Box Truck Insurance for Amazon
Amazon is an eCommerce behemoth that offers a wide variety of employment and business opportunities. Why not grab the opportunity of delivering the company's goods to customers through its Amazon Relay program?
The program offers everything from freight networks to driver apps to make your work a breeze. But you need to meet the program's insurance demands (among other requirements). Here are the required policies:
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Auto Liability: at least $1million per occurrence
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Cargo: at least $100,000
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Workers' Compensation: coverages in all jurisdictions where you do business
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Employer Liability: at least $100k per occurrence
Before taking out a box truck insurance, tell your insurer that your truck will be for Amazon commercial deliveries. They'll work with you to ensure the solution is tailored to your needs.
Box Truck Rental Insurance
It will help if you take out rental insurance when renting a box truck. This is offered as hired auto liability insurance. If you’re renting a box truck and cause an accident with it, hired auto liability insurance will cover the medical expenses of injured third parties and reimburse the owners of damaged property. If you do some research before purchasing insurance, you’ll discover that insurance companies offer additional options:
Limited damage waiver - Covers loss or damage to the rented truck
Cargo coverage - Reimburse the losses of your clients if their cargo becomes lost or damaged during the trip
Supplemental liability - States require truck leasing firms to provide minimum liability limits on every rental. You can take out supplemental liability insurance to cover extra liabilities
Box Truck Owner Operator Insurance
You've acquired a new box truck and are starting to move down your own road. Congratulations on being an owner-operator.
But first thing, which policy will provide help if the hour of need clocks in? Commercial auto insurance.
Box truck-owner operators like you will do fine with commercial auto insurance. Adequate commercial auto insurance provides the following coverage for your business:
- Auto liability coverage - Auto liability coverage will help if your box truck causes an accident and injures third parties and damaged properties. This will provide money to pay for the medical expenses of persons injured and reimbursement for damaged properties
- Physical damage coverage - Physical damage coverage mitigates the cost of your box truck’s parts repair or replacement. This has two forms - collision and physical damage coverage. Collision physical damage coverage will shoulder parts repair or replacement if your box truck incurred damage after crashing into an object or vehicle. Comprehensive physical damage coverage, on the other hand, will take care of parts repair or replacement if your box was damaged by fire, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils
- Emergency roadside assistance - While hauling the cargo of clients, your box truck might suddenly stall or experience other issues. Emergency roadside assistance will recoup the resulting expenses of this situation. In particular, this coverage will reimburse what you spent on gas delivery, tire delivery and replacement, tire repair, towing, battery jump-start, and more
- Medical payments/personal injury protection - Medical payments/personal injury protection will kick in if the box truck caused an accident or got involved in an accident and you sustained injuries. Medical payments coverage will cover your hospitalization and emergency treatment. It also covers funeral expenses in case of death. Personal injury protection does the same. However, it has additional perks such as lost income compensation, coverage on the expenses for after-hospital visits, and more
Commercial auto insurance is the first protection we recommend you get as a box truck owner-operator. However, it’s not the only insurance product useful in your line of work. Here are others you’ll find useful:
- Non-trucking liability insurance - Non-trucking liability insurance will cover your financial liability over accidents your box truck caused while you’re using it for personal errands
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage - If you got involved in an accident another driver caused, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage will shoulder expenses if the driver doesn’t have insurance or enough insurance to cover your claim
Insurance for Businesses Renting Our Box Trucks
Insurance companies underwrite tailored insurance if you’re a business renting out box trucks for personal or commercial use. Primary inclusions are general liability insurance, commercial property insurance, and workers’ compensation insurance.
General Liability Insurance
Your business that rents out box trucks to clients will harm third parties. This is why purchasing general liability insurance is crucial because it provides protection when aggrieved third parties decide to file a claim. The primary function of general liability insurance is to cover the following:
Third-party personal injuries - A third party might experience an accident within the premises of your business and sustain injuries. If the person decides to file a claim, general liability insurance will cover medical expenses on your behalf
Third-party property damage - If not injuries, then the person might sustain property damage after experiencing an accident within the premises of your business that rents out box trucks. General liability insurance also covers this by reimbursing the value of the damaged property if the aggrieved party files a claim
Legal defense costs - General liability insurance will pay for attorney fees, administrative costs, payments the court awards, and other legal expenses if the aggrieved party decides to take legal action
General liability insurance has an optional advertising injury coverage and rented premises liability coverage. Consider getting these if you want enhanced protection. The bullet below explains the functions of advertising injury coverage and rented premises liability coverage:
Advertising injury coverage - This will take care of attorney fees, administrative costs, settlements, and other legal expenses if your business renting out box trucks is sued for slander, libel, defamation, and other types of advertising or reputational harm
Rented premises liability coverage - If you’re renting a commercial space, then rented premises liability coverage is useful. This will reimburse the landlord if the rented commercial space is damaged by fire due to your fault
Commercial Property Insurance
Commercial property insurance safeguards your investments on the commercial space of your box truck rental business. This insurance ensures the survival of your business against the following perils:
Building destruction - Commercial property insurance will reimburse your losses if fire and extreme weather destroys your box truck rental business’s commercial space. The amount of insurance money you’ll get is equal to the destroyed property’s actual cash value or replacement cost
Building damage - If fire, extreme weather, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils damage your business’s commercial space, commercial property insurance will provide the money you can use to get damaged structures fixed
Note that commercial property insurance for box truck rental businesses comes with business equipment and tools coverage. Business equipment and tools coverage will reimburse your losses if the items you’re using to maintain each box truck become lost or damaged due to fire, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils
Workers’ Compensation Insurance
You need workers’ compensation insurance if your box truck rental business has one or more employees. Workers' compensation ascertains that you don’t use business funds to cover the resulting expenses when an employee sustains a work-related injury or disease. By having this insurance, you’ll enjoy coverage for:
Medical treatment/procedure - When your employee sustains injuries or becomes sick, workers' compensation insurance covers the cost of surgeries, therapies, and other medical treatment/procedures needed
Hospitalization - After undergoing a medical treatment/procedure, your employee might need to stay in the hospital for days, weeks, or months. Workers' compensation insurance provides help in this situation by covering the hospital bills
Medication - Your box truck rental business’s employees will need medicines to heal a work-related injury or disease. Workers' compensation insurance provides the money that will cover expenses for medication
Lost income compensation - Your employee might request leave to continue healing a work-related injury or disease. In such a case, your box rental business must cover lost wages as provided by law. Workers' compensation insurance takes care of this responsibility by providing a weekly allowance equal to two-thirds or 67% of the average weekly wage
Death benefits - Work-related injuries and illnesses will sometimes result in the death of your business’s employee. Workers' compensation insurance provides coverage in this situation by taking care of funeral expenses and giving financial aid to the deceased’s dependents
Though quite expensive, you should always invest in workers' compensation insurance. Work-related accidents are very common among box truck businesses like yours. Therefore, you’ll be sure to use your workers’ compensation insurance even if it seems that it’s not needed right now. If you find this hard to believe, here are some incident reports from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration:
| Incident Date | What Happened? | Result |
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| July 7, 2021 | An employee was struck by a box truck that began to back up to leave for another worksite. The truck rolled over and dragged the employee approximately twenty feet. The truck driver realized a problem, discovered the employee under the truck, and used a forklift to raise the truck off the employee. Emergency medical services were called, and the employee was transported to the hospital | Death |
| January 27, 2016 | An employee was walking out from a pedestrian ramp leading from the warehouse to the parking lot toward the kitchen when she walked in front of a refrigerated box truck that had just been serviced and was backing up. The truck struck the employee and ran her over. The driver stated that he felt a bump and when he got out of the truck to investigate, he discovered that he had backed over the employee | Death |
| May 26, 2020 | An employee was a passenger in a box truck making delivery of construction equipment. For an unknown reason, the employee exited the vehicle prior to it coming to a stop. The employee fell and was struck by the back tires of the box truck | Death |
Final Words
Be sure to compare the prices of insurance options before diving in with one. Insurance companies may suggest a quote that looks great and cheaper than their competitors.
Who doesn't want the most affordable box truck insurance? But befriend the age-old adage, "If a deal is too good, think twice. " Ensure the cover suits all your business needs to ensure it helps you when you need it the most.
