General liability for truckers: what it covers that your auto policy does not

A trucking company has exposures that have nothing to do with driving:

• A driver for another carrier slips on ice in your yard.
• A visitor is hurt in your office or shop.
• Your employee damages a customer's dock door with a forklift while staging freight.
• Your mechanic's work on a customer's equipment is alleged to have caused a later injury.
• A claim of libel, slander or similar offense (personal and advertising injury).

The ISO commercial general liability form (CG 00 01) is built for these premises and operations exposures. It also covers contractual liability for an "insured contract," which matters when you sign agreements to indemnify a shipper or property owner for injuries on their premises. Have an attorney review indemnity clauses; insurance only follows to the extent the policy defines the contract as covered.

What GL is not: it is not a replacement for auto liability, cargo, physical damage or workers' compensation.

The CGL policy excludes bodily injury or property damage arising out of the ownership, maintenance, use or entrustment to others of any aircraft, auto or watercraft owned or operated by, or rented or loaned to, any insured. The form says "use" includes operation and "loading or unloading."

That definition of loading or unloading is broad. As IRMI's commentary explains, it covers handling property after it is moved from the place where it was accepted for movement into or onto an auto, while it is in or on the auto, and while it is moved from the auto to the place where it is finally delivered. So most incidents involving your trucks, including many that happen during loading and unloading, are auto claims.

The important carve-out: loading or unloading does not include moving property by a mechanical device, other than a hand truck, that is not attached to the auto. IRMI gives examples: a forklift, a conveyor not attached to the vehicle, or a building-mounted hoist loading a truck that drops freight on a passerby is a CGL claim. A liftgate permanently attached to the truck is a commercial auto claim.

The auto policy mirrors this. The ISO Motor Carrier Coverage Form excludes injury or damage from handling property before it is moved from where you accepted it, or after it is moved off the auto to where it is finally delivered, and from movement of property by a mechanical device not attached to the covered auto (other than a hand truck). Read the two policies together. See hired and non-owned auto for a related gap.

Many broker-carrier agreements and shipper contracts list commercial general liability with its own limits, sometimes alongside requirements that the broker or shipper be an additional insured. Part of the reason is that contracts are often written from templates used for all vendors, not only carriers. Part of it is real: drivers spend time on shipper premises, and dock incidents happen.

When a contract requires GL:

• Confirm the limit per occurrence and aggregate match the contract.
• Check whether additional insured status is required and whether your GL has an endorsement that provides it. A certificate alone does not make anyone an additional insured. See certificate holder vs additional insured.
• Look for primary and non-contributory and waiver of subrogation requests. See primary and non-contributory and waiver of subrogation.

The broker agreement decoder pulls these terms out of a contract so you can compare them with your policies.

Customer vehicles in your shop. If you repair or store other people's trucks, GL excludes damage to property in your care, custody or control, and the auto exclusion is in play. That exposure is usually handled with garagekeepers coverage. See what is garagekeepers coverage.

Pollution. Standard GL forms exclude most pollution. A fuel spill at your yard needs a separate look; see truck pollution liability.

Mobile equipment vs autos. Yard tractors, forklifts and similar equipment may be "mobile equipment" covered by GL, or "autos" covered by the auto policy, depending on how they are used and whether they are subject to motor vehicle laws. The motor carrier form's symbol 79 covers equipment that would be mobile equipment except that it is subject to a compulsory or financial responsibility law. Make sure each piece is assigned to one policy.

Your own employees. Injury to your employees is excluded from GL. That is workers' compensation and employer's liability, or, for nonsubscribers, a separate program.