Truck Insurance for Owner-Operators and Small Fleets, Priced on Your Record and Not the Industry Average
One truck or a handful, box truck or tractor, running your own authority or leased on to a carrier. Premier Group Insurance shops more than 25 carriers to find the ones that reward a clean record instead of pricing you like everyone else on the road.
What Commercial Truck Insurance Covers
Trucking coverage is assembled from parts. Which parts you need depends on what you haul, who you haul it for, and whether the truck is running under your authority or someone else’s.
| Primary liability | Bodily injury and property damage you cause to others while hauling. This is the coverage the federal filing requirement is about, and it is not optional for anyone running under their own authority. |
| Physical damage | ADamage to your own truck and trailer, whether from a collision, a fire, theft, or weather. Split into collision and comprehensive the same way a personal auto policy is. If the truck is financed, the lender will require it. |
| Motor truck cargo | The freight you are carrying. Covers loss or damage to the load itself. Most shippers and brokers will not tender a load without seeing a cargo limit on your certificate. |
| Non-trucking liability | Also called bobtail. Covers the truck when you are driving it for personal reasons and not under dispatch. If you are leased to a carrier, this is the gap their policy leaves open, and it is the most commonly missed coverage in the whole category. |
| Trailer interchange | Covers a trailer you are pulling that belongs to somebody else under an interchange agreement. Comes up constantly for drivers leased on to a carrier. |
| General liability | Everything that happens off the truck. Loading and unloading, injuries at your yard, and the premises exposure that primary liability does not touch. |
What the Law Requires
If you operate under your own authority in interstate commerce, the FMCSA sets a minimum level of public liability coverage and will not grant your operating authority until proof of it is on file. The number depends on your vehicle weight and what you haul.
FEDERAL MINIMUM LIABILITY (FMCSA, 49 CFR Part 387)
$300,000
General freight, non-hazardous, in vehicles under 10,001 lbs GVWR.
$750,000
General freight, non-hazardous, in vehicles at 10,001 lbs GVWR or above. This is the figure that applies to most owner-operators.
$1,000,000
Certain hazardous materials.
$5,000,000
Explosives, poison gas, and radioactive materials.
Household goods movers at 10,001 lbs GVWR and above carry the $750,000 liability minimum plus a $5,000 cargo requirement. For-hire interstate carriers also need the MCS-90 endorsement filed with their policy, which is the form that proves the coverage exists.
Worth saying plainly: these are floors, not recommendations. A serious injury accident will run past $750,000 without much difficulty, and once the policy limit is gone the rest comes from you. Most of our clients carry more than the minimum for exactly that reason.
If you operate only within Colorado, state rules apply alongside the federal framework. Colorado sets a cargo requirement of $10,000 for loss or damage to property carried on any one vehicle, or an amount adequate to cover the value of what you are hauling, whichever is less, unless you and the shipper agree otherwise in writing.
Minimums per FMCSA financial responsibility requirements, 49 CFR Part 387. Colorado intrastate cargo requirement per 42-4-235(4)(a) C.R.S. Requirements change, so confirm current figures before relying on them.
Leased On or Running Your Own Authority?
This one question changes almost everything about what you need to buy, and it is where owner-operators most often end up either overpaying or dangerously underinsured.
Getting class codes right matters in both directions. Wrong codes can mean you are overpaying. They can also mean your policy does not accurately reflect your exposure, which creates problems at audit.
Leased On to a Motor Carrier
The carrier’s policy covers you while you are under dispatch, which means primary liability is generally handled. What it does not cover is the truck when you are not working: driving home, running an errand, heading to the shop. That gap is what non-trucking liability fills, and it is cheap. You will typically also want physical damage on your own truck, because the carrier is insuring their liability, not your equipment.
Running Under Your Own Authority
Now the whole program is yours. Primary liability at the federal minimum or above, the MCS-90 filing, cargo, physical damage, and general liability. The premium is substantially higher because you are carrying the risk the motor carrier used to carry. The upside is that you control your own rates, and a clean record starts working for you instead of getting averaged into somebody else’s fleet.
If you are thinking about making the jump to your own authority, price the insurance before you file for it. It is one of the largest line items in the decision and it catches people off guard. We will run the numbers for you either way.
Box Trucks, Hotshot, and Small Fleets
Not every trucking operation is a tractor and a 53-foot trailer. Box trucks, straight trucks, hotshot rigs, and small delivery fleets are a large share of what we write, and they price very differently from long-haul.
The variables that move the number are radius of operation, what you haul, the age and value of the equipment, and driver history. A box truck running a fixed local route with one experienced driver is a fundamentally different risk than a truck running open deck freight across four states, and carriers price that difference sharply. Being classified correctly is worth real money.
Once you are running more than a couple of trucks, fleet rating usually becomes available and the per-unit cost drops. If you are adding a second or third truck this year, tell us before you buy it rather than after, because the timing affects how the policy gets structured.
Why a Clean Record Is Worth More Through a Broker
Trucking has the widest pricing spread of any line we write. The same driver, the same truck, and the same freight can produce quotes that differ by thousands of dollars a year depending on which carrier is looking at the submission.
That is because trucking carriers are far more specialized than they look. One wants short-radius local work and will not touch anything over a few hundred miles. Another wants experienced drivers and prices aggressively for clean MVRs but declines anyone under two years. A third writes new ventures that most of the market will not.
If your record is clean, that is an asset, and it is only worth something if it reaches the carriers that pay for it. A single-carrier agent can only tell you what their one company thinks you are worth. That is not a market rate, it is one opinion.
We present your record to the carriers most likely to reward it: your CDL history, your MVR, your CSA scores, your loss history, and your radius. Then we bring back what the market actually says, not what one company decided.
How It Works
1. Tell Us About Your Operation
What you drive, what you haul, how far you run, how long you have been driving, and whether you are leased on or running your own authority. Have your MVR handy if you can
2. We Shop 25+ Carriers
We take your record to the carriers whose appetite matches your operation, including the ones that price specifically for experienced drivers with clean histories.
3. You Choose and We Handle the Filings
We walk through the options, and once you bind we take care of the MCS-90 and any state filings so your authority stays in good standing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Much Does Owner-Operator Insurance Cost Per Year?
It swings widely, and anyone who quotes you a number without asking questions is guessing. The drivers are your radius, your freight type, your equipment value, your years of experience, and your MVR and CSA history. Whether you are leased on or running your own authority changes it more than anything else on the list.
What is Non-Trucking Liability and Do I Need It?
It covers the truck when you are driving it outside of dispatch, which your motor carrier’s policy will not do. If you are leased to a carrier, yes, you almost certainly need it. It is inexpensive and it closes the single most common gap we see on owner-operator accounts.
Is Box Truck Insurance Cheaper Than Semi Insurance?
Usually, yes. Lower weight, lower speeds, shorter radius, and less severe accidents all push the price down. But a box truck running long-haul freight can price closer to a tractor than to a local delivery van, so the truck type alone does not decide it.
What is an MCS-90 and do I Need One?
It is an endorsement filed with your policy that proves to the FMCSA you carry the required minimum liability. For-hire interstate motor carriers running under their own authority need it. We handle the filing as part of binding coverage.
I am Switching From Leased-on to my own Authority. What Changes?
Nearly everything. You take on primary liability, the federal filing, and cargo, and your premium goes up substantially because you are now carrying the risk your motor carrier used to carry. Call us before you file for authority so you can build the real number into the decision.
Does a Clean Driving Record Actually Lower my Premium?
Materially, yes, but only with carriers that price for it, and not every carrier does. Some average across their whole book and your clean MVR gets diluted. Finding the ones that reward it is most of the value of shopping the market.
Get a Truck Insurance Quote in About 5 Minutes
Tell us what you drive, what you haul, how far you run, and how long you have been doing it. If you are leased on to a carrier, let us know who. We will shop across our carrier network and come back with options, including the programs built for clean-record drivers.