The Rising Cost of Trucking Insurance in 2024

These days it seems like everything in America is getting more expensive, including the basic cost of living.

This also extends to the expenses required to run a trucking business, especially when it comes to insurance. Let’s first take a look at the trends over the past ten years.

According to the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the average cost of insurance premiums for trucking companies has been going up. Back in 2013, it was about 6.4 cents for every mile driven. But by 2022, it had risen to 8.8 cents per mile. Even though that might not sound like much at first, it adds up. For instance, for every hour of driving, that’s an increase from 2.57 to 3.57 an hour. It becomes a big deal when you factor in how many hours they spend on the road each year.

Larger companies with heftier budgets might be able to roll with the punches on this. However, smaller companies, who typically have less wiggle room with their funds, are feeling the hit in their wallets. The ATRI also found that from 2021 to 2023, insurance costs for smaller companies went up from 10.2 to 13.6 cents per mile, while larger companies saw their costs go down from 8.2 to 7.2 cents.

Smaller Trucking Companies Face Higher Insurance Costs

Insurance companies see smaller companies as riskier because they often have less experienced drivers and fewer resources to ensure safety. This means they’re more likely to have accidents, which makes them more expensive to insure. Smaller companies also struggle to compete with bigger ones when it comes to paying their drivers, which can lead to more accidents because they might hire less experienced drivers willing to work for lower pay.

And while this is not the gospel truth, insurance companies tend to look at their investment like this. This has resulted in the trend we are seeing, with larger companies tending to pay less while small businesses are made to pay more. But there are ways to combat this and help keep your insurance rates down.

By utilizing and training drivers in all safety tactics, keeping Compliance, Safety, and Accountability (CSA) scores up, and using all safety tools available, such as dash cams and electronic logging devices, you can help reduce the risk of accident and injury as well as have evidence for any accidents that you were not at fault for.

With costs going up everywhere, it’s worth investing in these measures to save money in the future.