Commercial Trucking Insurance in Texas

What to Look For, Who We Work With & How to Get a Quote

Serving Dripping Springs, Austin, and the entire Central Texas / Hill Country region.

If you run trucks for a living — whether that’s one truck under your own authority or a growing fleet hauling limestone out of a Hays County quarry — your insurance program is one of the few business decisions that can shut you down overnight if you get it wrong. A lapsed filing, a coverage gap on a single trailer, or an underwriter who doesn’t understand your lanes can cost you loads, cash flow, or your operating authority itself.

Brown Insurance Group is an independent agency based in Dripping Springs, Texas, and we work exclusively as your advocate — not a single carrier’s. Here’s everything you need to know about commercial trucking insurance in Texas: what to look for, the coverage types that actually matter, what carriers are in play, what we need from you to quote it, and why an independent Hill Country agency is worth talking to before your next renewal.

What Is Commercial Trucking Insurance?

Commercial trucking insurance is a package of coverages built specifically for motor carriers and owner-operators — not a repurposed personal auto policy. It typically combines primary auto liability, physical damage, motor truck cargo, and several trucking-specific endorsements that a standard commercial auto policy doesn’t include, like non-trucking liability and trailer interchange coverage. Because it has to satisfy both state law and FMCSA federal filing requirements, it’s underwritten and structured differently than the insurance on a regular company vehicle.

What to Look For When Buying Trucking Insurance

Not all trucking policies are built the same, and the cheapest quote on paper is often missing something you’ll need the day you actually have a claim. Before you bind a policy, make sure it addresses each of these:

• Liability limits that match what brokers actually require. The FMCSA minimum for general freight is $750,000, but most freight brokers and shippers won’t tender a load without $1,000,000 in auto liability. Quoting to the legal minimum can quietly cost you freight.
• Motor truck cargo coverage matched to what you haul. A policy with a low per-load cargo limit, or one that excludes your specific commodity, can leave you paying out of pocket on a claim you assumed was covered.
• Physical damage — actual cash value vs. agreed value. Know which one you’re buying. On a newer tractor, agreed value can matter enormously after a total loss.
• Non-trucking liability (bobtail) coverage if you’re leased to a carrier, for the miles you’re driving off-dispatch.
• Trailer interchange coverage if you pull trailers you don’t own.
• General liability separate from your auto policy, for on-premises and completed-operations exposure.
• Occupational accident coverage or workers’ compensation, depending on how your drivers are classified.
• An umbrella or excess layer if your primary limits still leave you exposed on a catastrophic loss.
• The carrier’s A.M. Best rating. Brokers and shippers increasingly check this before they’ll book you, and it affects your ability to get paid on a large claim.
• Real claims service. A truck out of service is lost revenue every day it sits — ask how fast the carrier actually moves on commercial auto claims, not just what the brochure says.
• Whether your agent actually files your BMC-91/91X and BOC-3 — and files them correctly and on time. This trips up more new authorities than almost anything else.

The Coverage Filings Behind Your Authority

Your policy doesn’t just protect you financially — parts of it are literally what keeps your operating authority active. A few terms worth knowing:

• BMC-91 / BMC-91X — your insurer’s proof of liability insurance, filed directly with FMCSA.
• MCS-90 — a federally required endorsement attached to your liability policy for regulated carriers.
• BOC-3 — your process agent designation, filed separately from your insurance policy, in every state you operate.
• BMC-34 / BMC-83 — cargo insurance filings specific to household goods carriers.

FMCSA generally won’t activate new authority until both the BMC-91/91X and BOC-3 are on file, and applications are typically dismissed if those filings aren’t posted within roughly 90 days. If you’re setting up new authority, confirm before you bind that your agent will handle these filings — not every agency does this promptly, and a missed filing can delay your start date by weeks.

Types of Trucking Operations We Insure

Central Texas has an unusually broad mix of trucking risk — from Hill Country limestone quarries to I-35 freight running straight through Austin — and we quote across nearly all of it:

• Owner-operators (leased-on and independent authority)
• Sand & gravel and aggregate haulers / dump trucks
• General freight and dry van
• Flatbed
• Refrigerated (reefer)
• Auto haulers / car carriers
• Tow trucks and wreckers
• Livestock haulers
• Agricultural haulers
• Oilfield and energy haulers (crude, water, equipment)
• Tanker and fuel haulers
• Household goods movers
• Local and regional delivery / straight trucks
• Logging trucks
• Waste and recycling haulers
• Hotshot trucking

Sand and gravel deserves a special mention for our area specifically: Hays County and the surrounding Hill Country sit on some of the most active limestone and aggregate quarrying in the state, which means dump truck and aggregate-hauling risk is a genuinely local specialty for us, not an afterthought.

The Carriers We Have Access To

As an independent agency, we’re not tied to one company’s rates or one company’s appetite. Depending on your operation, years of experience, radius, and equipment, we place trucking risk with a broad panel of national and regional markets that write Texas trucking business, including carriers such as Progressive Commercial, Great West Casualty, Northland Insurance, Canal Insurance, National Interstate, Sentry, Nationwide, Travelers, and other A-rated standard and specialty markets, plus surplus lines options for new authorities and harder-to-place risk.

Note: this list reflects markets commonly available to independent Texas trucking agencies and is a starting point — confirm and edit to match your actual carrier appointments before publishing.

What We Need From You to Quote Trucking Insurance

The faster and more complete your information, the faster — and more accurately — we can quote it. Here’s what to have ready:

• Legal business name, mailing address, and garaging address
• USDOT number and MC number
• Years in business and years operating under current authority
• Driver list: name, date of birth, CDL number and class, years of CDL experience, and MVR
• Vehicle list: VIN, year/make/model, GVWR, and stated value
• Radius of operation and typical lanes or states run
• Commodities hauled, and average load value
• Loss runs for the past 3–5 years (even if claim-free)
• Current liability limits and policy effective/expiration dates
• Lease agreement, if leased on to a motor carrier
• ELD/telematics usage and current CSA/safety score, if available
• Any prior cancellations or non-renewals

Don’t have all of it on hand? That’s normal — we can start the process with what you’ve got and fill in the rest before we bind.

Why Brown Insurance Group for Trucking Insurance

We’re an independent agency, which means we work for you, not for one insurance company. A captive agent can only offer what their one company is willing to write. We shop your risk across multiple carriers and bring back the combination of price, coverage, and appetite that actually fits your operation — including the harder-to-place risk that gets a flat “no” from a lot of agencies.

We’re also based right here in Dripping Springs, in the Hill Country region we serve. That matters for trucking specifically: we understand the local quarry and aggregate hauling business, the I-35 freight corridor running through Austin, and the mix of ranch, ag, and oilfield-adjacent hauling that’s common across Central Texas — because it’s happening around us, not in a call center somewhere else.

When you have a claim, you’re calling a person who knows your account, not starting over with a stranger. That’s the actual value of an independent local agency, and it’s the standard we hold ourselves to.

Serving Dripping Springs, Austin & All of Central Texas

We write commercial trucking insurance for operators based in and around:

Dripping Springs · Austin · Wimberley · Buda · Kyle · San Marcos · Bee Cave · Lakeway · Spicewood · Marble Falls · Johnson City · Blanco · Fredericksburg · New Braunfels · Georgetown · Round Rock · Leander · Cedar Park — and throughout Hays, Travis, Comal, and Blanco counties.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does commercial trucking insurance cost in Texas?

It varies widely by operation, but owner-operators commonly see premiums in the range of roughly $750–$2,500+ per month per truck, with new authorities (under two years) generally paying more until they build a clean claims history. Rate is driven by radius, commodity, equipment, driving records, and loss history — which is exactly why shopping multiple carriers matters.

What’s the minimum insurance required to get a DOT/MC number?

Federal minimums under 49 CFR Part 387 generally start at $750,000 in liability for general freight, rising to $1,000,000 for oil transport and up to $5,000,000 for hazmat or passenger operations. Texas sets a lower $500,000 minimum for intrastate-only carriers, but most interstate carriers need $750,000 or more, and brokers commonly require $1,000,000 regardless of the legal floor.

Do owner-operators leased to a carrier need their own insurance?

Usually yes, even when the motor carrier provides primary liability coverage under the lease. Non-trucking liability (bobtail) coverage for off-dispatch miles is typically the owner-operator’s own responsibility, and many leases require the owner-operator to carry it.

What’s the difference between primary liability and non-trucking liability?

Primary liability covers you while you’re operating under dispatch, hauling a load for the motor carrier you’re leased to. Non-trucking liability covers the truck when you’re driving it for personal use or between dispatches — off the clock, essentially, but still on the road.

Can I get trucking insurance with a new authority (less than 2 years)?

Yes. It’s a smaller pool of markets willing to write new authorities, and pricing runs higher in year one, but several carriers — including some of the ones we work with — actively quote new-venture trucking risk. It typically gets easier and cheaper after your first clean year.

What information do I need to get a trucking insurance quote?

At minimum: your USDOT/MC number, driver list with CDLs and MVRs, vehicle list with VINs, radius of operation, commodities hauled, and loss runs for the past few years. See the full checklist above — the more complete it is, the faster we can quote it.

Get a Trucking Insurance Quote

If you’re starting a new authority, adding a truck, or your renewal just isn’t sitting right, let’s talk. Reach out to Brown Insurance Group in Dripping Springs, and we’ll shop your risk across our full carrier panel and bring you options — not just one quote from one company.