Trailer Interchange Insurance

It’s important to insure trailers that are attached to your truck. Should they be damaged, stolen or hijacked, you don’t want to have to pay for it. That’s true even if you don’t own the trailer.

Sure, you may not own the trailer, but you do own the truck – as well as your reputation and business. Many prospective clients hear about this kind of insurance and ask: “isn’t that the same as a written interchange agreement?” You need that, too. We always tell drivers: a trailer on your truck is your responsibility. It ceases being your responsibility the moment you get it where it’s supposed to go and give it to whoever you’re supposed to give it to. Until then, it’s yours. This insurance keeps you protected during that process.

You may already have physical damage insurance. But, that doesn’t negate the necessity of this particular kind of trucking insurance. The insurance you already have covers trucks and trailers that are yours. They’re your property. This insurance keeps you from being liable when you’re driving trailers that aren’t yours. If you don’t, then these trailers won’t be covered by the insurance you already have. We can add this to your regular insurance plan to make things simpler. You’ll be covered, the trailer will be covered and the cargo will be covered. That can be a true business saver in the event of a fire, collision, theft, vandalism or worse.

To get this insurance, you must already have liability insurance. Only certain vehicles qualify for this kind of insurance. You must have one trailer and one pick-up, too. As you might imagine, the price of your insurance can go up quite a bit when you add this insurance. Often, it’s a smaller number: hopefully, somewhere in the neighborhood from as high as $1500 to as low as $100 annually. We know how important it is to your business to keep costs under control. So, our experts do everything in their power to make sure that this number is as small as possible. To that end, we cover over everything we can to keep it low: your equipment’s value, your driving record, loss history, and many other factors. With all of that info at the disposal of our professionals, we keep your prices low.

We understand that many of our prospective clients are interested in this kind of insurance. To make the process so smoother, we have a few recommendations. Put together an evaluation of your trailers and trucks and make it as detailed as possible. Obviously, this isn’t necessary. But, it can make the process go even more smoothly. The compensation will be transferred only after deductibles have been paid by the insurance. If the case costs go beyond your limits, you will have to pay the difference. As you might imagine then, before you agree to any kind of limit, you want to have as comprehensive an evaluation of your trucks and trailers ahead of time. Should you have expensive trucks, you can end up making additional payments in addition to the deductibles, so you set a low limit. Or, you could end up paying a high deductible if the trucks or trailers cost less than your limit. If you’re confused reading this, that’s totally understandable.

No one wants to have to pay for a trailer, or items in a trailer, that they don’t own. It just doesn’t make sense to expose your entire company to risk due to the trailers on your vehicle. Even as careful a driver as you are, it’s impossible to keep your eye on those trailers at all times. So, no matter what trailers you have to take wherever you go, we can help. Contact us and let us put together a plan for you.