Non-trucking liability: the owner-operator policy for when you are not under dispatch

When you lease your truck to a motor carrier, the carrier's auto liability policy covers you while you are hauling under its authority. Federal leasing rules require the lease to give the carrier exclusive possession, control and use of the equipment for the duration of the lease, and to state the carrier's legal obligation to maintain the federally required insurance (49 CFR 376.12).

But your truck is not always working for the carrier. You drive it home on the weekend. You take it to the shop. You stop for groceries on the way back from the yard. In those moments the carrier's policy may say the truck is not being used in its business, and the carrier's insurer may deny the claim. Non-trucking liability is built for that gap.

The same lease rule requires the lease to say who is responsible for providing any other insurance coverage for the operation of the leased equipment, such as bobtail insurance, and the amount of any charge-back to you if the carrier provides it. If your lease requires you to carry non-trucking liability, it says so in that section. See leasing owner-operators insurance.

IRMI describes the usual way to write this coverage as a business auto policy (CA 00 01) with the Motor Carriers: Insurance for Non-Trucking Use endorsement, CA 23 09. Before the 2013 edition, it was titled "Truckers: Insurance for Non-Trucking Use."

For the scheduled power unit, the endorsement takes away liability coverage in two situations:

1. While the auto is used to carry property in any business.
2. While the auto is used in the business of anyone to whom it is rented.

It also removes for-hire motor carriers that would otherwise qualify as insureds because they are liable for your conduct. In other words, your non-trucking policy is not supposed to become the carrier's insurance.

What remains is liability coverage when the truck is used for non-business purposes. The exact boundary depends on facts: where the driver was going, whether the trip was dispatched, whether a trailer was attached and loaded, and what the lease says about when the carrier's control begins and ends. Courts around the country have decided these disputes in different ways on different policy language. If you have a claim near that boundary, the lease and both policies need to be read together, by an attorney if the claim is serious.

The terms get used interchangeably. They describe different coverage.

• Bobtail literally means a tractor operating without a trailer. IRMI notes it is sometimes used loosely to mean deadheading with an empty trailer.
• Non-trucking liability (IRMI treats "bobtail liability" as a synonym) covers the truck when it is not being used in trucking for the carrier, for example traveling home after a delivery.
• Unladen liability is broader: it covers the truck when it is operating without cargo, bobtailing or deadheading, regardless of whether it is under dispatch.

The difference matters on a deadhead run to a pickup. Under a non-trucking form, that trip may be "in the business of" the carrier and excluded. Under an unladen form, an empty trip may be covered whether or not it was dispatched. Many owner-operators buy "bobtail" coverage expecting the unladen version and get the non-trucking version. See bobtail vs non-trucking liability.

Hauling outside the lease. Non-trucking liability is not a substitute for primary liability. If you haul a load for a different carrier, for a friend, or under your own authority, the endorsement excludes it. If you want to run under your own authority, you need your own primary truck liability and filings. See new authority truck insurance.

Physical damage. Non-trucking liability covers others. It does not fix your truck. Owner-operators usually buy physical damage on the same policy.

Injury to you. Neither the carrier's liability policy nor your non-trucking policy pays for your own injuries. That is occupational accident or workers' compensation.

Carrier-provided programs. Some motor carriers offer non-trucking liability through a program and charge it back weekly. Federal rules entitle you, on request, to a copy of each policy and a certificate showing the insurer, policy number, dates, coverage, cost and deductibles (376.12(j)(2)). Ask for them. You want to see the exclusions you are paying for.

Trailer liability. If you pull a trailer you own while not under dispatch, check that the trailer is covered for liability under your policy.