Physical Damage Insurance

Get Physical Damage Coverage for Your Truck's Hefty Repair Bills!

Complete protection with less money spent. Whether you are an independent driver or own a trucking business, your commercial vehicles need coverage against various risks like accidents, overturns, collisions, or other sorts of damages. Physical damage insurance is vital for truckers and businesses that use various types of trucks for hauling shipments to several destinations.

What is physical damage insurance?

Physical Damage Insurance is coverage for your truck and trailer. This insurance coverage is for repair or replacement for damage resulting from things such as collision, fire, theft, hail, windstorm, earthquake, flood, mischief, or vandalism to your owned vehicles. Pricing is based on the value of your equipment and usually pays a percentage of that value. Physical damage coverage may be required by the lien holder of your vehicle.

This coverage comes in the following three parts:

Collision: This coverage protects you against the event of a rollover or a collision. This policy is comparatively more expensive than comprehensive coverage because accidents are riskier as well as costlier than damages.

Comprehensive: This policy offers coverage for the majority of physical damages to the truck in incidents like vandalism, fire, theft, and animal contact. Additionally, when your truck goes beyond repair it compensates for its replacement as well.

Fire and theft with CAC (combined additional coverage): This coverage is specially designed for heavy-duty trucks that give complete protection against many potential risks on and off the road.

What does physical damage insurance cover?

This truck insurance protects against the loss caused by the following:

• Falling objects
• Rollovers
• Vandalism
• Collision
• Natural calamities
• Fire

If you pair your physical damage coverage with the following add-ons then you can get blanket protection for your trucks.

Rental reimbursement: This pays for the rented truck you use when your own vehicle is undergoing a repairing process.

Roadside assistance: You get towing services along with a professional technician to rescue your truck when it breaks down in the middle of the road.

Downtime: It pays for the period when you fail to resume your trucking operations due to heavy damage or theft of your vehicle.

Full glass protection: It is an add-on coverage that protects against the damages to products made of glass in your vehicle like the windshield, rear-view mirror, side mirror, etc.

What does physical damage insurance NOT cover?

Although physical damage coverage gets you covered from the above incidents it won't keep you protected from all risks. To get blanket coverage you need to add comprehensive protection as it doesn't cover:

Medical expenses: This policy does not provide coverage when your truck physically injures a third party or even your own transporter.

Lawsuit fees: Severe accidents are life-threatening and can cause heavy property damage to other people. In such cases, it can lead to hefty legal expenses which are not covered by this policy.

Stolen property: If your truck gets stolen by any chance then this loss is not included in this insurance coverage.

Damages to another vehicle: When a third-party vehicle gets badly damaged after colliding with your truck then you have to take care of its repair cost out of your wallet as this policy won't cover it for you.

Wear and tear of equipment: Deterioration or rusted parts/equipment of your trucks are not covered in this policy.

Cargo loss: Damage or loss of the shipment or cargo after any accident is excluded from this coverage.

Physical damage insurance for businesses

Businesses that use various types of vehicles for commercial purposes need this insurance coverage to protect their operation and trucks. You can also purchase comprehensive physical damage coverage with fire and theft with CAC to strengthen the safety layer from several risks.

Businesses with multiple fleets of vehicles should carry physical damage coverage for vehicles especially, for new or valuable trucks.

Physical Damage Insurance FAQs

Who requires physical damage insurance?
Any trucker or business with a truck that has a lien or lease will be required to carry physical damage by the lender. Owner-operators with valuable equipment should also carry it to protect their investment.

Can I lower the cost of physical damage insurance?
Yes. Choosing a higher deductible, maintaining a clean driving record, and bundling with other NITIC coverages can help reduce your premium.

Why should I purchase a physical damage cover for my truck?
Without physical damage insurance, you'd have to pay out of pocket to repair or replace your truck after an accident, fire, theft, or natural disaster. For most owner-operators, their truck is their livelihood.

Do I need to buy physical damage insurance when my truck is on a lease?
Yes. Most leasing companies and lenders require you to carry physical damage insurance as a condition of the financing agreement.

Comprehensive or collision coverage, which physical damage insurance is better?
Both serve different purposes. Collision covers accident-related damage; comprehensive covers non-collision events like theft, fire, and weather. NITIC recommends carrying both for complete protection.