Hot Shot Insurance

Hot shot insurance is for trucking operations specializing in the expedited transport of cargo. “Hot shot insurance” and “expediter’s insurance” are used interchangeably.

Hauling expedited loads and hot shot freight is a choice job for many truckers. Loads may be somewhat hard to find, and the loads that do get booked usually require the truck driver to run hard to meet the schedule, but the reward is premium rates and higher per mile pay. Colonial’s Hot Shot Insurance program was designed with these trucking operations in mind.

Insurance Coverages You Need:

A well-designed Hotshot Truck Insurance policy contains these coverages:

• Comprehensive – protects your truck and trailer against theft, vandalism, fire, and other physical causes of loss.
• Collision – protects your equipment in the event of a rollover or impact with other vehicles / stationary objects.
• Coverage for ramps, chains, tarps, and binders – to protect your valuable equipment against vandalism, theft, fire, collision, and related damages.
• Towing and Storage – provides coverage for expenses related to towing and storage of damaged equipment.
• Combined Deductibles – this coverage allows hot shot truckers to pay only one deductible in the event a loss occurs involving both truck and trailer damage and cargo loss.
• Loading & Unloading – provides coverage for commodities while they’re being loaded or unloaded.
• Debris Removal – provides coverage for reasonable and necessary costs to remove debris resulting from a covered incident.
• Broadened Pollution Coverage – provides liability coverage for the discharge of pollutants which are in, upon, owned, being transported by, loaded or unloaded from a covered vehicle.
• Earned Freight – covers lost income in the event a load cannot be delivered due to a covered cargo loss.
• Loss Mitigation – covers costs related to preventing further damaged cargo. Also known as sue & labor.
• Downtime – pays up to $100 / day for 30 days in the event your truck is damaged in an accident.
• Loan / Lease Gap – pays your loan, if you owe more than what the vehicle is worth.
• Medical Payments – pays for doctor bills if you are injured while operating your truck.
• Family Emergency Expenses – pays up to $2,500 for family travel expenses in the event that you are injured while away from home.

According to most accounts, hot shot trucking started in the early days of oil exploration in Texas and Oklahoma. Truck drivers, usually driving standard pick-up trucks, ran to town for supplies for the oil rig and other equipment used on the drilling site. Since not having supplies could delay the entire oil rig operation, hot shot drivers were usually on-call, sometimes waiting at the site, and were called on to fetch whatever the rig crew needed as quickly as possible to keep the operation running.

What distinguishing hot shot trucking from other niches of the trucking industry is that cargo must be transported as quickly as possible, often within 1 hour of the call out, and often for emergency situations. Like the old days, standard pick-up trucks are still the most common trucks used in hot shot trucking, although larger trucks may be used in some situations.

At the minimum, hot shot truckers should seek bodily injury and property damage insurance as part of their hot shot insurance policy. While the legal requirement for cargo insurance was eliminated in 2012, most potential clients will require that you have $100,000 of cargo insurance before they will consider enlisting you for services. Other coverage considerations for hot shot insurance include business liability, self-employment and medical insurance.

As a hot shot insurance specialist and one of the leading agencies for specialty trucking insurance nationwide, Colonial Insurance has the expertise to design a comprehensive insurance policy for hot shot / expedited trucking operations. And with access to 20+ providers of commercial truck insurance, our rates are some of the most competitive in the industry.

Hot Shot Insurance Sample Quote:

We encourage you to NEVER base insurance decision solely on price. Normally, when we buy a product we look for the lowest price — if all other things are equal, we take it. If you insure for lower rates, but that company can’t provide good timely service, the lower premiums will not help you out at all when you can’t get loaded due to problems with your insurance. The same is valid when your claim is not covered because your insurance agent sold you a “subprime” policy. Please note that your actual proposal may vary based on underwriting factors such as location, age of driver, MVR and more. Coverages, payment plans, policy terms and conditions vary state by state. No two policies are the same. No two insurance needs are the same either.