What is Commercial Trailer Insurance?
The most basic form of commercial trailer insurance covers liability only. When you have trailer liability insurance, if someone were to sue you for damages caused by your trailer, they'd only receive compensation up to the amount of your policy limit.
Business trailer insurance is offered at relatively low prices, but it does not include personal injury protection.
Note that aside from it being a specialized insurance product, a commercial trailer insurance can be a broad term for specific insurance options for different types of trailers such as:
Commercial horsebox insurance
Tractor trailer insurance or semi truck and trailer insurance
Commercial travel trailer insurance
Commercial utility trailer insurance
Truck and trailer insurance
Insurance for dump trailer
Another thing to note is that commercial trailer insurance already includes coverage for semi trailers. Therefore, this policy serves as a semi trailer insurance.
If you're looking for more extensive coverage, you should consider purchasing additional types of coverage such as physical damage coverage, cargo insurance, and collision coverage.
Physical Damage Coverage
This type of coverage protects against damage to your trailer caused by named perils such as theft, fire, lightning, and vandalism.
Cargo Insurance
Cargo insurance helps protect your trailer against damage or loss due to accidents involving your trailer's contents. For example, if you transport goods worth thousands of dollars, you probably wouldn't want to pay for their replacement after being hit by a car.
Collision Coverage
This is a type of trailer insurance business use to provide coverage for a trailer involved in a vehicular accident. It will pay repairs and help resume business operations quickly with the least investment involved. Having this is very important as collisions can occur during loading/unloading, parking, or driving.
Tractor Trailer Insurance
If you own not only a trailer but also a tractor truck where it’s attached, then consider getting protection through commercial tractor trailer insurance. Policies included in tractor trailer truck insurance are discussed below.
Commercial Auto Insurance
Commercial auto insurance for tractor trailers consists of auto liability coverage, collision coverage, and comprehensive coverage.
Auto liability coverage will kick in if your tractor trailer caused an accident and you’re being held to pay for the injuries sustained by third parties.
Collision coverage will help you mitigate the cost of repairing the tractor truck and its trailer upon getting involved in an accident.
Comprehensive coverage works the same way as collision coverage. What makes it different is that it caters to repair costs not only in the event of a vehicular accident but also extreme weather, fire, theft, vandalism, and other named perils.
Bobtail Liability Insurance
Commercial auto insurance for tractor trailers doesn’t provide coverage if the tractor is running on the road with no trailer attached.
That’s why you should decide to get bobtail liability insurance, which is offered as a stand-alone policy or part of commercial insurance for tractor trailers. This policy helps you pay for victim compensation if the tractor causes an accident while on the way to get another load without any trailer attached.
Truckers General Liability Insurance
Auto liability insurance will only provide protection if you’re obligated to pay for the damages and bodily injuries resulting from a vehicular accident.
If the injuries or property damage happened because the trailer detached or the cargo unloaded on its own without warning while the tractor was moving, then commercial auto liability might not cover you.
Carriers offer general liability insurance that includes such an exclusion. This policy will take care of bodily injuries or property damage to third parties caused by your tractor trailer’s services.
Pollution/Environmental Damage Coverage
Pollution and environmental damage coverage is included in insurance tractor trailer and will take care of costs when your tractor trailer gets involved in an accident while transporting hazmat goods. This policy will help you pay for the cost of cleanup, containment, and rehabilitation of spilled harmful substances.
Quick Clarifications
Insurance for semi truck and trailer is another term for tractor trailer insurance. This is because in essence, tractor trailer is the industry jargon for a semi truck that has its trailer attached. A tractor trailer insurance company might use the terms semi truck and trailer insurance and tractor trailer insurance interchangeably but don’t get confused.
But here’s another thing to note too. Semi truck and trailer insurance can also be a specialized insurance product that offers commercial auto insurance, physical damage coverage, and truckers policy.
Commercial Truck Trailer Insurance
A specialized commercial truck trailer insurance includes commercial auto liability insurance, non trucking liability insurance, and pollution coverage. Some carriers also offer motor carrier policy and MCS-90 endorsement in their commercial truck and trailer insurance for semi truck and trailer owners.
Commercial Horsebox Insurance
Horsebox insurance is typically included in commercial horse transport insurance. It offers general liability coverage with products and completed operations, collision insurance, comprehensive coverage, and cargo insurance or inland marine insurance.
Commercial Travel Trailer Insurance
Are you running a travel trailer rental business? If so, decide to get your equipment covered through commercial travel trailer insurance. This consists of the following insurance policies:
Truck and Trailer Insurance
Truck and trailer insurance offers physical damage coverage, auto liability insurance, replacement cost coverage, and cargo insurance. But note that, you might find carriers that only offer physical damage coverage and auto liability insurance.
Insurance for Dump Trailer
Policies included in dump trailer insurance are auto liability, general liability, cargo insurance, pollution coverage, non trucking liability, personal injury coverage, loan or lease gap, and truck rental reimbursement.
Commercial Utility Trailer Insurance
Utility trailer insurance is specialized coverage for the different types of trailers commonly used for hot shot trucking such as flatbeds, car haulers, and enclosed trailers. Utility trailer insurance offers roadside assistance coverage and cargo insurance.
Roadside assistance coverage will help pay for costs if your utility trailer is unoperational and needs to be hauled by a towing company. Cargo insurance, on the other hand, will help you reimburse the total value of damaged goods on the utility trailer in the event of fire, theft, vandalism, or accident.
How Much Does Trailer Insurance Cost?
So how much is trailer insurance? The average cost of commercial trailer insurance is $300 a month or $3,600 a year provided that it only includes $1 million liability policies. Commercial trailer insurance cost varies based on many different factors, including the following:
As mentioned earlier, there are different types of coverage you can add to your policy. To get a further idea of trailer insurance cost, look at the table below showing the pricing of different insurance policies for trailers:
| Cost per Month | Cost per Year |
| Liability policies only | $300 | $3,600 |
| Cargo loss | $214 | $2,568 |
| Collision | $150 | $1,800 |
| Physical damage coverage | $121 | $1,452 |
For further reference, here’s a table showing the commercial trailer insurance price of the most recommended companies:
| Cost per Month | Cost per Year | Best for |
| CoverWallet | $159 | $1,908 | Commercial trailer insurance quote comparison online |
| Elephant | $172 | $2,064 | Commercial trailer insurance you can claim quickly |
| State Farm | $213 | $2,556 | Numerous policies included in commercial trailer insurance
|
| Progressive | $223 | $2,276 | Commercial trailer insurance and truck tractor insurance
|
commercial tractor trailer insurance cost
Shop Around
When searching for commercial trailer insurance quotes, shop around. You don't want to pay too much for an insurance policy that won't provide adequate coverage. Take quotes from at least three different companies, so you can compare them side-by-side.
So that it's easier to look for insurance, use an online quote comparison tool. Start by using the one here. Click the " Get Quotes " button and fill up the form.
Look at All of the Options
You might think you'll just need one type of coverage, but that's rarely the case. Many people opt for different types of coverage, including both liability and property damage coverage. If you decide to purchase this extra coverage, make sure you get enough limits to cover everything you need to insure.
Compare Prices
Once you've found some potential insurers, compare their prices before signing anything. Make sure they offer competitive rates, as well as affordable premiums. It's also important to know what discounts are available to you. Some companies will give you a discount if you sign up for auto insurance, homeowners insurance, renters insurance, etc.
Don't Forget Discounts
Some companies offer discounts to customers who buy more than one kind of insurance product. For example, if you already have auto insurance, you could qualify for a discount when purchasing additional commercial cargo trailer insurance.
