Understanding trucking insurance limits, deductibles and exclusions
Three words decide most of what a policy is actually worth to you.
Limits, deductibles and exclusions are where a policy stops being a product name and starts being a specific promise with specific boundaries.
They are also the three things most worth understanding before a claim rather than after.
Limits
A limit is the maximum the policy will pay for a covered loss, and limits can apply per occurrence, per policy period or per category. In commercial trucking, required limits are frequently set by authority, contracts and regulation rather than chosen freely.
Deductibles
A deductible is the amount you carry yourself before the policy responds. Raising it usually lowers premium and raises the cost of an individual loss, which makes it a cash-flow decision as much as an insurance one.
Exclusions
Exclusions describe what the policy does not respond to. They are not fine print in any meaningful sense: they define the shape of the coverage as much as the insuring agreement does.
Comparing policies properly
Two quotes with the same headline coverage and very different prices are usually describing different limits, different deductibles or different exclusions. Comparing on premium alone compares the least informative number.
Coverage, limits, deductibles, exclusions, eligibility and availability are subject to the actual policy and applicable law.
