Hot Shot Trucking Insurance: Every Coverage You Might Need

If you haul freight with a one-ton pickup and a gooseneck or flatbed, you are in a strange middle spot with insurance. The truck looks like a personal vehicle. The work is commercial trucking. Your personal auto policy will not cover it, and most of the coverages that do apply have names that are easy to mix up.

This is Part 1 of a series where we go through each one. This post is the map: what the coverages are, which ones are required, and where hot shot drivers usually find out something wasn't covered.

Almost everything depends on this, so start here.

Your own authority. You have your own DOT and MC numbers and you book loads yourself, through brokers, load boards, or direct customers. You are the motor carrier. You buy the insurance, and you are responsible for every coverage below.

Leased on to another carrier. You drive under someone else's authority. The carrier usually carries the primary liability while you are hauling for them, and often charges you for it in your settlements. But their policy typically stops at the edge of the work. That leaves gaps for you personally, which is what Part 6 covers.

Either way, the same truck can be both at different times. Know which hat you are wearing when the claim happens.

Auto Liability (Required)

This pays for injury and damage you cause to other people with your truck and trailer. It is the one coverage the government actually requires for most for-hire hauling, and it is the one brokers and shippers check first.

For a for-hire carrier moving non-hazardous freight across state lines in a vehicle over 10,001 pounds, the federal minimum is $750,000. Many brokers and shippers want $1,000,000, and plenty of hot shot work requires it.

What it does not pay for: your own truck, your own trailer, the freight you are carrying, or your own injuries. That is the most common misunderstanding in all of trucking insurance. Part 2 covers it in detail.

Physical Damage

This pays to repair or replace your own truck and trailer after a collision, fire, theft, or other covered loss. It is made up of collision and comprehensive, just like a personal auto policy, with a few differences that matter.

• The trailer is not automatically covered just because the truck is. It needs to be listed.
• Equipment bolted on, such as winches, toolboxes, and aftermarket parts, may need to be scheduled too.
• Pay attention to how the policy values your truck. Stated amount, agreed value, and actual cash value can differ by thousands of dollars.

Motor Truck Cargo

This pays when the freight you are hauling is damaged, stolen, or lost. A lot of hot shot drivers assume their liability policy covers the load. It doesn't. Cargo is its own coverage with its own limit.

Brokers and shippers often require a specific limit, commonly $100,000 for general freight but sometimes more. Cargo policies also carry exclusions that surprise people, such as theft from an unattended truck, refrigerated loads, and freight that shifted because of how it was secured.

Truckers General Liability

Auto liability covers accidents with your vehicle. General liability covers things that are not the vehicle: a person who slips at your yard, damage to a customer's property while you are loading or unloading, or a claim that is related to the job but not to driving.

Many brokers ask for a certificate for this one, even if no one ever files a claim on it.

Non-Trucking Liability (Bobtail)

If you are leased on to a carrier, their policy usually covers you only while you are hauling under their authority. When you are driving the truck for your own purposes, or heading home empty, that coverage may not apply. Non-trucking liability fills that gap. It is cheap compared to everything else, and it is the one coverage owner-operators who are leased on most often skip.

Occupational Accident

Owner-operators are generally not employees of the carrier they haul for, so workers' compensation may not cover them. Occupational accident insurance pays benefits for injuries you suffer on the job: medical, disability, and accidental death. It is not the same thing as workers' comp, and it has more limits, so it is worth reading before you buy.

Trailer Interchange

If you pull a trailer that belongs to someone else under an interchange agreement, you can be responsible for damage to that trailer. That is not covered by your own physical damage. Trailer interchange covers it.

Downtime

If your truck is in the shop after a covered loss, your income stops but your truck payment does not. Some policies and endorsements pay a daily amount while you are down. Most don't, unless you add it.

These are the situations I'd want every driver to hear before the claim, not after:

1. The trailer was not on the policy. The truck was covered. The trailer, and the $14,000 piece of equipment on it, were not.

2. The cargo limit was lower than the load. The policy had $50,000 in cargo coverage. The load was worth $90,000.

3. The load was excluded. Cargo policies commonly exclude specific freight, such as certain building materials, electronics, or anything that needs temperature control.

4. They were bobtailing. The carrier's policy did not apply, and the driver had nothing of their own.

5. They assumed liability covered the freight. It did not.

Every truck, driver, and route is a different risk, so we do not send everyone to the same place. For hot shot and small trucking operations we shop across companies and markets including Progressive, Cover Badger, Diesel Truck Insurance, Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies, Travelers, Liberty Mutual, Forge, and Amwins, and we compare them before recommending anything.

You do not need everything on day one, but the more of this you have, the faster and the more accurately we can quote:

• DOT and MC numbers, if you have them
• Truck year, make, model, and VIN, plus trailer details
• What you haul, where you haul it, and how far
• Driving history for every driver
• Prior insurance and loss runs, if you have been in business
• Whether you are leased on or running your own authority

A hot shot rig needs auto liability first, then the coverages that protect your own equipment, your freight, and your income. Which ones are required depends on how you operate. Which ones you actually need depends on what is at risk if something goes wrong.

We write commercial trucking through markets that specialize in it, and we shop across them instead of quoting one. If you would like to see what a full set of coverage looks like for your truck, give us a call or request a quote. Bring your current policy if you have one, and we will tell you what is on it and what is missing.

Next in the series — Part 2: What auto liability actually pays, and what it never does.