Commercial Trucking Insurance Mistakes Part 1

7 common mistakes that can cost truckers big money on their commercial trucking insurance.

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Mistake #1

Leaving erroneous info on your safer report is a mistake that will cost you money on your commercial trucking insurance premiums. As we all know, he FMCSA maintains lots of safety inspection information about motor carriers. As we know, bureaucracies such as FMCSA are not always 100% efficient and correct. Commercial trucking insurance underwriters use this information every day to calculate your exposures and to generate your commercial trucking insurance premiums. It is commonplace for errors to creep into some of these reports. It’s a mistake for you to assume everything that is being reported about your company is correct. Look carefully at your reports and request corrections for any inaccuracies you find. This will help you to maintain fair commercial trucking insurance premiums.

Mistake #2

Leaving erroneous info on your commercial trucking insurance loss runs. Similarly, there can be erroneous information on your commercial trucking insurance loss runs. The last run is a report from the commercial trucking insurance company that shows how much money has been paid out for your claims and how much money is expected to be paid out (these are called reserves). Whenever you become aware of inaccuracies on your commercial trucking insurance loss runs you must bring them to the attention of the commercial trucking insurance company immediately. Human errors can always occur and when they are discovered, it is very important to take prompt steps to correct them in order to maintain your correct loss ratio for commercial trucking insurance underwriting purposes. If maintaining fair commercial trucking insurance premiums is the goal, maintaining accuracy in these commercial trucking insurance documents is key!

Mistake #3

Having inaccuracies on your vehicle lists. Another place inaccurate information can cost you is on your equipment list. Be sure your equipment list is correct! If you make mistakes on your equipment list, you can be overcharged for the physical damage portion of your commercial trucking insurance premium. If there is equipment that you no longer own - or if the depreciated values are not stated correctly - you can overpay because the amount you are charged for the automobile physical damage portion of your commercial trucking insurance premium is a percentage of the value of your equipment. Pay close attention to your equipment list in order to make sure that the values are accurate and that you were not being overcharged for your commercial trucking insurance.

Mistake #4

Keeping drivers with unacceptable driving records. This mistake will cost you a great deal today due to costly surcharges on the premiums you pay for your commercial trucking insurance. But it can cost you EVERYTHING tomorrow due to a legal theory known as “negligent entrustment” that can result in high jury verdicts – even punitive damages NOT COVERED BY INSURANCE. Keeping on bad drivers is a mistake that cannot be overstated because of the impact on your commercial trucking insurance premium – but also because of the existential threat to your company’s continued survival. We understand the severity of the driver shortage makes this is a very bitter pill to swallow. But the reason you must look closely at your drivers’ MVR’s and get rid of the bad apples, is because they truly can spoil the whole barrel. Not only will the commercial trucking insurance industry surcharge you for band MVR’s today but that driver with a terrible driving record can cost you everything tomorrow. The negligent entrustment theory means you allowed a driver into a truck knowing that he was an unsafe driver and when a serious accident results you are held directly responsible. This can result in very high jury verdicts even punitive damages which are not covered by your commercial trucking insurance. These types of decisions to keep poor drivers operating your equipment can cost you everything. It is not only limited to a consideration for your commercial trucking insurance premiums.