Question:
a list of insurance companies that supply insurance for tractor/trailers. I would love it they had a web site to check them out. The one thing that has stopped me from own my own car is insurance. I know that some companies that you lease onto say insurance is just so many cents per mile but I want to know what the cost is.
Coolbreeze

Answer:

The cost of insurance varies depending on the specifics of the operation. For an owner-operator with his own authority, the insurance company will want to know the following in order to determine a rate:
Age of driver
Years experience driving similar equipment
MVR for past 36 months
Loss history
Age of equipment
Commodities hauled
Major cities travelled into or through
Prior insurance history
Bankruptcy
The answers to these questions varies from driver to driver and thus premium can vary as well. When a company tells you the insurance costs them $0.07 per mile, that is based on their specific policy premium. Another company hauling the same products to the same states my be paying $0.10 per mile because of loss history, driver qualifications, etc.
This stuff is not carved in stone. It is a very painstaking process to determine the appropriate rate for the risk. There are alot of details that need to be considered.
When we get a call from a carer that says "all I want is an estimate of how much is insurance going to be if I get my own authority", we explain that we'll need to take some information. If the caller insists that he wants is an estimate, because he doesn't know what he's going to do, our reply is "pick a number between $3,000 and $20,000 annually", because without the specifics, there is no way for us to give you any figure that will be worth anything.
The major players in car insurance for owner-operatprs today are:
Northland Insurance Company
Canal Insurance Company
Carolina Casualty Insurance Company
Great West Insurance Company
Occidental Insurance Company
Wilshire Insurance Company
Great American Insurance Company
Redland Insurance Company
Athena Assurance Company
National Indemnity
Harco
National Casualty
There are more, but these are the most common. I hope this helps you.