred markets
• •Driver roster — MVRs, years of CDL experience, and turnover rate; most markets want 2+ years and no majors in 3 years
• •Radius of operation and the states you actually run
• •Commodity hauled and average load value
• •ELD, dash-cam, and telematics adoption — worth real credits with several A-rated markets
• •Three years of loss runs — frequency hurts more than a single large severity claim

Why benchmarking across carriers lowers your premium

Trucking markets are not interchangeable. One carrier prices reefer produce well and surcharges flatbed; another wants 10+ unit fleets and won't look at a single owner-operator; a third gives real credit for cameras and ELD data. A captive or direct writer quotes you off one appetite, so you never learn whether your operation is a preferred risk somewhere else. KTL is independent: we market your schedule, loss runs, and driver list to 20+ A-rated trucking markets at each renewal, compare the terms line by line — limits, deductibles, cargo sublimits, and radius restrictions — and show you the spread before you bind.

Who we write

KTL places programs for motor carriers of nearly every configuration:

• •Owner-operators under their own authority and leased-on drivers needing bobtail
• •Dry van, reefer, and flatbed regional and long-haul fleets
• •Local delivery, last-mile, and box-truck operations
• •Dump trucks, hot-shot, and construction hauling
• •Auto transporters and towing operators
• •Intrastate carriers in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas