We have the everyday privilege of talking to many truck drivers and we discovered that many are not so well-informed regarding insurance and the different coverages that exist. Many think that having Liability insurance covers everything and that simply isn’t true.

For this reason, we thought it be important to write about what types of insurances you should have to avoid having unpleasant surprises in the event of a claim. There are many factors to determine which type of insurance is the most appropriate for each type of business. However, these are the 4 fundamental coverages that you must have:

- Liability Insurance: This is the insurance that is mandatory and is the one that covers damage caused to third parties or property. Driving without this coverage is a crime and could result in heavy penalties.

- Bobtail Insurance: It’s also known as non-trucking liability. This insurance covers your Liability (for third party damages) when you aren’t using the truck to transport cargo. For example, if you leave your load in the yard and go out with the truck for maintenance, wash, or taking it home. If you don’t have this insurance, you don’t have Liability coverage.

- Motor Cargo: This insurance covers the merchandise you are transporting. Whether it is damage caused by collision or theft. It doesn’t cover cargo that gets wet or fall damage or that the cargo isn’t received for some reason. We recommend securing the cargo well before leaving and if you see that the cargo isn’t secure, contact your company and don’t assume the responsibility that could bring you economic losses.

- Physical Damage: In general terms, Physical Damage groups together some coverages in order to protect your truck, such as "collision insurance" that covers the cost of repairing or replacing your vehicle when it’s damaged in an accident.

It’s very important to have it, since in the case of an accident in which is not your fault, it’s easier for you to report it to your insurance company so that they can repair the truck and then your insurance company is in charge of recovering the money they paid for the repair of your truck, including your deductible.

It’s a matter of you assess the situation and see if it’s convenient for you to report it to your insurance company or that you take charge of dealing with the insurance of the person who caused the damage.

We want to conclude by saying that we know many of you are trying to save on insurance, which isn’t wrong; However, we recommend that you verify that this saving of money isn’t meaning a dangerous reduction in coverage for you in the event that you need to use your insurance. A single claim could represent the loss of everything you have fought for all your life.