Primary Liability for Trucking Policies
Commercial Trucking Primary Liability
Covers your liability risks in the event that you or one of your employed drivers causes an accident. Your commercial truck liability will include bodily injury liability to cover the costs of injuries and medical expenses for the injured party, and property damage liability to cover the costs of property damage in an accident. Your commercial truck liability insurance will typically also cover the costs of legal defense, whether or not your company is found to be at fault in an accident.
Primary Liability vs General Liability Insurance
Although sometimes used interchangeably, Primary Liability Insurance is different. Primary Liability covers damage done by your truck or vehicle. General Liability Insurance protects your business from litigation arising from various other circumstances in the course of day-to-day operation such as a slip and fall at your place of business. We at Patrick Phillips Insurance Agency can write both kinds of commercial truck insurance when helping you design the right kind of coverage for your company’s needs.
The minimum amount of primary liability is set by the FMSCA.
Gross Vehicle Weight Rating of 10,000+ pounds:
- $750,000– Most trucks hauling most commodities are required to have a minimum of $750,000 of coverage. Many load brokers will require a minimum of $1,000,000.
- $1,000,000– Auto haulers need a minimum of $1,000,000 in coverage. One million in coverage is becoming an industry standard across other hauled commodities too.
- $5,000,000– If you are hauling certain hazardous materials, you’ll need a minimum of $5,000,000 in coverage.
Gross Vehicle Weight Rating of less than 10,000 pounds:
- $300,000 (BI & PD) for general commodities except any materials listed below.
- $5 Million (BI & PD) for any quantity of Class A or B explosives, for any quantity of Poison Gas (Poison A) or highway route-controlled quantity of radioactive materials.