18-Wheel Headache: Risk Management & Coverage Challenge For Trucking Companies

Economic and political factors that are peripheral in much of the liability insurance market are having an outsized effect on the trucking industry. In trucking, the labor shortage is acute, and the resulting dynamic is inexorable: A scarcity of drivers engenders pressure to lower standards, and insurers are paying close attention. Trucking companies looking for coverage in this hard market can expect a third degree regarding their safety programs, including how they screen prospective drivers and train those they hire, according to an article by senior executives from CRC Group.

Other factors that will be considered include equipment maintenance and whether safety technologies, like cameras or collision avoidance/lane departure systems, are being utilized. Also of interest is where the company operates. A swath of states across the South are considered “high-hazard,” in part due to a rash of nuclear verdicts, which are also said to be a significant factor in major cities including New York, Chicago and Miami.

Another kind of “verdict,” the safety score from industry rating agencies CAB and the Safety and Fitness Electronic Records (SAFER) System, is even more of a concern, and it’s not bound by geography. “Underwriters,” the CRC writers conclude, “continue to pay very close attention to projected and historical exposures, driver experience/ages, and safety alerts on CAB or the Safety and Fitness Electronic Records (SAFER) System. Agents and insureds working to get their submission to the top of the underwriter’s stack should include information about power units, revenue, the radius of operations, commodities hauled, comprehensive driver lists, and at least five years of currently valued loss history on the auto and general liability.”