COMMERCIAL TRUCK INSURANCE

When you have a trucking company you need to get those wheels rolling. Spending time going back and forth with your insurance agent trying to make sure they have all the correct information to quote your business is the difference between you being on the road and making money and you waiting at home wasting money.

A good agent will do their due diligence and make sure to follow up with you to get the information the insurance companies require. However, sometimes they have a hard time reaching you if you have other appointments, you have a busy schedule, or even if you just forgot to charge your cell phone. Either way, if the agent doesn’t have all the required information, they can’t do much but wait until then next time you speak. To avoid wasting time on a game of phone tag, having the required information up front will allow the agent to get you the best rate as fast as possible.

Here are the basic information your insurance agent will require.

Make sure to have this information ready when shopping around for insurance.

1. USDOT number (if you have one)
2. Mc Number (if you have one)
3. Legal Business Name and DBA (Doing Business As name)
4. Legal Business Address (Street, City, State, Zip)
5. Required Limits and Coverages
6. Type of operation (What are you hauling and how are you hauling it? e.g. what type of trailer?)
7. Radius of operations & if you are crossing state lines.
8. All vehicles’ information (Including Trailers) 
    – Year
    – Make
    – Model
    – VIN
9. All Drivers’ Information (Including Owner or Owners)
    – Full Name
    – Date of Birth
    – License Number & License State
    – How many years’ experience driving similar equipment/vehicles?
    – Do they have a CDL (Commercial Driver’s License)
    – CDL Number and State
    – CDL first issue date

You’ll also want to make sure you have the correct documents to make things go as smoothly and as quickly as possible.

Here are some documents you’ll want to have available if you can acquire these ahead of time:

1. Loss Runs – A document that shows how many claims or losses you’ve had during your previous insurance term (If you have previous insurance)
2. Lease Termination Agreement (If you were previously leased onto another carriers authority)
3. Vehicle Bill of Sale (If you had a previous Commercial Vehicle and have gotten rid of it)
4. Something from the DMV showing your vehicle is non-operational (If you have a commercial vehicle that is not functional)
5. Copy of your driver(s) CDLs with an issue date showing that they have had 2 or more years with a CDL (if they renewed their license, you will want to have a copy of their expired license as well)