Getting our own customers - where do I begin?

[kastmgmt]

I had a broker hang up on me for bidding 500 dollars on a 20 mile large straight truck load. He blurted out "sheesh it's only a 20 mile load!" Well those 20 mile airport loads take up a lot of time and burn up the drivers log book hours. Sometimes those 20 mile loads take several hours to complete. I guess they want everyone to work dirt cheap while carrying all of the proper insurance coverage and late model equipment. You can't have it both ways. GM want's trailers no older than 10 years old, but they want to pay slave wages to the truck owners. Newsflash, if you want new equipment hauling your freight you better pay higher rates!

No one said you HAVE TO WORK CHEAP. You do have to be legit. Like anything else, if you can't hack it pack up and go home. No doubt rates need to be raised, but it is NOT fair to the carriers that have to pay to cover ALL OF THEIR UNITS, while doing work for the same brokers that you speak of.

 

[blizzard2014]

Well obviously that blackballing didn't stop them from starting a new company and porting over all of their drivers and customers. Once you have an established relationship with your customers, they will always follow you to the next company! That is how it is. They only lost some time and money in setting up the new company, but they're still in business!

 

[kastmgmt]

Well obviously that blackballing didn't stop them from starting a new company and porting over all of their drivers and customers. Once you have an established relationship with your customers, they will always follow you to the next company! That is how it is. They only lost some time and money in setting up the new company, but they're still in business!

Have you read stories of CEO'S absolutely failing at running a carrier, close the failed carrier down, and start a new one only too run the new carrier into the ground. A couple of CEO'S are in prison for such fraudulent operations.

 

[kastmgmt]

Lots of talk and speculation on why Eclipse shut down the carrier side and how business was done.
Insurance was the cause and not for the fact of lack of of coverage.We tried to get the coverage that they were requiring that would have costed a sum per driver per month plus a premium just to start the policy. Now before I get into that some think that we were making money hand over first so lets go through some math Eclipse worked off a % base and driver's always chose their price (if you were not able to, we were never notified of it). For example, take a load paying 1000.00, driver got 80% so 800.00, most dispatchers were at 10% so thats 100.00 so that left 100 to the company right... Wrong throw in factoring cost at 0.15 % so take 15.00 off that so thats 85.00 to the company and that 85.00 helps pay for billing 2nd and 3rd shifts and other office expense. Not including the personal loans we provided to some drivers that were in need. Them 1000.00 loads far and few brokers forever wanting to sell that load cheaper. Now back to the insurance problem after 3 months and 3 different agents underwriters pulling quotes we heard from one on why was they thought we were lying on the trucks were were going to dispatch. You ask where would they get that idea, well at first we asked for a quote for all drivers that were working with Eclipse at the time 140. The company could not afford this cost for a premium not to mention the liability insurance for them. So we put it to the drivers of putting a cost on them per month as a last resort so we called every driver about 1/3 said yes about 1/3 said maybe and about 1/3 said NO. So we put the about 30 drivers that said yes and sent in the info for those drivers for the agent for a quote. So for trying to do the right thing we lost our authority being we were not able to get the insurance needed. To note on the closing of the carrier side All drivers were paid in full for the loads they had with Eclipse Expediting. So between putting the drivers first to try and help them making a living and the Insurance underwriters that like hearsay from others This is what happened... So if they don't like how you work you might be next until there's nothing left of the American Dream... and drivers will suffer when they are stuck working for companies that in the end could care less. PS: Drivers are people with names not just a number on the board.

 

[jjtdrv4u]

"lunar" eclipse???
lol!

 

[jjtdrv4u]

No doubt rates need to be raised, but it is NOT fair to the carriers that have to pay to cover ALL OF THEIR UNITS, while doing work for the same brokers that you speak of.

hey kast, how many carriers are actually paying for coverage on all their units? are not the larger carriers with hundreds of units self-insured? seems like most have their owner operators pay for their own liability...

 

[xiggi]

The difference is self insured still have underwriters and claims are paid.

 

[kastmgmt]

hey kast, how many carriers are actually paying for coverage on all their units? are not the larger carriers with hundreds of units self-insured? seems like most have their owner operators pay for their own liability...

Larger carriers are self insured, the difference is the units are still under the large carrier's policy. The loophole is this: a rouge carrier will insure a few units, in this case 3 that are insured by the rouge carrier, that leaves 7 units that are insured by the OO. The problem is a carrier puts all of the liability to the driver with minimal cost to the carrier's insurance policy.

On top of that they do it this way to offset costs to their policy, that is NOT a legit way to do business.

 

[jjtdrv4u]

Larger carriers are self insured, the difference is the units are still under the large carrier's policy. The loophole is this: a rouge carrier will insure a few units, in this case 3 that are insured by the rouge carrier, that leaves 7 units that are insured by the OO. The problem is a carrier puts all of the liability to the driver with minimal cost to the carrier's insurance policy.

On top of that they do it this way to offset costs to their policy, that is NOT a legit way to do business.

maybe not "legit", but still perfectly legal as per FMCSA, USDOT, etc...as has been discussed exhaustedly on this website in other threads...and thus more of the "exclusive or single carrier" carriers are doing business this way...tho it ain't "right"... I agree with you on what you are saying.

 

[jjtdrv4u]

The difference is self insured still have underwriters and claims are paid.

not disagreeing with you, but any owner operator that pays for his own insurance, still has his insurance underwriters and his claims are paid also....

while it is too true that some of the "self insured" who may be on shaky financial grounds or even in various stages of bankruptcy or re-structuring, these guys still have their underwriters, but due to their financial situation, they may not pay claims for a very long time, and if they pay, they may or may not pay 100% on the dollar to them...its hard to get money from a company that goes belly up.

 

[kastmgmt]

maybe not "legit", but still perfectly legal as per FMCSA, USDOT, etc...as has been discussed exhaustedly on this website in other threads...and thus more of the "exclusive or single carrier" carriers are doing business this way...tho it ain't "right"... I agree with you on what you are saying.

You're correct some carriers do legally require their OO'S to hold their own insurance, but the carriers using this method the legit way still have the units insured under a policy in the carriers name. They are listed as a invested party in the insurance policy, not just a second party.

 

[xiggi]

not disagreeing with you, but any owner operator that pays for his own insurance, still has his insurance underwriters and his claims are paid also....

while it is too true that some of the "self insured" who may be on shaky financial grounds or even in various stages of bankruptcy or re-structuring, these guys still have their underwriters, but due to their financial situation, they may not pay claims for a very long time, and if they pay, they may or may not pay 100% on the dollar to them...its hard to get money from a company that goes belly up.

Well not really when you use the term any, many lower their insurance after a month or do not even carry insurance that covers them when a certain distance from home. It isn't even always the drivers intention, they believe they are covered only to find out when is needed they are not. The bottom feeders running super cheap rates have to cut costs and insurance is a biggie.

 

[blizzard2014]

If a driver lowers their coverage, their insurance agent notifies the carrier immediately and that truck is placed out of service. It's as simple as that. Where I'm at now we list all of our trucks and their vin numbers on our fleet insurance policy. There are still companies out there like On-Dekk and others who make their owner operators carry their own insurance and list them as additional insured. This is completely legal and legit according to TEANA as long as all of the insurance policies are underwritten by the same insurance carrier and the same agent. Does that make them a rogue carrier? I seriously doubt that BH Express is a rouge carrier because seven of their trucks carry their own liability and cargo insurance. I can do the exact same thing at the carrier I dispatch for now, but we don't run like that. It's so cheap to add cargo vans to our fleet policy. It's about 200 dollars per month. We have a lot of trucks and we get really good rates because we have so many trucks on our insurance policy. There is no need to cut corners when insurance is so cheap.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

If a driver lowers their coverage, their insurance agent notifies the carrier immediately and that truck is placed out of service. It's as simple as that. Where I'm at now we list all of our trucks and their vin numbers on our fleet insurance policy. There are still companies out there like On-Dekk and others who make their owner operators carry their own insurance and list them as additional insured. This is completely legal and legit according to TEANA as long as all of the insurance policies are underwritten by the same insurance carrier and the same agent. Does that make them a rogue carrier? I seriously doubt that BH Express is a rouge carrier because seven of their trucks carry their own liability and cargo insurance. I can do the exact same thing at the carrier I dispatch for now, but we don't run like that. It's so cheap to add cargo vans to our fleet policy. It's about 200 dollars per month. We have a lot of trucks and we get really good rates because we have so many trucks on our insurance policy. There is no need to cut corners when insurance is so cheap.

Excuse me but what does having a lot of trucks under the same insurance policy have to do with getting good rates ? just asking or are you talking about insurance rates ?

 

[Moot]

Excuse me but what does having a lot of trucks under the same insurance policy have to do with getting good rates ? just asking or are you talking about insurance rates ?

I took it to mean insurance rates.

 

[xiggi]

Insurance companies do not always send notice of changes in a timely manner. That's been well discussed on here by people who know more than most of us about the subject.

 

[kastmgmt]

"There is no need to cut corners when insurance is so cheap."

Then why do so many carriers cut corners?

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Progressive usually has at least a 24 hour delay they update their data after midnight following the business day...
even under VOI there is NO instant system....
they might get away with a few loads but now there is a system in place which there wasn't before to catch them....

 

[OntarioVanMan]

"There is no need to cut corners when insurance is so cheap."

Then why do so many carriers cut corners?

good ole fashion greed....IMO

 

[blizzard2014]

Insurance companies do not always send notice of changes in a timely manner. That's been well discussed on here by people who know more than most of us about the subject.

In most insurance policies, it states that if the agent fails to notify the additional insured in a timely matter when insurance is either cancelled or insurance levels are lowered, they are responsible for any accidents/damages that occur during that time period. Also, with regards to cargo insurance, it does not cancel right away. It always takes 30 days to cancel a commercial policy, even when there is non-payment of monthly premiums. If I do not pay my insurance today, or if I decide to cancel my insurance today, my policy will have a cancellation date of 30 days from the date it was originally cancelled. So carriers have plenty or warning when an O/O cancels their policy, or loses their policy due to not keeping up with their monthly insurance premiums. I just wanted to clarify that to some of you guys who don't seem to understand how this all works. A driver can't cancel his insurance policy overnight and have it cancelled that exact day. There are a lot of steps involved in that process!