Who needs it
Owner-operators leased to a motor carrier who don't have their own authority. While you're dispatched, the motor carrier's policy should respond, depending on your lease; this fills the gap when you're not. Your lease agreement usually requires it.
What it pays for
- Injuries to other people when you're off dispatch
- Damage to other people's property when you're off dispatch
- Driving home, to the shop or to a truck stop when you're not working a load
- Your legal defense on a covered claim
What it won't pay for
- Time under dispatch, on most non-trucking policies (some bobtail policies differ)
- Damage to your own truck (that's physical damage)
- The freight (that's motor truck cargo)
- Your own injuries (that's occupational accident)
- Hauling under your own authority (you need your own primary liability)
What moves the price
We don't show prices online. These are the things an agent and the insurance companies look at.
- Your driving record
- Where the truck is garaged
- The type of truck
- Your claims history
- The limit you choose
Real situations
- You drop your trailer at the terminal, sign off dispatch and drive home. On the way you sideswipe a car. Non-trucking liability pays for the other car.
- On a day off you drive your tractor to the shop for an oil change and back into a customer's pickup in the lot. Non-trucking liability pays for the pickup.