How to cut your insurance costs by improving your compliance operation

Unfortunately, many trucking companies fail to realize how much safety and DoT compliance programs can contribute to reducing insurance costs and opening up access to better insurance policies.

As rates per mile go down, no one can afford to be leaving money on the table like that. Here are four actionable tips to ensure your company is paying the right amount for insurance:

1 – Have the right coverage

Companies evolve, so it’s possible your coverage needs have changed, and there are savings opportunities by adjusting your deductibles and coverages. This type of review should be an annual occurrence for most carriers. The key, of course, is not to change anything that leaves you over-exposed to financial risk. But, be warned that changing coverage is no way to guarantee savings. A study by the ATRI found that only 14% of carriers that decreased coverage from 2018 to 2019 or from 2019 to 2020 successfully secured lower premiums with the remaining 86% still paying higher premiums.

2 – Be transparent with your insurer

The less information you give your provider, the higher your rates will be. Lacking a clear picture of your business means insurers have to give you the same “rack” rates they give other carriers. But, when you provide details about your business, they can tailor their quote, which usually means real savings. Details like the types of products you haul and your typical lanes are all relevant in an insurer’s mind.?

3 - Document your driver training and safety processes

In addition to helping insurers learn as much as possible about your business, it’s good to have documented processes for how you’re enforcing safety procedures. Insurance companies don’t view risk as being all about drivers. To them, it is as much about your whole company and your safety culture. This means that trucking companies who show they have well-managed safety and compliance plans will pay lower premiums (employing a Safety and Compliance Manager like you helps, too!)

4 – Prove your ability to resolve claims

Litigation (and, to the extreme, nuclear verdicts) is something insurers want to avoid. Claim resolution takes a lot of time and money under the best of circumstances. When it comes to getting issues resolved expeditiously (and lower premiums), insurers are looking for similar things regarding driver training and compliance. They want to know if you can help bring claims to a quick close and reduce the chance of litigation.

The question, of course, is how exactly to take these steps without creating extra work. LogRock can’t help you make the right decisions regarding your deductibles and coverage levels, but we’re experts at the other three points: sharing data with your insurer, documenting safety processes, and proving you’re ready to handle claims. Our software simplifies all three tasks, and insurance companies love trucking companies that use LogRock. In fact, they tell us that fleets that are best-in-class at managing safety and compliance pay an average of 8.5% less for liability insurance. This means a carrier with 30 trucks using our software can save $2,125 per month.

To learn how we do it, visit logrock.com.