# Do I need 300,000 coverage?



## norb5150 (Oct 3, 2015)

Help me out with an insurance issue. For the truck and plow I'm covered for 300,000. The cost is ok I guess (insurance is robbery at its finest in my opinion).
I have 10 residential drives and 1 business lot. I know things happen. But 300,000 sounds like some very excessive damages.

My question is Do I need 300,000 or is there options for lower coverage?


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## Ben/Insurance (Oct 22, 2012)

Norb, the Pa minimum requirement is $15,000 per person, $30,000 per accident for bodily injury and $5,000 for property damage. No insurance agent worth their salt works with less than $300,000 and most are recommending $1mill. If you totalled a new S class with your plow, you could be looking at over $100K in damage (I've seen a couple of those claims). You are saving very little $$ by lowering your coverage.
Ben/Insurance


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## ktfbgb (Jan 31, 2016)

norb5150 said:


> Help me out with an insurance issue. For the truck and plow I'm covered for 300,000. The cost is ok I guess (insurance is robbery at its finest in my opinion).
> I have 10 residential drives and 1 business lot. I know things happen. But 300,000 sounds like some very excessive damages.
> 
> My question is Do I need 300,000 or is there options for lower coverage?


Are you talking about your commercial auto or General Liability?


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## crazyboy (Feb 3, 2009)

300k seems very low, 1mil/2mil seems to be the most common and we wouldn't consider anything less.


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## Philbilly2 (Aug 25, 2007)

I had 300,000 many moons ago when I was a one man subcontractor in my own truck.

That was simply the auto coverage not GL.

I think you still need GL outside of this if I am correct.


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## JMHConstruction (Aug 22, 2011)

Not sure if he's talking about auto or GL.


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## Philbilly2 (Aug 25, 2007)

I don't think you can get GL limits that low.


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## JMHConstruction (Aug 22, 2011)

Philbilly2 said:


> I don't think you can get GL limits that low.


Oh ok. With my contractor license I have to have minimum 1mil, I wasn't sure how low it went.


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## Randall Ave (Oct 29, 2014)

If you've ever been sued, that ain't enough. There's just to many things that can go wrong to list. Think of all the close calls you've had.


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## 1olddogtwo (Aug 6, 2007)

Must be regular auto

That would be the minimum, I have 500K auto and 2M for GL


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## JMHConstruction (Aug 22, 2011)

1olddogtwo said:


> Must be regular auto
> 
> That would be the minimum, I have 500K auto and 2M for GL


Same here. Honestly I don't think I'd even consider less.


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## ktfbgb (Jan 31, 2016)

JMHConstruction said:


> Same here. Honestly I don't think I'd even consider less.


X3
OP you want as much coverage as possible. You are out in the worst of conditions working. I don't know how much a tractor trailer costs plus it's cargo but it's a lot. I do know how much fire apparatus costs as I sat on the purchasing committee at my department before retiring. 5 years ago a new pumper cost us $425,000 and that was before putting another 100k of equipment on it, a new ladder truck starts at $750,000. What would happen if you happened to be found responsible for the cause of an accident in which totaled one of the above trucks? You would be begging for more insurance at that point. And that's just the equipment cost, not whatever medical bills are accrued for the 4-5 firemen on board. Sorry for the fire reference just numbers that I happen to know. But you get my drift how fast as single bad collision can add up.


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## River (Dec 9, 2016)

I carry 5 million in General Liability. Cost me about 250 a month. I also do other things during the summer as well like 450 yards we mow and landscaping. The more the better.


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## iceyman (Mar 1, 2007)

Hell im in the concessions business and our events now require 2 mil in gl. Yes insurance sucks til you need it.


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## Sawboy (Dec 18, 2005)

1olddogtwo said:


> Must be regular auto
> 
> That would be the minimum, I have 500K auto and 2M for GL


Yep. Same here. And like Ben said, crash into a Suburban and a BMW and you're into 150k of damage without even trying hard.


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## norb5150 (Oct 3, 2015)

Ok. First off, thank you everyone for the input. Sorry the question is so open ended. Not counting general liability. Just the truck and plow liability (slips falls what have you) its separate on my policy and actually why I'm asking is because My GL insurance Co doesn't cover *anything* with the word snow plowing. So I have 2 Insurance Co's and I'm considering trying to combine everything into one Insurance Company if I get better rates. 
I'm starting to gather why 300,000k is probably required, I left out the dirty ass lawyers in the robbery statement.


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## norb5150 (Oct 3, 2015)

ktfbgb said:


> Are you talking about your commercial auto or General Liability?


Its just the Liability of the truck and plow. I have a whole separate General Liability policy for the business itself.


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## Philbilly2 (Aug 25, 2007)

If it makes you feel any better, all my trucks carry 1 mil on the auto only and they just carry tools to and from the job... no plowing


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## OneManWithAPlow (Sep 4, 2016)

crazyboy said:


> 300k seems very low, 1mil/2mil seems to be the most common and we wouldn't consider anything less.


Agreed. Im a one man show just starting out with very few contracts (single digits, looking for more) and I went with 1m auto with a GL to match...0 years exp, clean driving hist.


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## JMHConstruction (Aug 22, 2011)

norb5150 said:


> Ok. First off, thank you everyone for the input. Sorry the question is so open ended. Not counting general liability. Just the truck and plow liability (slips falls what have you) its separate on my policy and actually why I'm asking is because My GL insurance Co doesn't cover *anything* with the word snow plowing. So I have 2 Insurance Co's and I'm considering trying to combine everything into one Insurance Company if I get better rates.
> I'm starting to gather why 300,000k is probably required, I left out the dirty ass lawyers in the robbery statement.


The slip and falls should be covered by your GL, not your auto. The auto pays for damages caused by the truck or plow. You need your GL to cover you to plow snow. If they dont, find someone who will.


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## norb5150 (Oct 3, 2015)

*SNAFU *- yes! Situation normal (you know the rest) 
I ended making out on this whole situation. First off, to have to do this right when the season kicks in is frustrating and very time consuming. 
I called a few different agencies around to see what my options were for what I'm required to have to CMA. So I ended up having an absolute policy review done by one agent (business, home, life, vehicle's, plow, and so on). I was absolutely shocked at how much money I was giving away to the other companies. I'm not talking pennies either. I won't go into bottom line details but I was able to get 1mil GL (with plow covered) and all the other stuff mentioned at $670 (thats roughly 7 tanks of fuel) cheaper for the year then what I was paying for everything between the 2 previous companies and yes everything is still the same amount of coverages except my motorcycle. That actually went from 3k accessories to 5K and is 100 cheaper. Now here's the issue- The old companies wont call me back so I can get their BS broomed out of my way. 
In closing when time allows, it doesn't hurt to have your policy reviewed. $670 for me is a significant savings.


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