Truck insurance questions, answered

A BMC-91X is a certificate of insurance that your insurance company files electronically with FMCSA to prove you carry the federal minimum public liability coverage. You cannot file it yourself, and FMCSA will not grant or keep for-hire operating authority without it.

The MCS-90 is a federally prescribed endorsement attached to a motor carrier’s auto liability policy. It promises that injured members of the public will be paid up to the federal minimum, even if the policy itself would not cover the accident, and it lets the insurer recover that payment from the carrier afterward.

Form E is the proof of auto liability insurance that your insurance company files electronically with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV). Texas intrastate motor carriers need an active Form E on file to receive and keep a TxDMV certificate number.

A Texas intrastate motor carrier running a truck over 26,000 pounds must register with TxDMV and keep at least $500,000 of combined single limit auto liability on file through a Form E. Placardable hazmat carriers need $1,000,000 or $5,000,000 depending on the material.

Under 49 CFR 387.9, a for-hire interstate carrier hauling non-hazardous property in a vehicle of 10,001 pounds or more must carry at least $750,000 in public liability. Oil and most hazardous materials require $1,000,000, and certain bulk or high-hazard materials require $5,000,000.

Brokers ask for $1,000,000 because the federal $750,000 minimum is a floor, and the broker can be sued alongside the carrier after a serious crash. In May 2026 the U.S. Supreme Court held that negligent-selection claims against brokers are not preempted by federal law, so brokers have more reason to screen limits and safety records.

The cargo limit is whatever your broker-carrier agreement or rate confirmation says. FMCSA requires no cargo insurance for general freight carriers, so the number is purely contractual and can change by load value and commodity.

A "scheduled" or "specifically described" auto policy covers only the vehicles listed on it. "Any auto" covers any vehicle used in your business, listed or not. Most trucking policies are written on a scheduled basis, which means a truck you forgot to add may not be covered.

A trucking policy covers drivers who meet the law and the insurer’s own driver guidelines. Federal rules require interstate CMV drivers to be at least 21. Texas allows intrastate drivers from age 18. Insurers then set their own standards for experience and driving record, and those differ by program.

There is no reliable average price for Texas truck insurance, because premium depends on your trucks, drivers, radius, commodity, limits, safety record and loss history. A real number requires a quote built on your own information.

CSA "scores" are FMCSA Safety Measurement System (SMS) percentiles in seven safety categories called BASICs, built from 24 months of roadside inspections, crash reports and investigations. They do not set your premium by formula, but underwriters and brokers review your public safety data, so poor results can mean surcharges, declined quotes or lost loads.

An out-of-service (OOS) rate is the percentage of your roadside inspections that ended with a driver, vehicle or hazmat out-of-service order over the last 24 months. FMCSA shows it separately for vehicles, drivers and hazmat on your SAFER Company Snapshot, next to the national average.

"New venture" is the term insurers use for a trucking company with new operating authority and little or no history of its own. Because there are no loss runs or inspection history to rate on, underwriters lean on the owner’s and drivers’ experience, equipment, commodity and radius instead.

FMCSA says first-time applications in its registration system may take 20 to 25 business days, or 8 weeks or longer if they need further review. Authority is granted only after the application is published in the FMCSA Register, the 10-day protest period passes, and your insurer’s liability filing and your BOC-3 are on file.

When a trucking policy cancels, the insurer files a cancellation notice with the regulator. Federally, a BMC-91X filing cannot be cancelled until 30 days after a Form BMC-35 notice is filed with FMCSA, and FMCSA requires insurance to stay on file to avoid revocation proceedings. In Texas, the insurer files Form K and TxDMV can penalize or revoke your certificate.

An unattended vehicle exclusion is wording in many motor truck cargo policies that removes or limits theft coverage when the truck or trailer is left unattended, unless conditions in the policy are met. Common conditions are that the cargo is in a fully enclosed, securely locked body and there is visible evidence of forced entry.

Most motor truck cargo policies cover theft of the freight you are hauling, but usually with conditions. The most common are unattended vehicle restrictions, requirements that the cargo be in a locked and enclosed trailer, and lower limits or exclusions for high-theft commodities.

Trailer interchange covers physical damage to a trailer you do not own while it is in your possession under a written trailer interchange agreement. Non-owned trailer physical damage covers trailers you pull that you do not own when there may be no interchange agreement, such as a shipper’s trailer on a power-only load.

Non-trucking liability covers an owner-operator’s truck when it is used for purposes other than hauling for the motor carrier, such as driving home after a delivery. "Bobtail" literally means a tractor running without a trailer. The industry often uses the two terms interchangeably, but the policy trigger is what matters.

When an owner-operator leases a truck to a motor carrier, the motor carrier’s auto liability usually covers the truck while it operates under the carrier’s authority, because federal rules give the carrier exclusive control and complete responsibility for the equipment during the lease. The owner-operator typically buys non-trucking liability, physical damage on the truck, and occupational accident or other injury coverage.

Workers compensation is statutory insurance for employees, with benefits set by state law. Occupational accident is a private accident policy with fixed limits and benefits set in the contract, commonly bought by or for owner-operators who are independent contractors.

Usually not by law. Texas Labor Code Section 406.002 lets a private employer elect whether to carry workers compensation, so a Texas trucking company can legally operate without it. But a company that opts out loses its main defenses if an injured employee sues, must file a notice with the Texas Department of Insurance every year, and must tell its employees in writing.

A certificate holder is the party that receives a certificate of insurance as proof that you carry coverage; it gets no rights under your policy. An additional insured is added to the policy itself by endorsement and can claim coverage under it. Texas law (Insurance Code Chapter 1811) says a certificate cannot change a policy or give the holder contractual rights, so only the endorsement makes someone an additional insured.

A loss run is a report from your insurer listing the claims charged against your policy, with dates, payments, and open reserves. In Texas, Insurance Code Section 542.102 lets a policyholder request a list of claims and payments in writing, and Section 542.103 requires the insurer to provide it within 30 days of receiving the request.

Yes. You can cancel a truck policy and replace it before it expires. The work is in the timing: the new insurer has to put your federal (BMC-91X) and Texas (Form E) filings on file before the old ones are cancelled, because the regulations build in notice periods and a lapse can put your operating authority at risk.

Actual cash value (ACV) is what the truck is worth at the time of loss, usually replacement cost minus depreciation or market value. Stated amount is the value you list for the truck on the policy, and on most truck physical damage forms it works as a ceiling: the insurer pays the lesser of the stated amount, the actual cash value, or the cost to repair. Stating a high value does not guarantee a high payout.

Radius is the customary distance your trucks travel from where they are garaged, measured in a straight line. IRMI describes three standard radius classes: local (not more than 50 miles), intermediate (between 50 and 200 miles), and long distance (more than 200 miles). Underwriters use radius to rate the policy, and some policies restrict coverage or rating to the radius you declared.

The Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) is an annual registration and fee required by federal law (49 U.S.C. 14504a) for interstate motor carriers, private carriers, freight forwarders, brokers, and leasing companies. Carriers pay a fee based on how many commercial motor vehicles they operate, through their base state. The current fee brackets are published at plan.ucr.gov.

Yes, if you need Texas intrastate authority. TxDMV says you must have a valid USDOT number before you begin the TxDMV registration process, and that if your operations are exclusively within Texas you should register with USDOT as intrastate, not interstate. Your insurer then files proof of insurance with TxDMV.

A BOC-3 is the FMCSA form that designates a process agent, a person or company that can accept legal papers on your behalf, in each state where you operate. FMCSA requires motor carriers, brokers, and freight forwarders to have one on file before operating authority is granted, and to keep it accurate to stay active.

Not automatically. Some trucking markets give credit for cameras or factor them into underwriting, and others do not, so there is no standard discount. Where dashcams pay off most reliably is on claims: road-facing video can show what happened in a disputed crash, and Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 72.055 says a court cannot require expert testimony to admit an authenticated photo or video of the vehicles involved.

A nuclear verdict is a jury award so large it can threaten the defendant company. IRMI defines a nuclear award as a plaintiff's verdict over $10 million. Trucking is a frequent target: ATRI's 2020 study of 600 trucking cases from 2006 to 2019 found 26 cases over $1 million in the first five years of the data and nearly 300 in the last five.

Hired auto coverage protects your company when a vehicle you lease, hire, rent, or borrow causes an accident. Non-owned auto coverage protects you when a vehicle you do not own, lease, or rent is used for your business, typically an employee's own car. On ISO motor carrier and truckers forms, non-owned auto applies only to private passenger type vehicles, and an employee's own truck is treated as a hired auto.

Garagekeepers coverage pays for damage to a customer's vehicle while it is in your care, custody, or control for service, repair, parking, or storage. IRMI describes it as garage policy coverage for damage to a customer's auto left with the business, and notes other auto businesses can get it by endorsement. A trucking company that only hauls its own freight usually does not need it; one that repairs, tows, or stores other people's trucks does.

Motor truck cargo forms are not standardized, so exclusions vary by insurer. The ones that cause the most denied claims are theft from an unattended truck, spoilage from reefer breakdown without the endorsement, commodities the form excludes or limits (often electronics, alcohol, tobacco, and other high-theft goods), and loads worth more than the per-vehicle limit.

The MCS-150 is the form that keeps your USDOT registration current. Under 49 CFR 390.19, you must update it every 24 months: the last digit of your USDOT number sets the month (1 is January through 9 for September, 0 for October), and the next-to-last digit sets the year (odd digit, odd years; even digit, even years). Failing to update leads to deactivation of the USDOT number and possible civil penalties.

A DOT safety rating is FMCSA's formal judgment of whether a motor carrier has adequate safety management controls, under 49 CFR Part 385. The ratings are satisfactory, conditional, and unsatisfactory; a carrier that has never been rated is "unrated." An unsatisfactory rating that becomes final prohibits the carrier from operating commercial motor vehicles.

Often yes, but it is harder. Federal rules set a minimum age of 21 for interstate drivers (49 CFR 391.11), Texas allows intrastate drivers from age 18 (37 TAC 4.12), and anyone getting a Class A or B CDL for the first time since February 7, 2022 must complete entry-level driver training. Beyond those legal floors, each trucking market sets its own experience guidelines, and many prefer drivers with prior verifiable commercial driving.

Primary and non-contributory is contract wording that sets the order policies pay in. "Primary" means your policy responds first; "non-contributory" means your insurer will not ask the other party's insurer to share the loss. IRMI describes it as a term used in contract insurance requirements to stipulate the order in which multiple policies triggered by the same loss respond. On auto policies, it is added by endorsement (ISO's version is CA 04 49).

A waiver of subrogation is your insurer's agreement that, after paying a claim, it will not try to recover that money from a party you agreed in a contract not to pursue, such as a shipper or broker. IRMI defines it as an acknowledgment by an insurer that it has no right to subrogate against a liable third party after it has paid a loss on behalf of its insured. On auto policies it is added by endorsement, such as ISO's CA 04 44.

Yes, if the truck itself goes into Mexico. Article 63 Bis of Mexico's federal roads and motor transport law requires every vehicle traveling on federal roads and bridges to carry insurance covering damage to third parties, and makes the owner responsible for buying it. Check the coverage territory clause in your U.S. truck policy: if Mexico is not included, you have no coverage there and need a policy written for Mexico.

A broker-carrier agreement is the master contract a freight broker signs with each motor carrier before tendering loads. It covers rates and payment, cargo liability and claims, indemnity, insurance limits and endorsements, and often a no-back-solicitation clause. Federal law (49 U.S.C. 14101(b)) lets carriers and shippers waive many rights in writing, but not the rules on registration, insurance, or safety fitness.