As a business, you know it’s important to keep your equipment and goods safe. Obviously, this is the purpose of insurance. But for truckers, insurance isn’t the easiest thing to select. There’s tons of different types of insurance – knowing what to buy (let alone what each insurance covers) can be difficult.
Non-Trucking Liability Insurance: Definition
Non-Trucking Liability Insurance, otherwise known as NTL Insurance, is a liability coverage plan for when you use your commercial trucks for personal use. NTL Insurance usually covers any property damage or bodily injury to a third party. In other words, while the vehicle should be insured during the window of time between pickup and delivery by other insurance plans, the use of the vehicle between pickups is known as a “non-commercial use window”. The Non-Trucking Liability Insurance is meant to cover any property or personal damages that occur within this window of time.
Who is Responsible for Purchase?
Every company’s situation will be different depending on how employees are hired and managed. Whether owner/operators of trucks are contracted, salaried, hired per-load, etc. will all mess with the details of who is responsible for the purchase of NTL insurance. However, as a general rule-of-thumb, the owner/operator of the truck is the one responsible for purchasing NTL insurance.
So, while your carrier may purchase the insurance for the vehicle while it is in operational use, the owner/operator is responsible for all that occurs during personal use of the vehicle. Since NTL Insurance covers this window of time, it is the owner/operator’s responsibility.
When Coverage Starts
While each policy may vary slightly, NTL Insurance will almost always cover a commercial vehicle whenever it is not in business use. The carrier’s liability insurance will cover your vehicle from the dispatch location through pick-up and delivery and back to the point of origin. However, any use of this vehicle between your return to the point of origin and the next delivery would fall under the non-business use time window. In most cases, NTL Insurance will cover all damages that occur during this window.
Is NTL Insurance Required?
Whether or not you will be required to have NTL Insurance is dependent upon your carrier. They may have alternative plans set up which would require different types of insurance. Talk with them about exactly what’s required and the pricing of such insurance from their current provider.
Total Coverage with NTL Insurance
While each policy may vary slightly, the general total coverage with NTL Insurance will be $1,000,000 CSL. Make sure to talk with your carrier about whether or not this is required. It is common that bobtail insurance may be sufficient in place of NTL, but this will depend on your carrier’s plan.
Conclusion
Trucking insurance can be a tricky topic. There are so many different circumstances in which varying parties are liable for damages, and as such, trucking often requires multiple different types of insurance. Furthermore, your carrier is not responsible for providing all these types of insurances. Depending on your employment status, the owner/operator of the vehicle is generally responsible for purchasing Non-Trucking Liability Insurance, since the damages this insurance covers are for non-business use.
If you have any other questions about trucking insurance, are looking for coverage, or would just like to learn more about the topic, please reach out to one of our team members! We’re friendly (at least we try) and we love the opportunity to help anyone when we are able. We look forward to chatting with you!