You probably know that your dump truck will sustain a few bumps and bruises in its lifetime. After all, you must deal with the nitty-gritty as a normal course of your duties. However, even dump trucks are not indomitable. They could have wrecks or sustain damage in a variety of hazards. You’ll probably want your vehicle insurance to cover you for the damage. How can your policy do so?
Drivers cannot buy dump truck insurance and assume they have coverage for physical damage. If you only take the basic coverage, you might have no protection. Ask your agent to add coverage like collision and comprehensive damage insurance.
Georgia’s Trucking Insurance Requirements
By law, Georgia, like most states, requires drivers to have insurance on their vehicles. Truck drivers will likely have to get this coverage within commercial auto insurance. This is car insurance tailored to business operators who use vehicles in their line of work.
All policies issued in Georgia must contain bodily injury liability (BIL) and property damage liability (PDL) insurance. The liability coverage helps you repay other drivers, in case you are at-fault for an accident. Bodily injury coverage will pay for their physical injuries and similar losses. PDL coverage will pay for property damage, like damage to their vehicle.
Your Georgia policy must contain at least the following:
- $25,000 BIL coverage per person
- $50,000 BIL coverage per accident
- $25,000 PDL coverage per accident
However, as a commercial driver, you likely need more coverage than the minimum limits. The more you carry, the better you’ll be able to compensate others in case of accidents. Indeed, in some cases, trucking regulations will require you to carry more coverage than the minimums. Talk to your insurance agent about how to go about the process of deciding correct limits.
Not only that, you’ll also need extra coverage for your own physical damages. Liability insurance will not cover the damage you might sustain. It will only cover damage to others. To get coverage for your own losses, you’ll probably need additional coverage. Many policies won’t automatically include things like collision, comprehensive and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Still, you likely need this protection.
Uninsured/Underinsured Protection
You must carry liability insurance on your policy. So must other drivers. That way, they can repay you in case they are at-fault for an accident that the cause. Just like you, those other drivers need to carry high liability limits. However, there is no guarantee that they will do so. To help yourself, see if your policy includes uninsured/underinsured coverage.
- Underinsured coverage will pay you in case another driver’s liability insurance coverage doesn’t pay enough to cover all your damage. Your policy will make up the difference between the driver’s liability payout and your own costs.
- Uninsured coverage pays if the other driver has no insurance at all, or if you cannot make a claim on their coverage. For example, some drivers fail to carry insurance. Others might flee the accident scene after a hit-and-run. You can use this coverage to help you cover yourself instead of their coverage.
Georgia insurers must offer uninsured/underinsured coverage when they quote your policy. However, you do have the option to decline this coverage. Nevertheless, we recommend that you carry protection. It will help you for personal losses when another at-fault driver cannot do so.
Collision Coverage
Car wrecks could happen at any time. If your truck is one of the involved vehicles, that is a personal loss to you. You might not be able to afford the total loss of the truck. You don’t want to pay for the costly repairs out-of-pocket either. With the help of your car insurance, you might not have to worry about it. In most cases, you can add collision insurance to your coverage. A collision policy will pay you in case you have a wreck or other collision with another object.
Comprehensive Insurance
Like collision insurance, comprehensive coverage will pay you in case your car sustains damage. However, it will pay for damage resulting from non-accident hazards. For example, the policy might pay you in case you sustain damage from:
- Severe weather
- Vehicle fires
- Theft and vandalism
Different types of comprehensive policies might cover other types of losses. Talk to your agent if you have specific concerns about risks impacting your dump truck.
In most cases where you total a truck, your policy will pay the truck’s cash value at the time of the accident. Nevertheless, you can get policies that pay you the replacement cost value of a vehicle. With replacement value cost, you’ll be able to get coverage for a new truck of equal or lesser value.
Don’t forget to ask your Georgia trucking agent about other types of compensation like gap insurance and umbrella liability coverage. These policies can protect your investment in your truck when you need assistance. Your business won’t have to suffer as a result.