Rebuilding a regional carrier’s coverage after two years of patchwork renewals
Client
Ridgeline Freight
industry
Regional Dry Van Carrier
location
Bakersfield, California
Ridgeline Freight runs dry van loads across California and the Southwest, growing from a single owner-operator truck to a small fleet in under four years.
Growth had outpaced the insurance. Each renewal had been handled separately, in a hurry, and nobody had looked at the program as a whole.
Challenge
Coverage had been bought piece by piece as trucks were added. Cargo limits had never been revisited, physical damage valuations no longer matched the equipment on the road, and two units were sitting on a policy that had been written for a very different operation.
The owner could not answer basic questions about what was and was not covered, which made every new contract conversation harder than it needed to be.
Approach
We started with the operation rather than the paperwork: what the trucks actually haul, the lanes they run, the contracts they sign and who is on the payroll. That produced a clear picture of where the real exposures sat.
From there we mapped each exposure to the coverage designed to address it — motor truck cargo, physical damage, auto liability and workers’ compensation — and set out how limits, deductibles and exclusions interacted across the program.
Impact
Ridgeline now runs one coordinated insurance program instead of four disconnected renewals, with cargo limits and equipment valuations that reflect the fleet as it exists today.
The owner can answer coverage questions during a contract negotiation without calling anyone first.
4
Coverages reviewed together
11
Units under one program
1
Coordinated renewal date
“Nobody had ever asked what we actually haul before quoting us. That one question changed the whole conversation.”
—
Marco Delgado
,
Owner, Ridgeline Freight
