What Truckers General Liability Insurance covers
- Bodily injury to third parties at shipper or consignee facilities, slip-and-falls, falling cargo, dock-area injuries
- Property damage to a shipper's dock, building, gate, fence, or yard equipment when you cause it and your equipment is not involved.
- Damage you cause to a forklift, pallet jack, or trailer you don't own while loading or unloading
- Products and completed-operations liability, claims from incidents after you've left the site
- Personal and advertising injury claims, like a libel or slander suit tied to your business
- Legal defense costs for covered claims, including attorney fees and court costs in addition to your limit on most policies
What it costs
Truckers General Liability Insurance typically runs $400–$5,000 per year for owner operators.
Annual revenue, number of drivers, type of operations, and loss history all affect the premium. Operations that load and unload at multiple shipper sites pay more than dock-to-dock OTR.
See the full pricing breakdown →
Who needs Truckers General Liability Insurance
If you haul under your own authority and visit shipper or consignee facilities (which is to say, every owner operator), most brokers and direct shippers require a Certificate of Insurance showing $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate in general liability. Own authority operators typically buy this together with primary auto liability and motor truck cargo as a three-coverage package. Leased-on operators usually don't need their own GL, the motor carrier you pull for handles that under their commercial policy. Check your lease before paying for a duplicate policy.
Common exclusions
- Most policies exclude anything covered under your auto liability, accidents involving the truck on the road belong on auto, not GL
- Typical exclusions include damage to the freight itself, that's what motor truck cargo covers
- Most policies exclude damage to property in your care, custody, or control without a specific endorsement
- Typical exclusions include injury to your own employees: workers' compensation or occupational accident coverage handles those claims
- Most policies exclude pollution and environmental cleanup beyond a small sub-limit, unless you add a separate pollution endorsement
- Specific exclusions vary by carrier and class code, confirm with your agent that your operations are properly classified
Exclusions vary by carrier. Review the declarations and the exclusions schedule before you bind.
Frequently asked questions
Is general liability the same as auto liability?
No. Auto liability covers accidents on the road involving your truck; that's its only job. General liability covers everything else your business does that could hurt someone or damage property: dock incidents, loading damage, slip-and-falls, premises liability. They overlap in name only. You need both if you operate under your own authority.
What limit of GL do brokers usually require?
$1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate is the standard ask. Some brokers and bigger shippers require $5,000,000, usually satisfied by a separate excess or umbrella policy stacked on top of the $1M GL. Read the broker setup packet before you bind a $300,000 GL and find out the next day it doesn't meet contract requirements.
Do I need GL if I never load or unload my own freight?
Probably yes. GL responds to a lot more than just loading damage: slip-and-falls in a customer's office, damage to a guard shack, your truck rolling backward into a fence at a fuel island. Most owner operators carry GL because the broker contract requires it, regardless of who handles the load.
What is the difference between GL and a "trucker's package"?
A trucker's package is a bundled policy that combines auto liability, physical damage, motor truck cargo, and general liability under one declarations page. The GL portion is the same coverage; the package just simplifies billing and reduces overlap.
Does GL cover damage to a trailer I borrow or lease?
No. Care-custody-control exclusions apply. Damage to a non-owned trailer you pull is covered by trailer interchange insurance, not GL. If you regularly pull a carrier's trailer under interchange, you need that separate policy.
What is "products and completed operations" coverage?
It pays for claims that arise after the work is done, like a load you delivered last week that turns out to have been improperly secured and caused damage at the consignee. Most truckers GL policies include this automatically; verify it on your declarations.
Why did my GL premium jump after I added a driver?
GL is partly priced on payroll and revenue. More drivers means more revenue and more exposure on customer sites, so the premium scales up. Underwriters audit at the end of each policy term; if your actual revenue exceeded the estimate, expect an additional bill.