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

Published 2026-06-05 · Updated 2026-06-11 · by Brokly

Direct answer: insurance for trucking companies starts with workers’ comp — required in nearly all states — with 5 more coverages matched to the trade below. For a typical trucking company that’s ≈$720 to ≈$7.4k/yr depending on the state (filed rates $0.97–$17.56/$100 payroll, 2024).
Pick your state — the statute, modeled costs, and the full coverage guide ↓

What trucking companies carry — at a glance

Workers’ comp is governed state by state — pick your state in the table below for the statute and the modeled cost. The rest is the trade’s exposure map.

Workers' compensation

Covers medical care and lost wages when a driver, dock hand, or mechanic is hurt on the job.

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
Required in nearly all states≈$4.1k/yrtypical trucking company · median stateCosts by state →
Commercial auto

Liability for the trucks — federally mandated at $750,000 and up for for-hire interstate hauling.

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
Required if…When it's required →
Motor truck cargo

Pays for loss or damage to customers' freight while it's in your possession in transit.

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
Required if…When it's required →
Physical damage

Covers your own tractors and trailers against collision, fire, theft, and vandalism.

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
Worth a lookWhat it covers →
Occupational accident

Accident benefits for owner-operators when workers' comp doesn't cover them.

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
Worth a lookWhat it covers →
Cyber insurance

Dispatch and load systems the trucks can't run without, plus a federally mandated connected device in the cab — exposure standard business policies don't cover.

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
Worth a lookWhat it covers →

Exact terms live in the policy — these are the typical boundaries.

Sources: NAIC — Small Business Insurance (retrieved 2026-06-06) · FMCSA — New Entrant Program, proof of insurance (retrieved 2026-06-06) · NAIC — Glossary of Insurance Terms (inland marine) (retrieved 2026-06-06) · Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes — K.S.A. 44-503c (retrieved 2026-06-06) · NAIC — Cybersecurity topic (as of page updated 2024-05-09, retrieved 2026-06-11)

Workers’ compCommercial auto · benchmark comingMotor truck cargo · benchmark comingPhysical damage · benchmark comingOccupational accident · benchmark comingCyber insurance · benchmark coming

What workers’ comp costs a typical trucking company

Modeled annual premium for each state’s most common trucking company size, from that state’s own filed rate and observed payroll. All 51 states: rates & costs →

Least expensive states

Most expensive states

Modeled — not quotes: each figure prices that state’s most common trucking company size band from the state’s own observed payroll (CBP 2023), so dollar order can differ from rate rank.

Pick your state — what’s required there, and what it costs

Every linked state has the full guide: what the law requires there, the coverages that fit, and modeled costs — built from 143,397 trucking companies across 39 states (CBP 2023).

† state-fund jurisdiction — workers’ comp is purchased through the state, not a private market. Unlinked states lack a published rate or a defensible business-size cohort.

Sources: Oregon DCBS workers' compensation premium rate ranking study, June 2025 (calendar-year 2024 rates) (as of calendar year 2024, retrieved 2026-06-04) · US Census County Business Patterns 2023, state file (Truck transportation (NAICS 484)) (as of 2023, retrieved 2026-06-05)

Frequently asked questions

What work does class 7219 cover?

Trucking operations fall under NCCI class 7219 (Trucking: All) — drivers and all employees of for-hire carriers. The business cohort here is all truck transportation (NAICS 484), local and long-haul.

Why does my state matter so much?

Workers’ comp is state law — the employee threshold that triggers it, the rates, and the market structure all differ by state. That’s why every state above gets its own guide.

Someone asked me for a certificate of insurance — what is it?

The one-page proof your coverage exists — landlords, general contractors, and client contracts ask for it routinely, and it’s often the reason trucking companies buy insurance in the first place. Certificate of insurance, explained →

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