If you drive a truck for work — especially a semitruck — you’ll need to purchase the right kind of insurance coverage. We at the MarketWatch Guides team will define truck insurance, break down truck insurance costs and recommend some of the best car insurance companies to get truck insurance from.
Key Takeaways
Truck insurance costs may vary based on a number of factors.
Semitruck insurance satisfies the legal requirements to drive a truck and keeps you covered financially should you or a driver for your business get in an accident.
Trucks usually require primary liability coverage, physical damage insurance, occupational accident insurance and general liability coverage.
What Is Semitruck Insurance?
Like standard car insurance, truck insurance is necessary to legally drive. Because operating a truck is much riskier than driving a car, you’ll likely see much higher insurance premiums. These higher rates help insulate you and your business from the financial stress that comes with an accident.
What Are the Different Types of Truck Insurance?
There are a few types of coverage necessary for operating a semitruck.
Primary Liability Insurance
Primary liability insurance is required by federal law, but each state has its own regulations. Like standard vehicle liability insurance, primary liability covers any damages you cause while driving a truck. Primary liability combines the following coverages:
Property damage liability: This helps cover the cost of repairs and replacements to another party’s vehicle or property if you’re at fault for an accident.
Bodily injury liability: This helps pay for another party’s medical expenses if injured in an accident you cause.
Primary liability coverage will also help pay your legal defense costs if you’re sued for causing an accident.
Physical Damage Insurance
Physical damage insurance is not one coverage, but actually a group of coverages. Together, they cover damage to your vehicle. The types of insurance included in physical damage coverage are:
Collision insurance: This helps to pay for damage to your vehicle no matter who’s at fault for an accident. It also provides protection for your vehicle if your truck rolls or overturns.
Comprehensive insurance: This insurance covers your truck if it’s damaged in a non-collision incident, like vandalism, theft or inclement weather.
Fire and Theft with Combined Additional Coverage (CAC): This coverage can be added to a commercial truck insurance policy instead of comprehensive. It covers some of the same types of damage as comprehensive, but in a more limited capacity.
Physical damage policies come with a car insurance deductible, which is the amount you pay out of pocket when filing a claim. It’s good to remember that a higher deductible typically leads to a lower annual premium.
When you purchase a physical damage policy, you’ll also need to provide a state amount, which is an accurate estimate of the current value of your truck.
Occupational Accident Coverage
Designed to protect workers in the event of an accident on the job, Occupational Accident (OA) insurance is essential for truck drivers. The trucking business is very high-risk, so truckers should be able to protect themselves from accidents, dangerous materials or injuries while handling cargo.
OA is similar to worker’s compensation in that it provides payout for work-related injuries and lost wages. OA isn’t mandated by the law, so it has more flexible kinds of coverage.
General Liability Insurance
General Liability (GL) provides coverage for anything left out of the physical damage policy. Instead of covering the truck, GL protects the business itself. GL is also sometimes called business liability insurance.
Optional Truck Insurance Coverage
There are a few other insurance coverages you may want to consider, such as:
Motor truck cargo insurance: This covers the freight hauled by a trucker.
Underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage: This helps cover the costs of repairs and injuries if you’re hit by a driver with little or no insurance coverage.
Trailer interchange policy: This is physical damage coverage for a non-owned trailer.
Non-Trucking Liability (NTL): This provides coverage when driving your truck for non-trucking purposes.
Bobtail insurance: This provides auto liability coverage for owner-operators after a cargo delivery.
When determining what commercial auto coverage makes the most sense for your needs, it’s best to compare truck insurance quotes.
What Is the Average Cost of Truck Insurance?
Most experts believe commercial truck insurance costs are around $9,000 to $16,000 per year for independent truckers with a clean driving record. You may pay a lot less if you lease onto a motor carrier, with monthly costs ranging from around $250 to $450 on average.
Semitruck insurance costs vary from state to state, as regulations and requirements differ for each. However, truck insurance costs have been increasing steadily for the past few years.
To get a sense of what you may pay, it’s best to contact a few different insurance providers for quotes. For example, Progressive reports that its national truck insurance rates ranged from an average of $736 to $1,125 per month.
What Factors Affect the Cost of Truck Insurance?
There are a few main factors that contribute to how much you’ll pay for truck insurance, which include your:
USDOT authority: If you lease to a trucking company, that company will usually cover your primary liability. If you operate under your own authority, you’ll be responsible for all truck insurance costs.
Cargo: Some types of cargo are riskier to haul than others, which can cause your insurance rates to increase.
Operating radius: If you have a larger operating area, you drive for longer distances and are more exposed to risks, so you’ll pay more for coverage.
Vehicle type: Large, heavy semitrucks will be more expensive to insure than a pickup truck that carries the same cargo.
Driving history: Blemishes on your driving record can cause truck policy rates to increase dramatically, as driving large vehicles carries a lot more risk.
Location: Truck insurance rates vary by state.
How Can I Save Money on Truck Insurance?
The best way to save money on truck insurance is to maintain a clean driving record. Here are some other tips you can use to lower your commercial insurance rates:
Choose a higher deductible. The higher your deductible, the lower your premium will be.
Ask about discounts. There are a lot of discounts truckers can qualify for, including savings for having a valid commercial driver’s license (CDL) and paying your policy in full.
Do I Need Truck Insurance?
If you’re a business owner with a fleet of commercial vehicles, or if you operate your own semitruck, you should carry truck insurance. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) mandates certain coverage limits to legally drive on public roads.
Truck Insurance Cost: The Bottom Line
Truck insurance costs vary from state to state. Rates will fluctuate based on a number of factors, as well. Truckers will need to be covered by primary liability insurance, physical damage insurance, occupation accident coverage and general liability insurance. There are also a few optional types of coverage to ensure you’re fully protected when driving a truck.
Top Auto Insurance Recommendations
We recommend getting quotes from several different providers to find the best rates. Progressive and State Farm are two of the top insurers on the market and both offer truck insurance.
Progressive: Best for Tech-Savvy Drivers
Progressive is the largest commercial auto insurer in the U.S. according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), having written almost 10 billion premiums in 2023. It’s known for offering affordable auto coverage to most drivers, even those who have a spotty driving record. It also has helpful online features, like its Name Your Price® tool, which got it our Best for Tech-Savvy Drivers award.
The company offers all the standard types of truck and commercial insurance necessary to meet legal requirements and keep drivers financially protected. Progressive has a large number of licensed commercial agents that are able to review your needs and help you put together the right policy.
State Farm: Best Customer Experience
State Farm is the largest private passenger auto insurer in the U.S. according to the NAIC, and it’s in the top 10 largest commercial auto insurers. It won’t insure semitrucks, but will insure other commercial trucks of varying sizes. It offers the standard types of insurance coverage and has a vast network of local agents to help you find the right policy for the right price.
Our Methodology
Because consumers rely on us to provide objective and accurate information, we created a comprehensive rating system to formulate our rankings of the best car insurance companies. We collected data on dozens of auto insurance providers to grade the companies on a wide range of ranking factors. The end result was an overall rating for each provider, with the insurers that scored the most points topping the list.
Here are the factors our ratings take into account:
Industry standing (20% of total score): Our research team considered market share, ratings from industry experts and years in business when giving this score.
Availability (10% of total score): Auto insurance companies with greater state availability and few eligibility requirements scored highest in this category.
Coverage (30% of total score): Companies that offer a variety of choices for insurance coverage are more likely to meet consumer needs.
Cost and discounts (25% of total score): Auto insurance rate estimates generated by Quadrant Information Services and discount opportunities were both taken into consideration.
Customer experience (15% of total score): This score is based on volume of complaints reported by the NAIC and customer satisfaction ratings reported by J.D. Power. We also considered the responsiveness, friendliness and helpfulness of each insurance company’s customer service team based on our own shopper analysis.
Our credentials:
800 hours researched
45 companies reviewed
8,500+ consumers surveyed
*Data accurate at time of publication.
In conclusion, truck insurance is essential for anyone operating a truck for work. It provides financial protection in case of accidents and ensures legal compliance. By understanding the different types of truck insurance, factors affecting costs, and ways to save money, truck drivers can make informed decisions when choosing the right insurance coverage.