Question
"The insurance companies are black balling me!"
"I'm being descriminated against!"
"They're keeping me from getting a job!"
In the past couple months, I've heard these comments (or variations of) from a number of drivers.
The frustration must be intense and I feel for these people, but upon closer examination we find the following:
A. Trucker age 30, 6 months experience and 3 at fault accidents
B. Trucker age 25, 2 years experience, 3 speeding tickets, 1 at fault accident of $86,000 damage
C. Trucker age 22, 3 years experience (2 years intrastate), 5 speeding tickets in 2 years
The insurance companies did not put any of these people out of work. They did it themselves. Because the information is shared by DAC, doesn't make it DAC's fault either. The only person responsible for what happens behind the wheel of that truck is the driver.
Nobody makes you speed!
If you make an error in judgement and have an accident, it's your fault!
The insurance companies are using your MVR to guage your safety and insurability. Drivers need to be willing to take responsibility. The problem is that our industry is so tumultous, between fuel prices and driver issues, there is very little room for "give".
What is also important to notice it the experience. The less experience, the higher the risk factor.
The increases in premium plaguing the trucking industry are very real and the storm is not over yet.
Answer
My question is i have 1 ticket=1.5 points in 2.5 years
I have 3 no fault accadents in 2.5 years. The Co I was working for laid me off ( and they were at fault... faulity equiptment) I was a new driver at the time.
Will I have a hard time getting another job..Will the insurance cos carry me???
Can you help with this please
Jeff
Jeffrey Turner
Answer
Jeff
What was the ticket for? Can you prove with a police report that the 3 accident were not your fault? Was the other party cited?
Connie
Answer
About 12 years ago, I had 2 trucks running dedicated, time-sensitive air freight routes for "????" (a major courier company). I was operating under another carrier's authority and driving one of the trucks. We were making GOOD money at the time.
When I say 'time-sensitive', I mean that "????" (like UPS, FedEx, etc) sells 'guaranteed delivery' and about the only excuse they will accept for your being late, at either end, is that you died along the way!
Under these terms, if either of my trucks got delayed at any stop (which happened a lot), it was on us - as the drivers - to make up the difference enroute. I don't have to tell you that, with the bulk of our loaded miles in the state of Ohio, I personally (foolishly) racked up 10 MVR points in a hurry. The other driver (my oldest brother) wasn't far behind. These points were, of course, mostly from speeding tickets.
When "????" became aware of this, they suddenly no longer needed either of my trucks. When I tried to take them somewhere else - we were both 'un-hireable' due to insurance regulations. NOBODY, even the crappy carriers, would take us or my trucks on account of our MVR's. I wasn't about to put other strange drivers in my trucks (been there, done that - NEVER again!) so, I ended up selling both trucks and trailers and taking a temporary salaried, hourly job (yeh, I know) while patiently waiting for my CDL to 'cool off', allowing me to re-enter the industry. My brother went back to being a mechanic in a small shop.
The moral to this long-winded story: I learned a very good but hard, harsh lesson about maintaining a clean driving record, and trying to pass it along to the others. And like Connie said, I could falsely blame "????", or the police, or the D.O.T., or anyone else but, I can only fault myself for permitting this to happen. So I took my lumps and moved on.
Hope this serves to help someone in some small way (other than a good laugh!).
Happy trails..
Answer
Wolfcreek,
It was an expensive lesson for you, but obviously a good one.
It is very unfortunate that it needs to get to this point for some of the drivers, but again, the only one behind that wheel is the driver. So blaming the insurance company is ridiculous. If you're going to drive professionally, they you need to do it responsibly. And only you can be accountable for your actions.
Thanks for sharing your experience and we hope it will help enlighten others.