Question
Wound up having my truck taken to the paint shop 80 miles away by a wrecker. Very pricey. Truck still has to come back home and then to a couple of other shops before I'm ready to put it on the road in a few months. I got to thinking. There are a lot of OO's who lease or trip lease to companies who pay the insurance while under a company trailer and the OO's buy bobtail ins. to cover them when they're not. When they are between companies do they still use bobtail ins. to move the truck. Can I buy bobtail insurance to cover me so I can drive my truck home and to cover me until I'm ready to put it back to work?I'd buy a one year policy if necessary or whatever is normal for that type of insurance. Seems I read somewhere that you had to be leased in order to buy bobtail ins., but that doesn't make a lot of sense since a lot of people trip lease or move from one company to another and would'nt have ins to move their trucks while not under lease.
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Kinda scary what some people do out there isn't it?
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One of the conditions of a Bobtail policy (Non-Trucking Liability) is that the vehicle be under a lease to an authorized motor carrier. Without a lease the coverage is void, so it really would not do the job for you. It sounds like you'll need to have the vehicle towed back as well.
Some Non-Trucking Liability policies provide a 10 day period "between" leases. And company administered programs often provide no extension of coverage after the lease is terminated.
It is important to read the provisions of the policy, before making any type of change to see where the coverage lies.
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I tried to buy TEMP insurance once to move a tractor between leases. Talk about a stone wall...
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Thanks for the replies. Cost $800.00 to have a good running truck towed from my yard to the paint shop. It's still got to come back and then to another shop to get lettered, another for a brake job and to get a couple of inner studs replaced and to another to get some gauges working and replace some wiring I don't like. Looks like it'd be cheaper just to buy the cheapest intra state, smallest operating radius, hauling my own freight type, $500,000.00 liability policy. Just enough to get 72 hr permit and upgrade the policy when the truck goes back on the road. Thoughts?
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You're falling between the cracks and it is a pain, without a doubt. Yes, you could purchase the primary coverage and get your permits. But, are we back to getting a short term policy again? If so, we're back to it not being a profitable situation for the insurance company to write.
What you could do (and personally I don't like this, but it happens), purchase the policy and don't tell the agent it's going to be short term. Do what you have to do and let it cancel. The only thing you risk is them not being willing to reinstate or rewrite when the time comes.
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No, I'll go ahead and buy it for the whole year and just upgrade it when I put the truck to work. They shouldn't mind raising the liablity to 750,000.00 and adding a larger radius, and cargo.
Thanks, Ray
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What limit of coverage are you thinking of?