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Jun 14, 2017

HIGH CLAIMS * USA: Truck insurance ratings

* New York - Commercial vehicle insurer profits hurt

--- More accidents and higher than anticipated payouts for claims hurt U.S. insurers’ profits from commercial auto policies in 2016, and explain why trucking companies are seeing higher premiums... The financial results for U.S. insurers’ commercial auto insurance policies were the worst they’ve been in 15 years, hitting an underwriting combined ratio of 110.4 percent, according to a report released from Fitch Ratings, the New York credit rating agency... Translated, that means for every $100 in commercial auto insurance policy premiums collected, U.S. insurers paid out $110.40, the sixth year in a row underwriting losses outpaced profits, according to the report... Commercial auto insurance includes both liability and physical damage policies. By law, trucking companies as well as individual owner/operators are required to carry both... Higher rates for commercial auto insurance premiums are likely to continue rising, as several companies have stopped writing policies, and “a sharp turnaround in results is not anticipated,” according to the report... 
 (Photo: South Florida truck accident overturned)   --   NY, USA - Trucks.com, by MICHELLE RAFTER - June 2, 2017


* California - New independent truckers: How hard it would be to get insurance

... Getting into the trucking business as an independent owner/operator is more complicated than filling out an application to drive for Uber or Lyft...Insurance policies with annual premiums that cost $6,500 or $7,000 four or five years ago now run anywhere from $12,000 to $14,000, “and a lot of brokers are throwing around $20,000,” said Joe Rajkovacz, director of governmental affairs and communications for the Western States Trucking Association, which helps members find insurance... For CDL truck drivers to operate under their own authority as a licensed, regulated carrier, they must apply to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, or FMCSA, for a U.S. Department of Transportation number, which allows them to run a heavy-duty truck across state lines. They also must meet other state and federal requirements... And they need insurance. Like any other trucking company, FMCSA requires individual owner/operators to carry a minimum of $750,000 to $5 million in liability coverage, depending on the type of cargo they transport. Coverage minimums haven’t changed since 1985. The FMCSA has looked at raising the requirements but dropped plans for a change earlier this month, saying it did not have sufficient information to make a decision... In addition, owner/operators who work as for-hire interstate haulers also need cargo insurance, typically $100,000 in physical damage coverage. Brokers and shippers may require other coverages types... The biggest cause of higher premiums, however, is U.S. insurers’ reaction to higher-than-expected accident rates and claims involving commercial vehicles, a one-two punch that depleted cash reserves the companies set aside to cover claims, which has hurt profits... 
(Photo:)   --  Upland, CAL, USA - Trucks.com, by MICHELLE RAFTER - JUNE 6, 2017

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Apr 1, 2017

WHAT THE RIGHT INSURANCE FOR TRUCKERS * Australia: WHAT TO GO WITH

* What sort of insurance is there for drivers?

--- Finding the right insurance is integral to running a viable transport business... There is plenty of choice, there are plenty of different truck insurance policies available and there's plenty of variations on the policy prices. And there's even a number of ways you can pay - including through the nose if you aren't careful... A bit like motor vehicle insurance for cars and stuff, truck insurance is available in three different forms... There's full comprehensive truck insurance, there's third party fire and theft and there's third party truck insurance... Full comprehensive truck insurance, in an ideal world, is basically designed to cover you for everything, as it gives you the most cover by protecting your truck against fire, theft and damage regardless of who is at fault if there were to be an accident... Third party fire and theft truck insurance provides cover for your truck against fire and or theft but it will not cover you against damage caused by an accident which was your fault... 
Sidney, NSW, Australia - Big Rigs - 31st Mar 2017

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May 2, 2015

* USA - OOIDA: New trucking insurance arbitrary

* DC - Trucker Group urges Congress to quash arbitrary insurance hikes

-- The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), along with other industry stakeholders sent a letter to Congress this week, urging it to stop the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) increasing federally mandated levels of financial responsibility coverage for property and passenger motor carriers (See ABA report)... The letter was sent to the U.S. House Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee and signed by national, regional and state associations representing a wide range of transportation entities, including trucking, school buses, motor coaches, agricultural and others... The industry groups signing the letter say the proposed rule would place significant financial burdens on truck fleets without any improvement to highway safety... Todd Spencer, OOIDA’s executive vice president, said, “Many small carriers — some of the safest motor carriers operating on our nation’s highways — will simply be unable to afford or obtain coverage at higher mandated levels” ... He said the FMCSA is responsible for ensuring that undue burden is not placed small businesses and that there is no disruption to transportation services... The letter emphasizes, “The FMCSA’s approach to date has largely ignored these core requirements as well as any need to show data-driven safety benefits from this sweeping rulemaking" ... 
Washington, DC, USA - Trucking News - May 1, 2015

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Dec 3, 2014

TRUCKING INSURANCE * USA: FMCSA's

* DC - US regulators poll public on need for higher trucking insurance 

Washington,DC,USA -JOC, by William B. Cassidy - Dec 01, 2014: -- Plans to raise the minimum insurance coverage U.S. trucking companies must maintain to operate could affect hundreds of thousands of trucking companies, large and small, and their shipper customers. However, those plans are likely to proceed slowly, given the current political climate on Capitol Hill and industry opposition to higher minimum levels... Since 1985, that minimum has been $750,000 for interstate general freight motor carriers and between $1 million and $5 million for various types of hazardous-materials haulers... Higher minimum insurance levels and rates could be “a death nail” for many small companies, according to the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. The American Trucking Associations also opposes raising the requirements, arguing that higher minimum insurance levels are not necessary because very few crash payments exceed current minimums. An ATA study of Insurance Services Office data found that 83 percent of trucking insurance policies are written to cover $1 million in bodily injury and property damage claims... However, the Trucking Alliance, a lobbying group formed by several large trucking and logistics companies, conducted a study that found 42 percent of claims settlements in almost 9,000 accidents were above the $750,000 threshold... In an April 2014 report to Congress, the Department of Transportation agency said catastrophic crashes requiring insurance payments that exceed current minimum levels comprise less than 1 percent of all commercial vehicle crashes, but the minimums are too low to cover the cost of the worst crashes...

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Jun 15, 2013

TRUCKS' NEW SAFETY SYSTEMS * USA

* Ohio - Bendix touting next-generation safety system

(Photo: Bendix Wingman ACB -Active Cruise with Braking- for commercial vehicles is an adaptive cruise control system that provides visual and audible warnings, reduces the throttle and engages the brakes when the distance between a truck and the vehicle it is following starts to close) 
Elyria,OH,USA -Truck News -Jun 13, 2013: -- Bendix is claiming its next-generation commercial vehicle safety system will offer features “never before possible for commercial vehicles in North America ” ... The system is being developed with suppliers including TRW and Mobileye and will be available through truck OEMs... Bendix says it will dramatically enhance features currently available in driver assistance systems, such as collision mitigation... The vision aspect will utilize a TRW camera adapted for use by Bendix and powered by the Mobileye System-on-Chip EyeQ2 processor, which Bendix says offers state-of-the-art algorithms...


* Michigan - Meritor Wabco says study shows collision mitigation systems save lives

(Image)
Troy,MICH,USA -Truck News (CAN) -Jun 13, 2013: -- Meritor Wabco says a new study validates the life-saving potential of its collision mitigation system... The study, by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found Meritor Wabco’s OnGuard collision mitigation system would have been able to eliminate 24% of fatalities and 23% of injuries resulting from actual truck crashes analyzed in the study... The study also looked at next-generation collision mitigation systems, and found that fatality reductions using the next version of the system could reduce fatalities by 44% and injuries by 46%... Looking further down the road, “future-generation CMS” could generate an estimated reduction of 57% in fatalities and 56% in injuries, the study found. And if all straight trucks and tractor semi-trailers used the systems, the combined economic savings could total $1.4 billion for current systems, $2.6 billion for next-generation systems and $3.1 for future-generation systems... Also, a comparison between a fleet with and without collision mitigation technology showed fleets without CMS were 2.26 times more likely to be the striking vehicle in a rear-end crash than trucks equipped with collision mitigation systems...


* DC - 42% of settlements paid by carriers for accidents exceed insurance requirements, alliance says

(Photo from The Trucker/Associated Press/Cincinatti Enquirer, by Cara Owsley - Semi-trucks and other vehicles involved in a mulit-car crash are strewn across westbound Interstate 275 between Colerain Avenue and Hamilton Avenue Monday, Jan. 21, 2013 in Cincinnati. The accident left about 20 people injured) Washington,DC,USA -The Trucker News Services -14 June 2013: -- Forty two percent of the dollar settlements paid by trucking companies to motorists injured in accidents may exceed the federal government’s minimum insurance requirement for trucking companies, according to a study conducted recently by the Alliance for Driver Safety and Security Inc. (Trucking Alliance)... The alliance is a coalition of trucking companies including Maverick Transportation, Knight Transportation, J.B. Hunt, Dupré, Boyle Transportation, Fikes Truck Line and Schneider National... Through MAP-21, the surface transportation bill, Congress has mandated that the Department of Transportation evaluate the adequacy of the $750,000 minimum level of insurance required of motor carriers, an amount that has not been adjusted in more than 30 years, despite inflation and escalating medical costs... To conduct its own study, member companies of the Trucking Alliance voluntarily tracked 8,692 accident settlements between 2005 and 2011... The data shows that if all the trucking companies in the study had maintained the minimum $750,000 insurance requirement, 42.0 percent of their monetary exposure from these settlements would have exceeded their insurance coverage... Additionally, the study showed that of the settlements that exceeded $750,000 of insurance, the uninsured liability exposure ranged from 37.5 percent at the $1 million insurance level down to 17.7 percent at $4 million of insurance coverage...

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Jan 28, 2009

WARNING * USA - Florida Puts Brakes on Agent Accused of Not Placing Truckers' Insurance

Failed to place coverage for dozens of truckers, causing them to unknowingly operate without insurance

San Diego,CA,USA -Insurance Journal -January 27, 2009: -- Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink is urging the commercial trucking industry and the public to provide any information that may assist the Department of Financial Services' ongoing criminal investigation into an agent who they say pocketed at least $500,000 in commercial auto premiums and failed to place coverage for dozens of truckers, causing them to unknowingly operate without insurance... Margarita D. Martin, owner and operator of Martin-Argote Insurance Group, Inc., in Medley, has been permanently barred from any involvement in the insurance industry, based on a final order the department issued in December. Sink took expedited action against Martin, including an emergency order in October. The department's Division of Agent and Agency Services, Bureau of Investigation, said that Martin sold commercial liability insurance and had customers throughout Florida. Between January 2006 and November 2008, some truckers lost their licenses and even their jobs after having to pay for accidents that occurred during the time they were supposedly insured under policies written by Martin's agency, according to officials...

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Sep 13, 2008

TRUCKING INSURANCE * Canada - Safety Group, Jones DesLauriers team up to create "mega-brokerage"

Toronto,ON,Canada -Canadian Underwriter -12 Sept 2008: -- The Safety Group offices in Ontario and Alberta have merged with Jones DesLauriers Insurance Management Inc. (JDIMI), creating what JDIMI calls "Canada's first mega-trucking insurance brokerage — the largest privately-held trucking insurance firm in the nation"... Jones DesLauriers Insurance Management Inc. (JDIMI) is among the largest privately-held insurance brokerages in Canada. The Safety Group (Safety) is a specialty brokerage for trucking insurance... The trucking business of both firms will take on the name Safety Insurance Group, a specialty division under the JDIMI group of companies.
The new, "one-stop shop" entity includes customized risk management and insurance solutions, fleet safety consulting and 24-hour claims assistance nationwide. The firm's 11 offices include more than 200 employees servicing new and existing accounts...

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Jun 27, 2007

TRUCKING INSURANCE * USA - Leading Insurer Co. Improves Coverage for the Industry

Mayfield Village,OH,USA -Business Wire -June 25, 2007: -- The Progressive Group of Insurance Companies, one of the nation’s largest commercial auto groups, has announced coverage enhancement options for the commercial trucking market. New coverages are designed to provide more protection to new and growing transportation businesses, offering flexible solutions that meet their constantly changing needs... They include:
* Comprehensive Coverage for All Vehicles
* Seasonal Coverage for All Vehicles
* Single Physical Damage Deductible for all Covered Vehicles

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Jun 14, 2007

Trucking Insurance * Canada - WSIB slashes rates

Toronto,Ont,CAN -Today's Trucking -13 June 2007: -- For the second straight year, Ontario’s Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) has cut General Trucking rates... Although the average rate increase is frozen at 0 percent, the Ontario Trucking Association says rates in 2008 for trucking have been modestly reduced by 2.4 percent... The discount for trucking reflects the ongoing efforts by the industry to reduce on-the-job injuries and fatalities, says OTA...

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May 18, 2007

Insurance Costs * USA - Fleets Eye Safety Gains to Cut they

"Companies with low crash rates tended to follow several 'best practices' and had high management involvement in driver training"...

Boston,Mass,USA -Transport Topics, by Tarun Reddy -May 14, 2007: -- Risk management has taken on a new urgency for many carriers as trucking companies attempt to reduce operating costs and minimize insurance premiums, often by including safety improvements... Despite that urgency, many carriers are having a tough time recruiting drivers with clean motor-vehicle records free from accidents or an excessive number of moving violations. At the same time, insurance providers face the challenge of wanting to write more policies for the trucking industry but being wary of trucking companies that do not have a well-rounded risk management program in place... This combination has led to a greater awareness by trucking and insurance executives that their industries must do a better job of working with each other to promote safety and an economical approach to risk management... A study about the trucking industry released last year by Liberty Mutual Group, Boston, found that companies with low crash rates tended to follow several “best practices” and had high management involvement in driver training... The study also found that in the case of successful companies, at least 60% of their drivers had clean motor-vehicle records. These trucking firms also had drivers with at least six months of driving experience... (W J Andy's Public Photo Galery: Everyone needs to drive through Chicago at least once in their lifetime)

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