Commercial Truck Insurance
Insurance Plus sells Progressive Commercial Truck insurance. If you’re an owner-operator you already know the routine, because it happens every year; you sit down with an agent, select a company to insure your truck, settle on a policy that seems to meet your needs, and sign a check that guarantees coverage.
You’re right, of course – you should do your homework before buying insurance, and in an ideal world we all would. But the trucker’s world includes little spare time. So take seven or eight minutes right now to review the following points on buying truck insurance. You’ll save hours of research and probably a good deal of money as well.
5 Questions to Ask When Shopping for Commercial Truck Insurance
Experience: How long has the company been in business, and how long has it specialized in truck insurance?
Financial strength: Does the company have sufficient reserves to cover many expensive claims at one time? (Note: “Reserves” are cash set aside exclusively to pay claims).
Coverage: What kinds of contingencies and damages are covered by the basic policies? Do these policies offer options that could be adapted to your needs?
Cost: What is the cost of basic coverage? What is the cost of additional coverage or optional types of coverage? (Costs will vary by region, commodity, radius driven, and other factors, but should be comparable to other bids for your business.)
Value: What is the total value in time, money, and convenience – of the products and services provided? Are their claim procedures easy to follow? Are their employees knowledgeable, helpful, and accessible? Do they respond promptly when you need help? Do they provide skilled assistance in reducing accidents and passing DOT audits? If so, are there additional charges for such assistance? Placing a total value on the policy and your relationship with an insurer takes some effort, but you owe it to yourself to take the time so you can get the best value for your money.
Price: It’s not as simple as it looks
Normally, when we buy a product we look for the lowest price – if all other things are equal, we take it. The problem with that approach to buying truck insurance is that it can be hard for the layman to tell whether “all other things” are, in fact, equal.
Here are a few pointers:
- Carefully examine any policy that appears to be substantially lower in cost than those offered by competing companies. Compare not just the prices, but the terms, conditions, and extent of coverage. A low price usually means you’re buying less coverage, but the policy language may not be clear about just which benefits you’re giving up in order to save costs.
- Be aware, too, that insurers differ about how they adjust pricing to attract business. Some companies will use price cuts to get business they are not strongly committed to keeping. Particularly in a “soft market” – some companies will cut prices drastically to build immediate cash flow, only to leave the business later when they realize they’ve cut premiums too low to pay the submitted claims. Or the company may decide that to continue to write truck insurance, it must impose a steep rate increase on its customers.
- Always remember when it comes to truck insurance premiums, the old saying still applies: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
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