Patrick Campbell

What sort of insurance do you have to have to be an RV puller?

If I told my regular car insurance I was going to drive 200K miles per year hauling RVs for hire even under someone elses authority I am sure they would drop me.

RickG

If you have your own authority you need full liability as required by the DOT . If you put yourself at the mercy of the low paying RV transporters in Indiana they pay liability and permits . You will have to pay bobtail (about $40 a month ) and personal property (about $200 a month ) to cover your truck . While bobtail is required that covers you when driving privately not under dispatch . That leaves a questionable grey area when you are headed for another load . Very often you deadhead back to a terminal without confirmation of a pickup . The carrier will say you are not under dispatch . The company providing your bobtail insurance will say you were on duty , not running privately . The problem is most RV companies require you to log on duty when deadheading ( except for FEMA loads) . I would recommend getting unladen liability rather than bobtail . It can cost the same and you are always covered when not pulling a trailer . OOIDA can help you obtain insurance and authority .
Yes , your regular insurance have to be changed . I had State Farm and they do not provide commercial coverage . You must be under lease to obtain bobtail insurance and most companies will cancel the policy within 5 days if you terminate your contract . Do not go to a transport company unless you have an additional source of income . Register at hotshothauling.com . There are better paying opportunities turning up there including hurricane cleanup contracts for duallies with dump trailers .

Patrick Campbell

Hey I am on there, PatrickCampbell, wonder if I could get TOP to change my name on here without making me start all over again.

I was mainly curious to the price difference between the < $1000 a month I could pay for my own insurance (with no gray areas!!!) and what a RV transporter might pay.

So something like $250/month vs $900/month. Sounds like a lot but when you are basically forced to deadhead 50% of the time it is not

I actually filled out the Horizon application for fun and they denied me which I think is funny because I do have commercial experience but I am not going to get offended.

I've been messing around with an excel spreadsheet that'll let me punch in numbers like miles per week, % deadhead, pay per loaded mile and it'll give me an approximate bottom line. Pretty interesting stuff.