In today's economy, finding affordable truck insurance is becoming increasingly important for trucking companies looking to maximize their profits. With low freight rates and high operating costs, finding the cheapest truck insurance can mean the difference between a thriving business and one struggling to stay afloat.
Truck insurance is a crucial investment for any trucking business, providing coverage for accidents, theft, and liability claims. However, the cost of premiums can quickly add up, eating into profit margins. That's why it's essential for trucking companies to find ways to lower their insurance costs without sacrificing coverage.
In this article, we will explore the importance of cheap truck insurance and provide tips on how to find affordable coverage for your fleet. By implementing cost-saving strategies and comparing quotes from different providers, you can ensure that your business is protected while also saving money on insurance premiums.
Manage Your DOT Inspections
Insurance companies use data from the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to rate your company. This includes roadside inspections. Whenever the DOT puts your company out of service over vehicle maintenance, unsafe driving, hours of service, or drug and alcohol violations, insurance companies are more likely to increase premium. On the other hand, "clean" inspections, or inspections without violations or out of services, can help decrease your truck insurance and may even attract high quality insurance carriers with lower premium.
Many top-tier insurance companies will automatically decline to quote insurance for a company with documented unsafe driving or hours of service violations.
Hiring a good mechanic to maintain your equipment, ongoing safety training for drivers, and hiring a safety manager are ways to ensure your company passes every roadside inspection. In addition, we recommend incentivizing drivers to pass roadside inspections with rewards such as gift cards, bonuses, or accolades.
Hire Safe and Experienced Drivers
The surest way to get cheap truck insurance is mindful hiring practices. The truck driver you put behind the wheel could determine your insurance rates for years to come. We recommend conducting comprehensive background checks on drivers. This includes checks on any criminal history, employment history, and their driving record.
Next, conduct a thorough interview process to assess the driver's qualifications, experience, and attitude toward safety and professionalism.
Outline what qualities you want in a driver and stick to it. Don't deviate from your ideal driver. Insurance companies want to insure safe drivers and reward those with clean records.
Once you've hired a driver, make sure to keep your driver qualification file up to date, regularly drug test, and check MVRs annually.
Ask For Discounts
Insurance companies are always looking for a way to reward you for safe driving. With the rise of technology, insurance companies are able to access data from electronic logging devices (ELDs), dash cameras, and devices that plug into your truck's diagnostic port. These devices transmit data on hard breaking, rapid acceleration, speeding, hard turns, and even what time of day or night you operate the truck.
By sharing this data with insurance companies, they will often reward you with discounts ranging from 3 percent to 20 percent or more.
In addition, you can find discounts for competitive rates by having an active auto insurance policy, setting your policy up on automatic draft, and paying your premium in full.
Tell Your Agent Why You Deserve Cheap Truck Insurance
Your insurance agent's job is to find you the cheapest insurance quote with the best insurance coverage. Their job is easiest when you provide details about your business operation, safe driving practices, and company procedures.
Some of the cheapest truck insurance rates aren't determined by a computer that spits out numbers, it's between your insurance agent and a commercial truck insurance underwriter. Your agent creates an application detailing your company's equipment, drivers, and coverage requirements along with a narrative about your company and why you deserve low rates. Think of it like a sales pitch to an insurance company.
Here are a few important details to give to your insurance agent:
- Garaging location: Your garaging location heavily impacts your insurance rate. Tell your agent if your truck is parked in a secure lot with a fence, security, and cameras or if it is garaged in a rural area with a low crime rate on your family's land.
- Regular routes: The closer more often you drive a route, the less likely you are to have an accident. You know when there's a sharp turn that requires reduced speed or when to slow down before traffic.
- Dedicated contracts: Similar to driving a regular route, having a dedicated lane tells the insurer that you are familiar with your operation and have a stable business.
- Dash cameras: Your dash camera is an important tool to fight frivolous claims. Insurance companies may offer lower rates to a trucker with a dash camera.
How We Can Help
Our team of knowledgeable insurance agents are experts in finding cheap and affordable truck insurance. With 15 years of experience and the trust of thousands of truckers and owner operators, we leverage our vast network of insurance companies to find you the cheapest truck insurance. Call an insurance agent at 855-281-2924 or request a quote online.