Programs & Coverages

Truck Insurance:
Your truck insurance policy is only as good as the company behind it. That is why we place a high emphasis on what you need as an Owner/Operator. Here we consider and cover physical damages, liability and types of cargo.

As an Owner/Operator, your truck insurance involves many factors. Cost, limits, deductibles, operation status and terms are a few things to consider when deciding on what type of insurance to procure. Our goal is to figure out how the best method to lower your rates of insurance while still maintaining maximum benefits in case of damages or liabilities.

Whether you have a permanent lease with a motor carrier or if you have your own authority, the cost of insurance depends on a range of factors. These can include:

• Cost of your truck
• Types of cargo/goods being transported
• Driver's age and experience
• Transportation routes and distance
• Credit history
• Payment plans: Yearly, quarterly, or monthly depening on your policy period

Physical damage coverage includes both collision and comprehensive insurance. Cargo insurance can vary depending on the types of goods/cargo being transported but you also might want to consider Bobtail insurance for damages incurred while not hauling any cargo and on your personal business. Liability insurance has many considerations.

Trailer Interchange Coverage: This is required when you are hauling someone else's trailer full of goods but the trailer owner does not have insurance to cover the cost of goods being transported.

Umbrella Coverage: Used to cover any gaps that you may have in your policy.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist: This is usually the least expensive coverage as it covers damages to you when an accident occurs where the fault lies with another individual or company who is not insured enough to cover your expenses.

Hazmat Coverage: Necessary if you are hauling hazardous materials that can be considered explosive, flammable, poisonous or otherwise potentially dangerous cargo. These can include corrosive materials, explosives, flammable and combustible liquids, flammable solids, gases, oxidizers and organic peroxides, poisons, and radioactive materials.

Livestock Cargo Coverage: Useful when hauling live animals, in the event of an accident that causes injury, death or escape.

A good insurance plan for your business will have several provisions covered. For you to operate and be successful you must understand what is covered, what is not and the type of payment plan that is best for your business. NASTC Insurance has several customizable plans to meet your needs.

Worker's Comp:

Workers' compensation (or Worker's Comp) is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment. In exchange the employee reliquishes their right to sue his or her employer for any damages and negligence. This solves the problem of employers becoming insolvent as a result of high damage awards due to lawsuits. This ultimately secures the compensation to the workers while creating a system of collective liability to protect the company.

In short, Worker's compensation results in few high out-of-pocket business expenses, protects a company from employee lawsuits and keeps companies in compliance with state laws.

Worker's Comp rates depend upon the number of employees/drivers you have and their pay. These rates can vary due to the following reasons:

• Loading and unloading vs no touch freight
• Hauling of hazardous materials
• Operation class code
• Prior claims
• Radius of operation (Local routes vs Longhaul routes)
• New Start-up or Years in business

Worker's Comp is a vital package to your insurance portfolio if your company has employees and/or drivers. At NASTC Insurance, our plans can give you the protection you need moving forward.

Broker Bonds:

The FMCSA requires freight broker bonds to protect shippers and motor carriers from brokers and freight forwarders who fail to meet their contractual obligations. These bonds are essentially a binding agreement between the freight broker, the FMCSA and the surety bond company. Broker bonds cover any claims made against the freight broker.

Costs of broker bonds can vary depending upon:

• Credit score
• Years in business
• Current or prior claims
• Business financials
• Assets

NASTC Insurance has some of the best rates available and guaranteed bond acceptance by the FMCSA. Let us help you today to navigate the pros and cons of this type of insurance and all of the necessary security requirements.

Cyber Insurance:

In this age of modern technology, insuring your information technology structure is a vital component to your portfolio. While technology can enhance your business model and simplify many tasks leading to better profitability, there are many inherit risks and exposures that can be costly. Due to this new era of information technology, most business liability policies do not protect against cyber attacks and breaches. Injury or physical loss policies have no application to this type of electronic risk and the costs they may incur. Cyber exposures can range from the content on your website server to your stored customer data that you have on your local, day to day computer network. Potential cyber liabilities can cripple your operations so you need to manage your risk accordingly with proper coverage.

Here is a list of possible exposures that you may need to cover:

Data Breaches: Government regulations have placed the responsibility of protecting clients' personal information solely on the companies collecting this data. If a breach occurs, the company has a legal obligation to notify all affected parties. Security fixes, identity theft protection and protection from legal action are but a few of the costs involved in a breach. Companies operating online have increased risk but even those who do not transmit personal data over the internet and store most client information in electronic form could still be susceptible to breaches and data loss through local network vulnerabilities, unauthorized employee access or theft.

Intellectual Property: No matter how you manage your online presence, whether through a website, blogs, social media or advertising, your intellectual property can be at risk. Your tangible and non-tangible assets can be exposed to a number of intellectual property violations. Patent, copyright or trademark infringement, design and trade secrets theft, libel and/or defamation are but a few examples that should be covered.

Secondary Damages: If an email goes through your server, whether it is someone in your company or a malicious party, that contains a virus that causes damage to another party and their systems, you could be liable for any loss incurred. Also, if you distribute any software or data files that cause another party to have crashes or outages, liability can become an issue.

Data Loss or failure: A loss of data or a network wide system failure could be the result of several factors: natural disaster, malicious activity, fire, user error, etc. While physical damage to your hardward could be covered under an existing business policy, data loss would not be included. Therein lies the need to cover any financial damages you may incur from data loss.

Extortion: Cyber criminals are capable of illegally accessing websites, networks, stored data and denying you and your clients' access to the information. They will often demand payment to restore your systems. This can cause loss of revenue and time and even generate additional losses associated with their demands. If your systems have been damaged and made vulnerable due to the breach, a technological restructure can also be an additional cost.

Business Interruption: As stated previously, we now rely heavily on technological resources to increase our productivity and financial profits. Any disaster that can cripple your ability to utilized or provide electronic services to your clients could be a potential revenue loss. From network or system failures to data breaches, your day-to-day operations can be at risk. Time and resources then have to be reallocated to deal with these issues which could lead to further revenue losses. Denial of service attacks have been on the rise and while there are 3rd party solutions to mitigate these types of attacks, any type of illegal cyber activity that interrupts your business operation for any amount of time can be problematic and costly.

Cyber liability insurance is designed to address the risks that come with using information technology in this modern era. The amount of coverage your company needs is based on the range of your operations and total exposure. NASTC Insurance can help identify your areas of risk and customize a policy to fit your needs.

Risk Management:

The trucking industry has many moving parts that they must contend with. Trucking companies face many distinct and influential risks involving hauling cargo to personnel transportation across the country. Weather, regulations and compliance, dangerous road conditions, vehicle maintenance and repairs and logistics are just a few concepts that represent a challenge for the trucking industry. These and other concerns make risk management strategies a must for the modern era trucking company. A good strategy can negate many of these issues that could affect a company now and in the future.

Risk management strategies simply involve identifying risk then taking the necessary steps to avoid or mitigate those risks. Each company will have different risk exposure but there are some things that can be done to reduce that exposure. For example a company can make sure they are using risk management practices to influence their day-to-day operational decisions and apply their experience to help promote a safer, more organized company structure.

Drivers have some of the most important risk management strategies that should be observed and put into practice every day. A few concepts for example could be that they maintain their vehicles through safety inspections, adhere to state/federal regulations and company policy for operation and distance, avoid unnecessary risks like travelling in inclement weather, excessive speed or using technology that can cause distractions. Many of these risks and violations can be mitigated by installing hands-free communication devices, making sure drivers are getting the required amount of rest and sleep to combat fatigue and stressing that taking risks to meet deadlines is unnecessary and can lead to potential disaster. Loss of cargo, injury and fines for non-compliance are but a few costly mistakes that can be avoided by implementing sound risk management strategies.

Let NASTC Insurance help you navigate your risk management with good planning and a sound insurance portfolio that will protect you, your company and your employees.