Insurance Question regarding Owners son.

[erictree]

I lived down the street from a high school in an affluent area in North Carolina.
Every year I would see kids with new cars and new drivers license driving down my street exceedingly carefully. White knuckles, driving slow, eyed glued to the road ahead!
2 weeks later, I'd see the same kids driving down the same street with a carload of giggling teens.
They'd have one hand on the steering wheel, one hand on the radio, they'd be looking into the back seat and having a conversation with those sitting back there. In 2 weeks they were now expert drivers.

Listening to a nice young man talking about being 18 with "a lot of driving experience "and the rig is only a truck and trailer with equipment on it.
That is something that can do a lot of damage. It could kill a lot of people 10 minutes from the shop.
Insurance nightmare.

I remember my youngest at 18 years old. She was complaining about State Farm ripping us off. How much money they are making on us!
I replied, Are they? In 2 years we have hit 5 deer. We have had 2 cars stolen. We have totaled 3 cars. Seriously!

i see exactly what you mean with that, well aware of the risks of driving with trailers and have seen horrible accidents happen. (not our accidents but accidents others have had in the state)

 

[erictree]

The insurance company can have its own standards for coverage as long as the standards do not violate rules of the state insurance commissioner. If one company will not add a driver to a policy then the options are:

• Find a different insurance company that will provide the desired coverage
• Arrange for a covered driver to do the driving
• Wait until you are acceptable to the insurance company
• Ignore the law and the insurance company and take your chances driving without insurance coverage.

That's pretty much it. When I was 18 I occasionally drove a dump truck and a tow truck for jobs I worked, but times have changed.

just gonna end up waiting on insurance, not worth the risk at all. the most we can do now is have discussions with the insurance to try to straighten it all out.

 

[erictree]

Nobody is going to look at any drive time with a permit as being relevant as there is zero documentation to prove it. As far as any insurance company is concerned, you have been driving for less than a month, period. There is no way any credible insurance carrier will insure you as a driver in a commercial setting. In fact, you might find that you'll need to be 21 to qualify for such insurance since that is the age requirement for most CDL holders.
What sort of stuff are you driving exactly ? I'm not asking for the generic "1 ton dump and trailer" reply, but specifics, as in size and weight....Your "1 ton with trailer or chipper" isn't exactly light stuff, especially if you are loading it up with wood or wood chips. Depending on what size the truck is, a good load of wood and a trailer with a small skid steer could be getting close CDL territory....

A Sierra 3500 single cab with a dump body, no bigger than a pickup someone my age would drive, and as for the trailer no more than 6,000 with the mini on it, and as for the chipper i'd say around 7. All under CDL, even if it were to be loaded down which it wont be very often, and if it is it would just be a little bit of left over logs / stumps. Nothing too heavy at all, but you are right it isn't exactly a light rig at all. Just seems small compared to everything else we work with.

 

[torch]

There are some people who object to insurance on religious grounds; they see it as a form of gambling. They are not wrong.

Just like any bookie or Vegas casino, the house is calculating the odds, planning on paying out a certain percentage of the take, but planning to make money overall and adjusting the odds to suit the bet. If a bet doesn't look profitable to them, they won't take it. If it looks like someone is not playing by their rules, they'll keep all the money and kick them out of the game.

I don't know the situation right now, but when my kids were your age it was common for insurance policies to have a provision that all drivers be over 25. If anyone was under 25, then some companies would charge an extra premium to cover their perceived extra risk and other companies would simply refuse the bet (the same was true of male vs female drivers too). When challenged under Human Rights laws against age (or sex) discrimination, the bookies, er, actuaries trotted out their charts and figures to prove it wasn't discrimination, it was simply a fact of life.

Virtually anything and anyone can be insured. If a pretty actress has nice legs, some insurance company will bet nothing will happen to them and some bookie will offer odds something will. Dad (or Mom, or whoever is running things at your family company) can shop around and decide if the extra premiums are more or less than hiring a driver that meets the policy provisions or shuttling an acceptable driver back and forth. If they are caught putting a ringer (you) in the game, the insurance company will void the insurance and keep the money. Oh, and tell all the other casinos, er, insurers that they are known cheaters so they can't play anywhere else either.

 

[fishdrivel]

The OP seems like a very nice young man.
I like working with young people. I trust them within their experience.
I am a good listener. When I hear a young person minimize the risk, I am assured that they are a bigger risk.
If I was an insurance company, I would not insure this fine young man, knowing that a simple mistake from inexperience and lack of awareness, could cause a claim of $5 million. That is the current state of liability for commercial vehicles.

Attorneys don't care if you are a nice young man!

 

[fishdrivel]

i see exactly what you mean with that, well aware of the risks of driving with trailers and have seen horrible accidents happen. (not our accidents but accidents others have had in the state)

Post #24 you said: "just a 1 ton dump towing......." That led me to believe you were 18 and minimizing the risk. If you had started with your above statement of being "well aware of the risks" I would have felt more confident in you.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

A Sierra 3500 single cab with a dump body, no bigger than a pickup someone my age would drive, and as for the trailer no more than 6,000 with the mini on it, and as for the chipper i'd say around 7. All under CDL, even if it were to be loaded down which it wont be very often, and if it is it would just be a little bit of left over logs / stumps. Nothing too heavy at all, but you are right it isn't exactly a light rig at all. Just seems small compared to everything else we work with.

So loaded up you're pushing 20,000 pounds... that's plenty enough to get you in trouble if you don't respect it.

 

[erictree]

Post #24 you said: "just a 1 ton dump towing......." That led me to believe you were 18 and minimizing the risk. If you had started with your above statement of being "well aware of the risks" I would have felt more confident in you.

very poor wording on my part

 

[erictree]

So loaded up you're pushing 20,000 pounds... that's plenty enough to get you in trouble if you don't respect it.

100% correct. i respect the rig no matter what. it could be a pickup truck towing a small landscape trailer and a mower and id give it the same respect as a 650 with a towing a 21xp. things can go wrong fast

 

[arathol]

Thats all well and good but the insurance companies don't care about talk. All they see is an 18 year old kid with one month driving experience who wants to be driving in a commercial environment. They are only interested in their bottom line and minimizing their risk. You are a significant risk according to their actuarial tables, so no soup for you.....