Bobtail insurance

What is bobtail insurance?

Bobtail insurance covers you when you're driving your truck without a trailer attached. It's related to non-trucking liability, which covers you during personal errands and other non-work use of the truck.

Deadhead insurance is its own thing, meant for trips pulling an empty trailer. Since bobtail and deadhead protection aren't guaranteed to be inside every non-trucking liability policy, it pays to look at what yours actually lists.

Non-trucking liability is for owner-operators under a permanent lease with a motor carrier. The carrier's primary liability won't follow you during personal driving. A policy of your own closes that hole and keeps you in line with the coverage requirements written into your lease.

What does non-trucking liability pay for?

When a crash happens during personal driving, non-trucking liability can pay for harm done to others, whether that's their injuries or their property. It pays for the injuries and damage your rig causes others, not repairs to your own truck. Non-trucking liability covers three things:

• Bodily injury: covers medical bills when someone gets hurt in a crash.
• Property damage: pays to fix or replace the other person's vehicle or belongings.
• Legal costs: takes care of lawyer fees and court costs after a claim.

Plenty of motor carriers make non-trucking liability a condition for for-hire contractors, so don't be surprised if your lease asks for proof.

Where does coverage stop?

Non-trucking liability does not cover accidents while you're under dispatch. Being under dispatch means you're on the carrier's assignment, like hauling a load of materials. At that point the carrier's insurance is what applies.

Rules also restrict when non-trucking liability can be used, so it won't fit every case. One example: you can't use it while actively operating a truck on behalf of a different company.

Physical damage remains a separate gap to think about. Neither the carrier's primary liability nor non-trucking liability includes it. Physical damage insurance handles repairs to your truck after crashes, theft, or natural disasters, and it comes with no radius limits.

Bobtail insurance cost

There's no standard bobtail price to quote you (for comparison, hotshot truckers pay an average of $896 a month for commercial auto insurance), because rates depend on four things:

• Type of business
• The truck you drive
• Your driving record
• Where you're based

Hotshot Insure doesn't sell insurance, but our phone line reaches an independent agent who writes truck policies and can turn those details into a real quote.

How much liability must the carrier carry?

When you're hauling under your carrier's authority, their insurance covers you, so you don't need to meet federal liability minimums yourself. Those minimums, such as $750,000 for vehicles rated 10,001 lbs or more, $300,000 for fleets with only vehicles under 10,001 lbs, and higher amounts for certain hazardous materials, apply to carriers with their own authority. If you're leased on, you carry non-trucking liability (or bobtail) plus physical damage on your own truck.

Common questions