Dry Van Insurance

The class where shopping matters most

Dry van is the baseline of trucking insurance. It is the class underwriters model everything else against, the freight profile every carrier understands, and the market with the most companies competing for your business. That last part is the point. In a specialty class you might have three markets willing to quote you. In dry van you can have ten, and the spread between the best and worst of those ten is real money.

Which means the single biggest mistake a dry van operator makes is taking the first quote. The second biggest is renewing with the same carrier year after year without ever testing the market. Dry van rewards shopping more than any other class, and an agent who works one carrier cannot shop.

What a dry van program is built from

Commercial auto liability at a one million dollar combined single limit is the market standard. The federal minimum for general freight is seven hundred fifty thousand, but almost no broker will tender a load at that, so budget for the million.

Motor truck cargo at one hundred thousand dollars is the standard broker requirement, and for most general freight it is genuinely adequate. Where dry van operators get caught is hauling above their limit without thinking about it. A full load of electronics, tires, or branded apparel can pass one hundred thousand easily. Know what your typical high-value load looks like and size the limit to that, not to the minimum the broker asks for.

Physical damage on the tractor and trailer, at stated values that reflect what the equipment is worth today. Used truck values have moved a lot in recent years in both directions, and a stated value set three years ago is probably wrong now in one direction or the other.

If you pull trailers you do not own, drop or hook at shipper yards, or run power-only, you need trailer interchange coverage, because your own physical damage does not follow equipment that is not yours. And if you are leased to a carrier, non trucking liability covers you when you are not under dispatch.

Cargo theft is the dry van claim nobody budgets for

Vans get stolen because vans are anonymous. Nobody knows what is inside, and organized theft crews target exactly the freight that dry vans haul, electronics, appliances, food and beverage, and consumer goods. Theft losses cluster at truck stops, unsecured drop lots, and over weekends when a loaded trailer sits.

Two things matter here. First, read the theft conditions on your cargo form. Some policies require attended or secured parking for theft coverage to apply, and a trailer dropped in an open lot on a Friday night can fail that condition exactly when you need it most. Second, your habits are underwriting factors. Kingpin locks, high-security seals, and a rule against dropping loaded trailers unattended are cheap, and on larger accounts carriers genuinely credit them.

Load securement still matters in a box

Dry van operators like to think securement is a flatbed problem. Freight claims say otherwise. Load shift is one of the most common dry van cargo claims there is, palletized freight that was loaded badly, straps that were never thrown, load bars that stayed in the side box. When a load shifts and crushes itself, the receiver rejects it and the claim lands on your cargo policy.

The defense is boring and effective. Note the load count and condition on the bill of lading, use load bars or straps on partial loads, and photograph anything that looks marginal at pickup. Shipper-load-and-count wording on the bill matters too, because it shifts responsibility for what you could not see loaded.

What actually moves a dry van premium

• Loss history. Three clean years is the single most valuable asset you have. Nothing else on this list comes close.
• Driver records. In a class this competitive, one driver with a recent serious violation can be the difference between the good market and the expensive one.
• Time under authority. New authority pays more everywhere, but dry van has the most markets willing to write year one, and the drop at renewal after a clean first year is bigger here than in any specialty class.
• Radius and lanes. Regional operations price better than coast to coast, and some metro areas carry theft and congestion surcharges.
• Equipment values. Keep stated values current so you are not paying premium on a number that no longer reflects the truck.

Why we are built for this class

Because dry van has the most markets, it rewards an agent who actually works them. We shop your submission across every A-rated carrier that wants general freight, including the ones that specifically want single trucks and new authorities, and we tell you honestly which quote is the right one rather than the one that pays best. Certificates go out same day, usually within the hour, because a certificate sitting in an inbox is a load you did not haul.

Send us your DOT number, truck count, and three years of loss runs if you have them, and we will tell you what your operation should actually cost. If you want a ballpark first, the cost calculator will give you an honest range in under a minute.