Commercial Truck Insurance That Keeps You Running
The right policy isn't the cheapest one. It's the one that holds up when there's an accident, a totaled tractor, or a broker who won't tender a load until your limits check out. We write coverage that fits how you actually run.
What does commercial truck insurance cover?
Commercial truck insurance covers the liability you carry when your truck causes an accident, plus the cost to repair or replace your own equipment when it's damaged. The two core pieces are primary auto liability, which pays for the injuries and property damage you cause to others, and physical damage, which covers your tractor and trailer. Every for-hire trucking company needs liability to operate legally. Most also need physical damage, especially on financed equipment.
The legal minimum and the practical minimum are not the same number. The FMCSA requires $750,000 in primary liability for most interstate for-hire general freight operations, a figure set in 1985 and unchanged since. But most major brokers and shippers won't tender a load to a trucking company carrying only the federal minimum. They want to see $1,000,000. If your limits stop at $750,000, you're legal but you're losing freight. A policy built for how you actually run accounts for both the law and the load board.
Why fleet owners need more than the FMCSA minimum
The $750,000 federal minimum was set in 1985 and has not kept pace with the cost of a serious accident. A single at-fault crash with injuries can produce a judgment well past that number, and any amount above your limit comes out of your business. That's the legal exposure. The commercial exposure is simpler: most brokers require $1,000,000 in liability before they'll give you a load, so a trucking company at the federal minimum gets passed over for freight it could otherwise haul. The right limit protects your assets and keeps you loadable. Those are two different problems, and the minimum solves neither.
How Pullsure structures it
We start with how you run: what you haul, your radius, your fleet size, your loss history, and what your contracts and the brokers you work with require. Then we match that to coverage from our network of 20+ insurance carriers that specialize in trucking risk. We write the primary liability limit that keeps you loadable, not just legal. We add physical damage that reflects what your equipment is actually worth. We handle the MCS-90 endorsement and FMCSA filings so your authority stays active. And when something happens, you call a person who already knows your account.
What's Typically Included in a Commercial Truck Insurance Policy:
- Primary auto liability (bodily injury and property damage to others)
- Physical damage (collision and comprehensive)
- Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage
- Medical payments
- MCS-90 endorsement and FMCSA filings (BMC-91 or BMC-91X)
- Trailer and attached-equipment coverage
(Note: Specific coverages, limits, and exclusions vary by policy, insurance carrier, and operation type. Not every item above is included in every policy. Your Pullsure advisor will walk you through exactly what your policy covers.)
How this plays out
An owner-operator running general freight hits ice on the interstate and rear-ends a passenger car. Injuries, a totaled car, and a banged-up tractor. Because his liability limit was written at $1,000,000 instead of the $750,000 federal minimum, the injury and property claims were covered in full, with no gap landing on his business. His physical damage coverage handled the repair to his own tractor. He kept his authority active and was back under load that week. The trucking company two trucks down, running at the bare minimum, would have been writing a personal check for the difference.
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The At-Fault Accident
A serious at-fault crash with injuries can produce a claim well past the $750,000 federal minimum. Whatever the judgment runs above your limit comes straight out of your business. The right liability limit is the difference between a covered claim and a personal one.
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Your Truck, Totaled
Primary liability covers the other party. It does nothing for your own tractor. If your truck is financed and gets totaled in a collision, physical damage coverage is what pays off the equipment so you're not making payments on a truck you can't drive.
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The $1,000,000 Broker Wall
You can be fully legal at the $750,000 federal minimum and still lose loads. Most major brokers require $1,000,000 in liability before they'll tender freight. If your limits stop at the minimum, you're watching loads go to the trucking company with the higher number.
Ready to see what your coverage is actually worth?
What Our Clients Say
"I can’t thank you enough for the effort, skill and patience you have shown in dealing with a very trying situation, Other people should be as lucky as me to have an insurance agent with as high a degree of competency as you."
Francisco Moreno
Moreno Trucking LLC
"I'm not sure if Ryan Young works for a Trucking Insurance Agency or if he works for our company!! He got us a new policy in two days with coverage that actually fits our needs."
Fuad Omar
Delivery Unlimited LLC
"Brian and the team are ROCKSTARS. I acquired a new customer that had some very specific insurance requirements and Brian made it happen."
Tracy Harris
AG Carriers