Surging Truck Insurance Rates Hit Freight Operators

Jan 15, 2020 at 07:41 AM CST
“It’s a brutally tough insurance market right now,” James Reed, chief executive of USA Truck Inc., a large Van Buren, Ark.-based trucking company, said in a November earnings call. “There’s some real cost headwinds that, absent a price recovery,” could weigh on results in the first half of 2020, he said. Federal law requires trucking companies to cover drivers for a minimum of $750,000 per accident, and most shipper contracts require at least $1 million of coverage. Although carriers with five or fewer trucks might stop there, larger operators often purchase more layers of liability coverage to protect themselves from larger claim awards.

Jan 15, 2020 at 07:41 AM CST

“It’s a brutally tough insurance market right now,” James Reed, chief executive of USA Truck Inc., a large Van Buren, Ark.-based trucking company, said in a November earnings call. “There’s some real cost headwinds that, absent a price recovery,” could weigh on results in the first half of 2020, he said. Federal law requires trucking companies to cover drivers for a minimum of $750,000 per accident, and most shipper contracts require at least $1 million of coverage. Although carriers with five or fewer trucks might stop there, larger operators often purchase more layers of liability coverage to protect themselves from larger claim awards.