//// Insurance Issues ..... sigh ////

[Andyinchville1]

HI All,

Just when things seemed to stabilize out (no recent accidents / tickets etc) and I was looking to take on a new driver for OTR (presumably better than my first one... new driver is Class A ...no losses , good driving record, med card, log book skills etc) , I found out from my dispatcher that our insurance was non renewed.

Originally, my insurance agent said not to worry since he could get us coverage with Progressive (he said they take anybody BUT are expensive) BUT then progressive backed out when they found out we had a 100% bad record with the DOT (I assume it was when our driver got pulled by the man and was cited for no med card, no lease paperwork, and a improperly filled out log book (he was only ticketed for the log book tho)....we only had 1 bad stop BUT it was 100% of our stops....

Anyways, to possibly make matters worse, I was grilled earlier by a claims guy from the ins co regarding our 2 roof damage claims ( for better or worse, I did tell him about the bridge incident that the agent said we should hold off on until I could find a cheap used box that would help out with costs BUT in the 2 moths I worked with Morgan Truck Bodies they made no real progress (they claimed some box pats were hard to get since they were old parts from another company when they were merged with another co years ago).

Anyways, I figured may as well turn in the last claim because we were being non renewed anyways ....
Is that a good idea? (FWIW.... I cannot afford repairs to the truck box by myself... is it worth adding to the loss history ?).

Are there any insurance companies that can take us on with the DOT record (1 stop and put OOS) and 3 roof losses (1 branch , 1 hotel canopy and 1 bridge ....FWIW the driver that hit the bridge is no longer with us and the branch would be hard to hold against a driver since this was on a main road and obviously tree branches have no height indicators, the hotel canopy was not required by law to have a height indicator and it did not ..... wished the driver could have avoided that issue but it is what it is.

So given our situation, would you turn in the 3rd claim ? (it has not been formally done yet and is as far as I know not known to the insurance co other than my casual mention but the claims agent was more into the losses he knew about and was grilling me about).

What are some good insurance companies to ask about truck insurance given our loss history (FWIW we were non renewed after we had our first reported claim ... pretty strict ??),

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

 

[BigStickJr]

Call the general.

Really, any insurance company that will write you you probably wouldn’t want.

 

[TFTN-one3B]

This guy again?

I have to ask.....is this for real.....or is someone trolling really good?

 

[fastman_1]

I will say he is very entertaining and a vault of knowledge on what not to do.


Sent from my iPhone using EO Forums

 

[Grizzly]

Gotta be trolling ... but it's very entertaining for the most part ..

 

[Ragman]

I can't imagine anybody operating like him.

 

[BigStickJr]

In 1972, Al Jones Delivery Service ran a similar style operation.
They had a terminal next to our shop.
One day he had five rental trucks. I said Al, what’s up ?
He told me he didn’t have money to buy license plates. He took the plates off the rental trucks and put them on his trucks. He figured the cops wouldn’t bother a rental truck missing a plate.,
You can’t make this stuff up.

Well maybe Andy can.....

 

[Moot]

I don't believe you will find an insurance carrier that will write your company a policy. Why not seek out an independent agent that operates in a similar fashion as you? There was a guy in a brown, rag top, 2001 PT Cruiser writing policies at the J in Pontoon Beach a couple of weeks ago.

 

[BigStickJr]

I don't believe you will find an insurance carrier that will write your company a policy. Why not seek out an independent agent that operates in a similar fashion as you? There was a guy in a brown, rag top, 2001 PT Cruiser writing policies at the J in Pontoon Beach a couple of weeks ago.

From the Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe Insurance firm ?

 

[Dynamite 1]

unbelievable, the answer to your ? is NO, NO, NO. Know reputable insurance company will take you on !!!

 

[BobWolf]

Big Stick Jr said it best. Short, sweet, and to the point.
Unfortunately you are probably going to have to eat the excrement sandwich. Because your damages and violations are all 100% driver error and avoidable you might have to shut down probably for at least 2 - 3 years until the insurance companies see 2 years of no claims.
What are the details of your branch loss? Did a tree fall on truck during a storm or did you or your driver plow into it just like the bridge and hotel canopy? Don't be surprised if the insurance company refuses your to pay on your claim. Filing another claim will bring your insurable rating down even further.
When it all comes down to it the responsibilities, fault and consequences always fall onto the owner. Welcome to the trucking industry.

 

[Andyinchville1]

Big Stick Jr said it best. Short, sweet, and to the point.
Unfortunately you are probably going to have to eat the excrement sandwich. Because your damages and violations are all 100% driver error and avoidable you might have to shut down probably for at least 2 - 3 years until the insurance companies see 2 years of no claims.
What are the details of your branch loss? Did a tree fall on truck during a storm or did you or your driver plow into it just like the bridge and hotel canopy? Don't be surprised if the insurance company refuses your to pay on your claim. Filing another claim will bring your insurable rating down even further.
When it all comes down to it the responsibilities, fault and consequences always fall onto the owner. Welcome to the trucking industry.

Per the driver , the branch was on a 2 lane road in a somewhat urban area with cars parked on each side of the street (he was almost at the pick up point when it happened).

My assumption is somehow the branch sagged (maybe damaged in a storm or broke due to age / disease or maybe hit by a tractor trailer and slightly damaged and now hanging down a bit?) and our driver was the lucky one to hit it (unless he tore it off completely or made it hang so low as to be highly noticeable, most likely it may have claimed another victim after our hit (at the time of the accident I didn't think about the branch still being up to claim potentially another truck... I was just frustrated our truck was damaged).

The driver admitted the hotel canopy was a result of not thinking about heights (he had just cleared another hotel canopy on the same property and did not think about the second canopy being much lower).... Ironically the tall canopy he went under was height marked BUT the second canopy (the lower one that got him) was not height marked .... I tried to use that as an angle to deflect liability but per the lawyer (in MD ) commercial establishments are not required to mark heights....

Unfortunately shutting down is not an option ( unless my bills shut down too ;-) .....

Until I get another DOT and MC number running (maybe even get a friend to do it or simply buy a company out ....ironically, a driver I was about to onboard until these issues came up had already set up an LLC and even got a DOT and MC number 6 months ago he just never really started running for himself due to $$ reasons).. I may try to buy his LLC and get the dot and MC number along with it or I may get my girlfriend to buy it in case I am somehow tainted because of the current insurance fiasco (even tho I myself have a perfect driving record ).

Also, the dispatcher said we could run under his MC number so we can keep running (of course instead of him taking 10% as a dispatch co , he would take 30% if we lease out to him but at least we would be running still just making less $$ .... well I guess some $$ is better than no $$..

As far as other things that may hinder us from new insurance.....

The bridge was another drivers fault (he no longer works with us because the company we worked for "fired" him....Hopefully that will make us good in another insurance company's eyes) .... His claim was that we did not tell him how high the truck was .... at the time of the accident I reminded him of the height of the truck ..... 3 weeks later I called him out of the blue and asked him how high the truck is ... he did not answer the question correctly ...sigh).

Just curious but which claim did you think the insurance company could refuse to pay a claim on ? what would be the basis ?

As a side note and because the agent made such a big deal about it when trying to get us new insurance (he said every driver of the trucks had to be listed on the policy) ... I asked him what would happen if a person just needed to drive the truck once for some reason and was not listed as a driver on the policy (like helping to pick up a truck from a repair facility back to our shop) ... he stated the insurance may not pay for a claim should that driver not be listed....

I questioned that to a lawyer because in VA ( and I assume other states too) every vehicle needs to have insurance before running the roads ... the lawyer told me so long as the person was operating the vehicle per the company's orders and within the scope of the company's orders the insurance company had to handle the resultant loss even if not listed as a driver ... I probably should get them to put that in writing to cover me just in case...

As far as the DOT log book issue (and this caused us to have a 100% OOS rating with the DOT) , the dispatcher will have the driver go to court to try to wiggle out of that one ... maybe he can or at least hope to reduce the fine etc... keeping fingers crossed on that one.. he had hours of service sheets filled in but not a formal log book with the graphs etc but basically the same info... just in a different format ....

The driver did have some other issues too (20 MPH speeding BUT since it's a lease truck maybe it was speed governed below 75 mph ... I'll have to ask the lease BUT hopefully it is governed below 75 to keep it from being reckless.... the talking on the phone issue was solved with a hands free device, the gas station accident (backed into parked car) was handled without insurance (we paid cash out) although the police was there it was not written up because it happened on private property).

Yes, driver probably should have done better but since he's been through all that hopefully he's learned and will not have further issues (I hate to get rid of him now because now he could very well be the perfect driver after learning all the things NOT to do),

If I can get insurance with another carrier I will formally turn in the bridge strike too figuring I cannot afford the box and labor anyways ....
(I had not formally turned it in because the insurance agent said I should find a way to get it fixed on the cheap... I have already tried that for 2 months but about to give up on that and let the insurance co figure that one out).

I am optimistic about getting insurance somewhere .... the insurance agent I have is a miracle worker (uhh hopefully) !

 

[Solar]

I literally felt stress and pressure on my chest just reading the previous post.

Hoping things turn around quickly for you.

 

[ntimevan]

.. ... ..

Money not Miles

 

[Ragman]

Until I get another DOT and MC number running (maybe even get a friend to do it or simply buy a company out ....ironically, a driver I was about to onboard until these issues came up had already set up an LLC and even got a DOT and MC number 6 months ago he just never really started running for himself due to $$ reasons).. I may try to buy his LLC and get the dot and MC number along with it or I may get my girlfriend to buy it in case I am somehow tainted because of the current insurance fiasco (even tho I myself have a perfect driving record ).

Also, the dispatcher said we could run under his MC number so we can keep running

Still trying to scam the system, i see.

 

[fastman_1]

Still trying to scam the system, i see.

If only he would use that mind for the good! Instead of trying to take the back door into the business


Sent from Deep in the backwater swamp

 

[BobWolf]

Wow...
It sounds like you are screwed, you have way too many insurance claims and issues with DOT for being in business for only 2 years.
A word of warning in mind that the FMCSA is cracking down on "shadow carriers",Those that get shut down and start back up under different names or buy other companies and operate.
I would first fire the driver that totaled your insurance and safety score if you haven't already, remove whats left of the box and sell the truck as a cab and chassis, and liquidate whats left of value your companies assets. Finally you will have to rip the band-aid off, pay the bills and shut down your done. The reality is a career change in in your future.
Good luck.