Businesses like FedEx ISPs and Amazon DSPs, must always be up-to-date on their liability insurance coverage. Delivery businesses run a higher risk then the average driver of being involved in an accident. As an owner of a business such as these, you may at first think that an accident involving your delivery truck will always be fully covered by your regular trucking insurance coverage. Sometimes that’s simply not the case. You can never fully predict how severe an accident may be. That’s why having the best insurance coverage possible is the safest course of action for any established business.
There is a common myth that unless the accident involves a fatality, you’ll be fully covered. However, who’s to say that a bad accident, with severe injuries but no fatalities, wouldn’t cost upwards of a million dollars? Accidents can be serious events that can be extremely costly to repair. It’s not only vehicle damage, but also property damage and medical bills that can lead to millions of dollars in damage.
Accidents are less likely to end up in fatalities with the advancements in safety features, but the probability of severe injury during the accident has increased. Just think about head trauma alone: when that happens, those medical bills skyrocket when compared to broken bones.
So what’s all this have anything to do with trucking insurance? Well, combine all of these circumstances with only regular insurance coverage, and you’ll be left with an extremely expensive bill to pay.
Most Common Accidents You Need To Prepare For
Since any accident should always be taken seriously, no matter how big or small, your business needs to be aware of the most common accidents involving delivery trucks. This way, your business can take every precautional measure you can to ensure that they don’t happen to your drivers.
The four most common accidents you should prepare for are:
- Drivers forgetting to set the truck’s parking brake– If your driver leaves the truck, the emergency brake must be engaged, every single time. This will prevent any rollbacks from occurring that could end in a collision with another car in the road or potentially hitting a pedestrian walking behind your vehicle.
- Failure to yield – If the truck is in the act of turning or merging, the driver should always allow other vehicles to go ahead before merging into traffic
- First-time drivers, drunk drivers, and tired drivers– If your drivers fall into any of these categories (which hopefully they never do, especially driving drunk or over-tired driving), then the risk of an accident, especially a severe one, increases significantly. It’s important to take every precautionary measure to avoid these situations.
- Cargo is not secured properly – Any packages, large or small, if not secured correctly, can quickly slide around the back of the truck and alter the weight distribution of the truck. This is something that’s very important and comes into play when these trucks are making big turns.
The Takeaway
The reality of not having proper trucking insurance coverage can look like this: hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, legal fees, lost income, and other related expenses. Even though advancements in automotive technology have made cars safer and continue to do so every year, there’s still a real chance of serious injury or death. We hope you hear our message, and make sure your FedEx ISP or Amazon DSP business is properly insured with the best liability coverage possible. To discuss your current coverage further please call our office today 860-453-0116.
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