Sentry trucking insurance

What a Sentry truck policy covers

One truck policy is really a bundle of coverages, and each one protects a different part of your operation. Sentry lists these choices:

• Commercial auto liability: according to Sentry, any business with employees or customers behind the wheel probably needs this.
• Physical damage: helps pay for harm to your own vehicle from things like storms, animals, or other drivers.
• Motor truck cargo: covers losses when cargo is destroyed, stolen, or damaged in other ways.
• Non-trucking liability: protects owner-operators when they drive the truck for personal, non-business reasons.
• General liability: choices cover product liability, product recalls, and errors and omissions.
• Cyber liability: available for trucking businesses.
• Workers' compensation: Sentry points out that some states require it.

You won't need everything on this list. Which ones fit depends on whether you haul under your own authority or sign on with another carrier, plus what you're hauling.

Who does Sentry cover?

Sentry covers everyone from a single owner-operator with one truck to large fleets. A matched Sentry agent puts together a transportation insurance plan built around your operation, so your policy matches the way you actually work.

When you lease on with a carrier, that carrier's filing protects you while you're under dispatch. You'd still keep non-trucking liability, sometimes known as bobtail, plus physical damage coverage for your truck. A lease with an authorized carrier must hand over sole possession, control, and use of the equipment to that carrier for as long as the lease runs.

Buying through an appointed trucking agency

Sentry commercial trucking insurance isn't sold online, and a general agent can't sell it to you either. Sentry offers it solely through appointed agencies, and those appointments go only to agencies that focus on trucking coverage. An appointed agency is a standalone insurance office that the insurer has officially authorized to sell its policies.

How to earn the telematics discount

Telematics is the information your truck's electronic tracking system gathers about how and where the truck gets driven. Sentry customers can get a discount of up to 5% on their premium when the policy starts, just by sharing this data through a program called TruckerCloud. "At bind" just means the savings kick in when your policy first goes into effect.

Claims and safety help

Sentry keeps its claims work in-house. All of its adjusters are Sentry associates with a focus on trucking risks. Sentry also provides certified directors of safety with 20-plus years in the industry.

How much liability coverage do federal rules set for your truck?

If you carry freight for pay between states under your own authority, federal rules decide the lowest liability amount you can carry. The figure changes with your truck's weight rating and the freight you move.

Your insurance company sends proof of this coverage to the FMCSA, the federal agency that oversees trucking safety, using Form BMC-91 or BMC-91X. The insurer gets a 20-day window to make that filing once the application for your authority goes public, and missing it means the application is thrown out. Haul only within one state, and that state sets both the minimum and the filing.

Broker limits compared with the federal minimum

Plenty of brokers want more than the legal minimum before they'll hand you loads. Freight carriers face no federal rule requiring cargo insurance, yet most brokers ask for it anyway.

Broker	Auto liability	Cargo insurance
C.H. Robinson	$1 million	$100,000
TQL	$1 million	$100,000
Uber Freight	$1 million	$100,000
Amazon Relay	$1 million for each occurrence	$100,000
J.B. Hunt	Meets the $750,000 federal minimum	None set by federal law

Amazon Relay goes further, too, asking for $1,000,000 in general liability for each occurrence, $50,000 in trailer replacement coverage, and $100,000 in coverage for employer liability.

Common questions