Is there a better place to put this question? I'm the only driver but have a few commercial trucks I need in the business but it kills me financially. Is there such a thing as an insurance company that looks at books and will charged based on one driver as there's only one on the road at a time? Probably not but thought I'd ask anyways. Thanks
Are you in an Ag related business by any chance? If so, Call Southern States Insurance Exchange. If you are not agri-business, they won't talk to you.
Better grab some lube if you think that is too much on what you pay now, cause these people sure aren't going to bring any. https://www.thetruckersreport.com/a...datory-insurance-minimums-truckers-2-million/
The good thing is that only applies to interstate for-hire. I have $1,000,000 vehicle liability now, and $1,000,000 GBL. Right now, interstate for-hire only requires $750,000
Yep and that it hasn't changed since the 80's. Though curious on what the OP insurance is on.
I pay $8k per month for 3 class 8 trucks, 4 pickups, two hired drivers & myself. Only one class 8 runs everyday.
That's absolutely insane. We've got a class 6, a class 7, and a class 8, and 2 pickups, with 4 drivers on the policy. We're $7k Canadian a year. 2 of the 5 trucks are running every day.
The combined value of these trucks/trailers is about $825,000.
Yeah but look what state you reside in. I feel sorry for you on registration fees too. Lived in Washington state for last part of my military career and moved to Montana, my insurance and registration dropped two-thirds on everything I own from semi to cars.
You aren't kidding! 96000 gross weight cost me about 240 bucks per month.
We're right about half that for insured values. Regional variances are insane. 96k lbs would cost us $270/month. So I guess thats where they get us. Registration costs here just keep going up and up
I grew up with the young lady who provided my policies. I insure three older trucks on a policy the everyday vehicles aren't on. Premium is about $600.00 includes a 27500 LB dump truck, and two older 1 tons. She recently announced her retirement.
liability on 3 class 8 trucks a class 5 and 2 pickups with 2 drivers costs me $6500/yr for all, commercial insurance, not farm insurance, but everything I do must be agriculture related. loggers here are paying $15000/yr per truck just for liability
The amount I stated was with General liability, broadform, pollution rider (for slip tanks in pickups) and a $1m umbrella included also.
We burn $16,000 a day in fuel, insurance? just to hang plates and paper on 65 trucks without the insurance, load insurance and a bond is a fortune. Try covering a load of cheese that froze because the driver didn't reset temp--$75,000. We had to install gps monitoring on all the trailers at $750.00 a shot to keep an eye on the loads-105 trailers. Custom stainless lock boxes with lock for rear doors--$650.00-have to have it says homeland security. The list goes on. Be glad you guys only own a few rigs.
I am glad everyday that I quit interstate for-hire trucking in 2010. I had my own authority, and we did dump, flatbed and lowboy, mostly just in SC, NC, and some Ga and Va. I was sad until I did it, but it felt SO good when I got home after selling all my trucks but 2!
I have correct the amount of trailers I posted in reply #15--We only have 104 trailers now. A little over a week ago one of our semi's was rear ended. Our driver had slowed to 15 mph because only one lane was open because of a four car pile-up. Another semi slammed into the back of our trailer at 68 mph which destroyed our trailer and totaled both the tractor and trailer that rear ended our rig. Pushed the nose of the offending rig right to the drivers seat {Volvo}, transmission was laying in the lanes of the freeway, trailer buckled. Driver went to emergency room, our driver is ok but sore. I might even have some photos to post. But this all happened because of a electronic devise called a I Phone and missing a call is just out of the question you know. Folks do your self a favor hang up the G----D---- cell phones. Reality is no one is that good of driver-you might think you can do two things at once-but your only fooling your self. Especially people conducting business on their cell phones, talking hot shot garbage and running figures through their head while driving thinking about all the big money their making. Best talk business in the office because the next thing that might be running through their head instead of $$$$ signs is the twenty foot piece of 1" pipe or re-bar sticking out the back of a pickup they just slammed into. Unless they own one of those hot ticket cars that brake for the driver that just can't stop doing business on the phone because he's afraid the competition will take it from him.
We had a wreck yesterday nearby: Young driver texting. Two cars totaled, one driver in hospital
Damn TS, that hit me hard as i am guilty as hell of that. Thank you for the eBackhand!
Ok-well Alright'y then, here are some photos of the trailer I posted about in post #17 above. Caused by the driver in the Volvo that's leaning-talking on his I phone, fortunately no one was killed. He toasted the *** end of our trailer.
Not meaning to get off topic but, I luckily live where there is no cell phone reception for 45 miles of 50 miles to get into town. Hope they never put any towers up out here which I know is inevitable with time.
A few more.
My non-trucking friends don't really believe it, but wrecks were just part of the business. Maybe 5% were my driver's fault. One of my trucks was running down the interstate at about 72 mph in a 70 mph zone one night, driver kinda heard/felt something, looked in the mirror, saw a car spinning down the road behind him takeout 6 other cars. He was pulling a customers trailer and a car came up behind him so fast he folded up the under ride bumper and bounced off the tires. The car driver claimed to have had a seizure, so his insurance Co declared the accident an act of God and refused to pay any claims. They said that if he had had a seizure history, they would have paid, but, since he didn't, they refused to pay. All the lawyers looked at his $50,000 liability limit to pay for 6 cars and sued me. My insurance settled and raised my rates.
The more miles one drives the odds get pretty tight on having a wreck. With the low skill/take chances type of drivers this day and age it's no wonder the price of insurance is where it's at. We had a situation 21 years ago at a place called Wallula Junction 30 miles west of town on highway 12. Two elderly women headed to a casino {Wild Horse} ran the stop sign at the junction. One of our trucks was headed west--------and one of our trucks was headed east and met at the same time at Wallula Junction. The west bound hit the car first sending it into the oncoming east bound truck killing both women. So when people think {IT or THAT will never happen to them--well think again. The odds of both trucks from the same company meeting at the same time a car runs a stop sign are astronomical. But it happened----bad things like that happen all the time.
think long &hard about leaving the phone in the trunk
If you leave the phone off, how will you talk to the dispatcher that gave you the wrong loading dock and the wrong load time and cost you a day? Then he is chewing your ass because you will be 8 hours late on the delivery.
First off-that's the dispatchers problem. Second there is a thing called a Qual Com which will alert you that you need to contact dispatch. Third-in this state or any other you have to have a hands free communication. Fourth if the employer says you have to answer on the fly he is asking you to break the law in his behalf-which is against the law. Five there isn't a load or situation that anybody should jeopardize themselves or anyone else. None of it is justifiable and if the company is that bad then the driver or leaser should find another company to work for.
But if i dont have my phone how will i look at nudies when i get bored at the wheel of my 90 000lbs vehicle? The whole hands free thing is trash. It is not the fact that you have a phone in your hand that makes it dangerous it is the fact that you are thinking about the topic you are talking about and not what is going on around you. Just build a vehicle that will not move if a phone is in use and be done with it.
Then you have built more crap into a vehicle that already has too much technical garbage, trying to make it idiot proof.
I can plug my Iphone up to my truck and use the buttons on the steering wheel to make and receive calls through Siri. One can also text that way as well. So -What's the difference in using bluetooth or Apple carplay hands free and talking to the passenger in the seat beside you? Or the passenger in the back seat? Isn't that just as distracting? What about eating and drinking (non-alcoholic) while driving?
That's always the question everyone apply's to this situation. There is a bunch of difference between a car/pickup and 50 tons rolling down the highway. But being as you ask both of those are distracting.
True but as Mitch said the majority of wrecks he encountered were caused by cars and pickups. The scary thing I see ALL the time is people - men, women, young and old - constantly texting on the phone even though it's against the law. You can see their head down looking at their phone in the center of the steering wheel. The good think about my '95 L9000 is it's too damn loud inside the cab to hear the radio much less a phone..
My 87 LTL 9000 has the radio on the roof with itty bitty buttons. I set it on one station and leave it there. At highway speed and my 2-65 AC jacking up the volume isn't very good quality so i just keep my eyes on the road and leave lots of space in front of me. At 60-65 on the freeway, I get passed by everyone, just watch the cars go by. I haven't seen much in the way of the alleged "seat covers"
There are 274 million vehicles in the U.S. Out of that there are 2 million trucks and 5.6 million trailers. Six million cars sold in 2016. 251,000 class eights sold in 2019. So naturally your going to have more cars and pickups causing wrecks.
https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety/data-and-statistics/large-truck-and-bus-crash-facts-2017
https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-driving