Insurance for trucking companies — what to carry, and what it costs

Typically covers

• ✓Medical bills for a work injury, at rates the state sets
• ✓Part of the injured employee's lost wages
• ✓The employer too: covered employees generally can't sue over the injury

Typically doesn’t

• ✕Injuries outside work
• ✕Independent contractors, in most states
• ✕Lawsuits that get around the can't-sue trade-off — that's the employer's liability part of the same policy

Typically covers

• ✓Liability when a business vehicle injures someone or damages property
• ✓Accidents in vehicles titled to the business, driven by employees for work
• ✓The liability minimums states set for business vehicles

Typically doesn’t

• ✕Your liability when employees drive their own cars for work — that's hired and non-owned auto; the employee's own car stays on their personal policy
• ✕The freight or goods being hauled — that's cargo or inland marine coverage
• ✕Damage to your own vehicle, unless physical damage coverage is added

Typically covers

• ✓The freight you haul, while in transit
• ✓Common transit losses — collision damage to the load, theft
• ✓What shippers and brokers typically require before tendering loads

Typically doesn’t

• ✕Your truck itself — that's physical damage coverage
• ✕Liability to others on the road — that's auto liability
• ✕Certain commodities and unattended-vehicle thefts, per the policy's terms

Typically covers

• ✓Damage to your own truck in a collision
• ✓Fire, theft, and vandalism (the comprehensive side)
• ✓What lenders and lessors usually require on financed equipment

Typically doesn’t

• ✕Liability to others — that's the auto liability coverage
• ✕The freight — that's motor truck cargo
• ✕Mechanical breakdown and wear

Typically covers

• ✓Medical and disability benefits for owner-operators outside the workers' comp system
• ✓Death and dismemberment benefits
• ✓An alternative with set dollar limits, where workers' comp isn't required

Typically doesn’t

• ✕The full breadth of workers' compensation — benefits stop at the policy's caps
• ✕Drivers who must be on workers' comp under state law
• ✕Liability to third parties

Typically covers

• ✓The fallout of a hack or data breach — notifying customers, restoring data and systems
• ✓Claims from customers whose data was exposed
• ✓Often the income lost while systems are down

Typically doesn’t

• ✕Physical damage to property — that's commercial property
• ✕Tricked-into-wiring-money losses on many forms — social-engineering coverage is its own add-on
• ✕Breaches at your vendors, unless the policy extends to them