What insurance does a Texas dry van carrier need to haul broker freight?

This is for Texas carriers running enclosed 53-foot or shorter dry vans under their own authority: a one-truck owner-operator who just got authority, a 10 to 40 truck fleet hauling consumer goods out of Dallas, Houston or Laredo warehouses, or a carrier that leases on owner-operators to run its van freight. If you pull a reefer, see reefer trucking insurance instead, because reefer breakdown changes the cargo conversation.

Dry van looks like the simplest trucking risk on paper. In practice it is the segment where carriers most often get bounced at onboarding, because almost all of it moves through brokers who check insurance the same way every time. The policy has to match what the broker-carrier agreement says, not just exist.

The federal floor is set in 49 CFR 387.9. For for-hire carriers in interstate or foreign commerce with vehicles of 10,001 pounds GVWR or more hauling non-hazardous property, the minimum is $750,000. Your insurer proves it to FMCSA with a BMC-91X filing and attaches the MCS-90 endorsement to the policy (see what an MCS-90 is and FMCSA and TxDMV filings). Intrastate-only carriers register with TxDMV and their insurer files proof there instead; see Texas intrastate requirements.

Brokers and shippers set their own bar on top of that. We do not publish what any specific broker requires, but the pattern in the carrier packets we read is consistent:

Dry van freight is mixed. One week it is paper goods, the next it is televisions, tires, alcohol or pharmaceuticals. A cargo policy written for "general freight" at $100,000 can be fine for most loads and still fail on the one load that matters. Read the motor truck cargo insurance page for the full form discussion; these are the dry van specific issues:

• Commodity exclusions and sublimits. Many cargo forms exclude or sublimit electronics, tobacco, alcohol, cell phones, jewelry, metals or pharmaceuticals. If a broker tenders one of those, the certificate may say $100,000 while the policy pays far less. See what cargo insurance excludes.
• Unattended vehicle conditions. Cargo theft from a parked loaded trailer is the classic dry van loss. Many forms only pay if the truck was locked, the trailer sealed, and the unit parked in a specific kind of location, or attended within a set time. See the unattended vehicle exclusion and does cargo insurance cover theft.
• Shipper load and count. Sealed loads you never saw loaded are normal in van freight. Shortage claims on sealed loads are a frequent dispute; your bills of lading and seal records matter more than the policy wording.
• Scheduled vehicle requirement. Some cargo forms only cover freight on scheduled units, so a newly added truck or a borrowed trailer may not be covered until it is added.

A lot of van freight runs drop-and-hook: you pick up a preloaded trailer at a distribution center and drop it at the receiver. The trailer often belongs to the shipper, a broker program, or a trailer pool. Your physical damage policy covers equipment you own and schedule. It does not automatically cover a trailer someone else owns.

That gap is filled by trailer interchange insurance when there is a written interchange agreement, or by non-owned trailer physical damage when there is not. The difference is explained in trailer interchange vs. non-owned trailer. If your packet or agreement mentions trailer interchange, ask what limit and whether they want to see the trailer owner as a loss payee.

Because dry van freight itself is low-hazard, the price and availability of the auto policy is driven almost entirely by the operation around it:

• Drivers. MVRs, years of CDL experience, and how you qualify new hires. See what drivers trucking insurance can cover.
• Radius and lanes. Long-haul lanes through dense metros and long regional runs are rated differently from short local work. See radius in truck insurance.
• Safety data. FMCSA inspection results, out-of-service rates and crash history are public and underwriters pull them. See how CSA scores affect insurance.
• Loss history. Three to five years of loss runs for every line.
• Theft controls. Where trucks park loaded overnight, whether trailers are sealed and locked, and whether units are tracked.
• Telematics and cameras. Some underwriters credit them; at minimum, footage helps defend liability claims. See do dashcams lower truck insurance.

Most of the dry van programs we review are not missing a policy. They are missing a fit between the policy and the freight. The usual items: