Box Trucks and Cargo Coverage in Ohio

A client of mine recently came to me to insure a households goods moving truck and needed insurance in order to get contracts or jobs with DAT Freight and Analytics.  I tried to quote him with Progressive because I have had issues finding carriers that want to underwrite this type of risk in the past.  I was told by him that his friend had secured a commercial auto policy (through Progressive) with the exact same coverage he needed and that it included cargo coverage.  So I called Progressive to verify coverage options for this type of risk.

Long story short: Progressive does NOT write cargo coverage in Ohio on this type of risk as of July 29, 2020. So if someone sold you cargo coverage, with Progressive, and you are moving household goods in a box truck, your policy is incorrect. If you don’t believe me, call Progressive commercial auto yourself.

The DOT/FMSCA requires you to carry cargo coverage along with $750,000 in commercial auto liability – there may be some variables, such as truck size, etc., but this is pretty standard..

I’ve even been informed by the Progressive commercial trucking department that when you go into their system to quote this type of risk, it will allow you to select cargo coverage and add it into the quote.  Then once the policy is uploaded, the operations department will catch it, remove it from the policy and notify the agent that the cargo coverage has been removed.

Quick story and lesson when dealing with a commercial insurance agent: If you go to an insurance agent and they give you a quote with the SAME exact underwriting company, and that quote is waaaaaaay different in cost, that typically means they have either rated your risk wrong, left something off you need, or have entered incorrect information.

I hope this helps someone!