Your Radius of Operation Is Already On Record

The number on the application is a factual claim

The radius of operation line on a truck insurance application reads like a preference, as if the underwriter is asking how you like to run. It is not a preference. It is a factual claim about where your equipment actually goes, and it is one of the very few claims on the submission that can be checked mile by mile long after the policy is bound, because the truck keeps its own record.

Our page on radius of operation and how it is rated covers how the circle gets drawn and where the price breaks land. This post covers the other half of the story, the paper trail that either backs your stated radius up or quietly argues with it.

Your trucks write the record every ten minutes

If your fleet is IFTA licensed, the recordkeeping standard is already written down and it is not vague. The IFTA Procedures Manual at P540.200 says that where distance records come from a vehicle tracking system using latitude and longitude, a record must be created and maintained at a minimum of every ten minutes while the engine is on. Each of those records has to carry the date and time of the reading, the latitude and longitude to at least four decimal places, the odometer reading from the engine control module, and the vehicle number. Four decimal places locates the truck inside a few dozen feet.

Fleets that do not use a tracking system are not off the hook, they are held to a trip based list at P540.100 instead. That list includes the beginning and ending dates of the trip, the origin and destination, the route of travel, the beginning and ending odometer or hubodometer reading, the total trip distance, the distance traveled in each jurisdiction, and the unit number. Either way, the record answers the same question the underwriter asked on the application.

The record outlives the quarter it was filed for

These files do not expire when the fuel tax return clears. IFTA Procedures Manual P510 requires a licensee to keep the records behind its returns for four years from the date the return was due or filed, whichever is later, plus any period covered by a waiver or a jeopardy assessment. On the safety side, 49 CFR 395.8(k)(1) puts records of duty status and supporting documents at not less than six months from receipt, and 49 CFR 395.22(i)(1) adds that the carrier must hold a back up copy of the ELD records for six months on a device separate from the one holding the original data. Even a 150 air mile short haul operation that is exempt from logs under 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1) still has to keep accurate and true time records for six months.

Where a wide month turns into a real problem

One long load does not rewrite your radius. Rating looks at where a vehicle normally operates, so a single run past the boundary is an exception rather than a redefinition. The trouble starts when the exception becomes a habit and nobody tells the agent. Two moments bring that habit into the open.

The first is a claim. After a serious loss the ELD data and the IFTA distance records get requested, and the location of the crash ends up sitting next to the radius on the application for anyone to compare. The second is renewal, where an underwriter asking for mileage by jurisdiction is looking at the same numbers your fuel tax filings already reported. Separately, 49 CFR 390.35 makes a fraudulent or intentionally false entry on a record required by the safety regulations its own violation, so tidying the miles to match the application is a far worse idea than the mismatch it would hide.

State the widest circle you actually run

The fix is boring and it works. Ask your drivers where the longest run of the last twelve months actually ended, then rate the circle that covers it instead of the circle that covers a normal week. Tell your agent before you take a lane that stretches the boundary, not after, so the change goes on by endorsement while it is still routine. Keep the trip records clean enough to survive a look, because they are the evidence either way.

Then make sure the coverage underneath the radius matches the work. A longer circle changes the severity picture on commercial auto liability, and it changes what a load is worth when it sits overnight somewhere unfamiliar, which is a motor truck cargo question. Distance and coverage move together, and the radius page lays out what each band does to the rate.

Get a quote that matches where you really run

We would rather price the real circle now than argue about it after a loss. Get a truck insurance quote in under a minute on our quote form, or call or text 423-264-4255 and tell us the farthest point you actually run to. We will rate it honestly and show you what the next band up costs before you need it.