Hotshot insurance for your setup
In hotshot trucking, a pickup truck and a trailer haul paid loads. Both are covered by Hotshot insurance.
Once your paid loads cross a state line, these limits apply
- $300,000
- rated under 10,001 lbs for the truck and trailer combined
- $750,000
- a rating of 10,001 lbs or more, which covers most hotshot rigs
- Between $1M and $5M
- For loads needing warning signs, the material sets the limit.
- $100K on top of $1M
- liability plus cargo is what most freight brokers ask for
These come from 49 CFR 387.9 and from the brokers C.H. Robinson and TQL.
Getting your own MC number: forms and fees
For hauling loads for pay from state to state, your own trucking business has to get an MC number. It is an FMCSA permit, and the FMCSA is the federal trucking office. These are the forms and fees involved.
- Proof you carry insurance
- The FMCSA receives a form called the BMC-91X from your insurance company. This proves you have liability insurance, which covers harm you cause to others.
- Fee to apply: $300
- This is a one-time payment, sent with your MC number application (the OP-1 form) to the FMCSA.
- Annual fee: $55
- Crossing state lines means a trucking business pays an annual registration fee known as UCR. With up to 2 trucks, the fee is $55; more trucks means a higher fee (check the fee table).
- 20 days
- Once your application appears in the FMCSA Register, your insurance company has 20 days to file the BMC-91X (your proof of insurance). If the proof of insurance is late, the application gets turned down.
A trucker carrying only the legal minimum will not get loads from many brokers. In order, every required form: what to file for an MC number of your own.
Taken from the FMCSA insurance filing rules.
Hotshot trucking insurance by type of trailer
Dually with a gooseneckThe trailer hitches in the truck bed, and the pickup has double rear wheels. Most combined ratings reach 10,001 pounds or more, so $750,000 is the minimum.
Bumper-pull flatbed behind a pickupAn open trailer hitched to a pickup’s back bumper. The minimum is $300,000 when the combined rating stays under 10,001 pounds, and $750,000 at 10,001 pounds or more.
Car haulerThis trailer is built to haul cars. Weight sets the same minimum, with cargo insurance on top for the cars' full value.
Roughly what hot shot insurance costs a month
Own MC number, more than 2 years
Per month, after more than two years with your own MC number and no tickets or crashes.
Source: Trucking Insurance ServicesA new MC number
A month, during years one and two with an MC number of your own.
Source: Trucker Path InsuranceBecause insurers cannot yet see how you drive for work, insurance is highest in the two years after your own MC number starts. Working for a trucking company instead usually lowers what you pay, because its policy covers the majority of claims from crashes on that job. Hotshot insurance cost, in detail · Insurance companies covering hotshot trucks
Speak to an agent who insures hotshot rigs
Give the agent your truck and trailer details, who you haul for, and your MC number start date if you’re getting one. From that, the agent prices the coverage required for your truck, your loads, and your brokers.
Your request goes through Hotshot Insure to a single truck insurance agency. We do not sell insurance or quote it. Your truck is quoted by an insurance agent.
Getting a quote is free, and buying is optional.