Transportation · Halifax & Nova Scotia
Fleet insurance is priced on paperwork.
Transportation underwriters do not price on goodwill. They price on driver abstracts, loss runs, radius and what you haul. A clean, complete submission is worth real money, and a messy one costs you every year. I place coverage for couriers, owner-operators, last-mile carriers and long-haul fleets running the Maritimes, central Canada and the US.
Owner-operators · Courier & last mile · Local cartage · Long haul · Flatbed · Refrigerated
What actually goes wrong
One driver moves the whole rate
Fleet pricing follows who is behind the wheel. A single driver with convictions or an at-fault loss can move the rate on every unit you own. Knowing that before renewal gives you options.
The load is damaged, not the truck
Cargo liability is a separate coverage from physical damage on the unit. Refrigeration breakdown, water damage and theft of the load each need looking at on their own terms, and reefer breakdown is often excluded by default.
A unit sits for three weeks
An out-of-service truck stops earning the day it goes in, but the payment on it does not stop. Downtime and loss of use is a small coverage that carries a lot of weight when you only run a handful of units.
The yard is not the road
Most carriers also have premises, forklifts and freight sitting in storage. None of that is touched by the auto policy, and warehouse exposure is where I most often find a carrier uninsured without knowing it.
What a transportation policy usually covers
- Commercial auto liability, fleet-rated where you qualify, at limits your shippers will accept
- Physical damage on tractors, trailers and straight trucks
- Cargo liability for goods in your care, custody and control
- Downtime and loss of use while a unit is off the road
- Non-owned and hired units, for leased power and owner-operators under your authority
- Premises liability and property for the yard, shop and warehouse
- Excess liability, which brokers and shippers increasingly require before they hand you freight
What I’ll ask you for
A unit list with VINs and values, a driver list with abstracts, your radius and share of US travel, what you haul, annual revenue or mileage, and three to five years of loss runs.
It is a long list, and it is the whole game. The cleaner that package, the better the market responds.
Questions I get asked
When does a fleet get fleet-rated instead of rated per unit?
In most markets the threshold sits around five or more units under one ownership. Fleet rating prices the operation on its own loss experience rather than on each driver’s record, which usually helps a well-run fleet and hurts one with recent claims. Crossing that threshold is worth planning for rather than stumbling into.
Do I need cargo insurance if the shipper has their own?
Yes. The shipper’s policy covers the shipper. Cargo liability covers your legal responsibility for goods in your care, and your contract with them almost certainly makes you responsible. If their insurer pays a claim caused by you, they will come after you for it. Cargo coverage is what stands between that subrogation and your bank account.
I am a new authority with no loss history. Can I get covered?
Usually yes, though rarely in the standard market in year one. New ventures generally start in the specialty and MGA market, price higher for the first year or two, and move to standard once there is clean experience to show. What helps most is your own driving history, verifiable experience in the industry, and a realistic radius. Understating where you actually run is the fastest way to have a claim disputed.
Renewal in sixty days?
That is the right time to start. Send me your unit and driver lists and I will put a proper submission together.
Rayanur Rahman 