Commercial Trucking Insurance Houston, TX

If you are starting a new trucking company, you want to do everything you can to make your business a success. One of the first steps is to register your business with the state, another fundamental step is to buy or lease your first truck, as well as register with the Department of Transportation and obtain your DOT and MC number if you are going to travel interstate. To activate your Motor Carrier Authority you first must get commercial trucking insurance in Houston, TX. Simplex Group has an office in Houston, TX that can provide you with the best commercial trucking insurance for you.

If you are an owner-operator in Houston, TX and your truck weighs 26,000 pounds or less, you will need $500,000 of Texas commercial truck insurance. If you are going to cross state lines when you transport cargo, you will need more coverage. 

If you’re an owner operator and operate trucks that weigh over 16,000 GVW or carry hazardous material and require placards, you need $750,000 to $5,000,000 of bodily injury liability and property damage liability, depending on what you are carrying. 

A trucking company will need six different kinds of commercial truck insurance to operate correctly. If the trucking insurance requirements seem like a lot, you have to understand the responsibilities of a trucking company. The trucking industry impacts truck drivers, the environment, and the communities the trucks pass through. It is very important to ensure the safety of others when you do the important work of a trucker. 

Commercial Trucking Liability 

Commercial trucking liability insurance is the most important type of collision coverage that you should get because it will protect you if your driver causes a collision. Not only will this insurance coverage pay for the medical expenses of an injured person, but it also covers damage to their car and damage to the highway. It will also cover any environmental harm caused by a truck accident. State and federal agencies require trucking companies and drivers to have liability insurance.

Simplex Group can provide coverage for every driver in your company. Our team of trucking industry professionals will make sure that anyone who is hurt will get the very best medical attention possible. We provide services for both long and short-haul trucking operations.

Every truck on the road must have liability insurance. When it comes to professional trucking companies, the amount of commercial insurance required will depend on the cargo being transported and the type of truck.

Trucking companies need more insurance than other businesses do.  We can create an insurance plan that will fully protect you without breaking your budget. 

If you were to look for insurance on your own, you might end up getting less than you would need to protect your fleet, or you may buy too much.  You need our team of trucking insurance professionals to make sure your company, truck drivers, and cargo are fully protected.

Straight Trucks

Straight or box trucks are most often used as moving trucks, garbage trucks, flatbed trucks, or for the delivery of products by companies such as Amazon. The amount of commercial truck insurance you need will be determined by the cargo you carry and the distance that you carry it when you use this type of truck. 

New Ventures

New trucking insurance companies may have trouble finding an insurance provider to write them a reasonably priced insurance policy. Many insurers think new truck insurance companies lack experience and are a big commercial insurance risk. If your drivers lack experience, a commercial truck insurance company may charge ridiculously high premiums for assuming the risk of covering you. 

At Simplex Group, we specialize in assisting new companies and can write you an air-tight insurance policy. We can assist you with compliance and trucking taxes as well.

Local

We can help both large and small companies acquire insurance. Most companies that only do intrastate runs will have to pay less insurance than they would if they did national runs. Drivers love these hauls because it gives them more time at home with their families.

The minimum liability coverage for a truck that weighs over 26,000 pounds and carries household goods is $500,000 of liability insurance in Texas. If a truck weighs less than that and carries household goods, they will be required to carry at least $300,000 worth of commercial truck insurance.

Intermediate and Long Haul

A long haul is considered anything over 250 miles. Most long hauls go across state lines and require at least $750,000 worth of liability insurance, according to the FMCSA. You will also need coverage for damage to your vehicle and its cargo. We can write a policy that will keep you compliant with federal standards and keep you safe. We know what kind of coverage you need and what you do not. 

Mixed Radius 

Your company may have a mixture of long and short-haul routes. If it does, you may think that each truck must be covered with both long and short-haul policies. As a new company, you want to save as much money as you can on commercial truck insurance.

We can create a mixed radius policy that is customized to the unique needs of your company. You should never have to pay for anything you don’t need, but you should never be caught without the coverage you do need.

Auto Haulers

When you decide to haul autos for a living, you are taking on an important and dangerous job. Your trailer needs to be balanced perfectly, and the cars you are carrying need to be loaded properly. 

When an auto hauler has an accident, it is likely to be catastrophic. Cars can spill out onto the highway injuring people or killing them. It can destroy other vehicles and shut down highways. 

Auto haulers are required to carry at least $1 million of liability insurance. At Simplex, we want to make sure your company is covered for anything that can happen.  We will write you a policy that will protect your company in the event of a catastrophic accident. 

Intermodal

A shipment that relies on two different kinds of transportation to get where it is going is called intermodal. Trucks that pick up cargo from the docks are intermodal and so are trucks that pick up cargo from trains or airplanes. Intermodal insurance is generally for trucks that carry shipping containers that arrive by ocean freight.

A truck that carries this kind of haul must make sure that the containers are fastened properly with pins because an unstable load can easily cause an accident. Trucking is a demanding job, and ports charge a lot of money. Unfortunately, trucks are sometimes loaded in a hurry to save time. It is important to make sure that your trucks are fully insured for anything that could happen on the way to or from the docks.

We can make sure intermodal is included in your policy if you need it. We will make sure you have liability and cargo coverage, and we will also cover the chassis. Most trucking companies do not own their own chassis. They may rent one from an equipment rental company or an ocean shipper.

UIIA & Trailer interchange 

The Uniform Intermodal Interchange and Facilities Access Agreement functions as a contract between trucking companies and equipment providers. The IIFAA makes laws pertaining to the shared trailers that are used for intermodal transportation and has its own insurance requirements for truckers. They require that you have $1 million of liability insurance for any haul they oversee. Container transportation can be very lucrative, so do not let the fact that the commercial truck insurance costs you a little more keep you from pursuing this type of trucking.

Available Coverage for One Vehicle 

If you are a trucker operating from home or a one-man garage, you may think that we cannot do anything for you, but we cater to companies of all sizes. We can cover you for an independent truck or one that you use for your business. 

There are different types of cargo insurance as well. We can cover you for all types of cargo including: 

• Reefer
• General Freight
• Dry Goods 
• Flatbed 
• Intermodal 
• Auto Haulers

Trucking Cargo Insurance

Your clients are the heart and soul of your business, and the cargo that you transport for them is their livelihood. You want to ensure that your client’s products are well protected and get where they are going in one piece. 

Proper commercial truck insurance companies offer cargo coverage to protect your client’s products and your business. When a truck has an accident, products might spill onto the road.  

When products are broken, it affects not only your clients but the company to which their products were going. Consumers rely on trucking companies to get products to them quickly and efficiently. If you are carrying something critical to their health, the destruction of these products can have a major effect on their life.

Cargo insurance doesn’t only cover you for accidents. Theft is an all too common problem for over-the-road truckers. Your drivers have to go to the bathroom, sleep, and eat. When a driver is not with their truck, it leaves it open to theft. 

Products can break even when there is no accident. Sometimes cargo might not be secured correctly and comes loose during transport. Our truck insurance will cover damages from driver mistakes. We will compensate your customers quickly, so you can get back to the business of doing a great job for them.

Physical Damage

A liability insurance policy will only cover injuries and property damage for the person who your truck driver injures. Unfortunately, it will not cover damages to your truck. The average semi-truck costs around $80,000 to $150,000 or more, and losing one can be devastating to your business.

Our team of trained and experienced insurance agents at Simplex Group will make sure that your fleet of trucks is protected from physical damage caused by an accident, natural disaster, extreme weather event, vandalism, or theft.

Personal Injury Protection

Texas is a fault state when it comes to insurance. This means that the person who caused the accident is responsible for paying the medical bills of anyone who suffered bodily injury damages in the crash. 

If a person in a passenger car causes one of your drivers to have an accident, they will be liable for the driver’s bills. However,  the amount of commercial auto insurance an individual is required to carry in Texas may not cover the medical bills of somebody who has been in a truck accident.  In some cases, the driver who caused the accident may not have any truck insurance.

It is wise to make sure that your drivers are covered. There may be some things that workers’ compensation will not cover, and a personal injury protection insurance plan will give you an extra level of security. Truck driving is a dangerous job, and the more truck insurance coverage you have, the better off you will be.

General Liability Insurance 

If a business has a physical location, it needs general liability insurance. If a visitor to your company slips and falls, you may be liable for their medical bills if they get hurt. Workers’ compensation may not cover contractors working in your facility. 

Simplex Group can assure you that your trucking company’s truck insurance package includes a policy for general liability.