Survey aims to chart the impact of rising insurance costs

April 27, 2021

Land Line Staff

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You have until the end of the work week to take part in a survey from the American Transportation Research Institute on rising insurance costs. Your input helps equip OOIDA and others with data they need to educate regulators and lawmakers.

The OOIDA Foundation, a member of the ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee, has been tasked with helping to distribute a survey, which was developed with input from both motor carriers and insurance providers.

OOIDA encourages its member to take part in the survey as this research has been deemed “a top industry priority” by ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee.

The survey deadline is May 1.

The survey inquires of the size of your fleet, where you run, commodities you haul, insurance deductibles and measures taken to cut or offset insurance premium increases.

All survey responses will be kept completely confidential. Personal, organization, and/or financial information will never be released for public use under any circumstance, and will only be used internally for research analyses. The final report will only be present in an aggregated, nonidentifying format. If requested, ATRI will sign a nondisclosure agreement.

All survey respondents will receive an advance copy of the final report.

ATRI survey data to use with lawmakers

It is important to help ATRI better understand how drivers and fleets are managing rising insurance costs.

“There is a strong push currently to increase the minimum insurance levels to $2 million or more,” said Andrew King, OOIDA Foundation Research Analyst. “This will be devastating for the small owner-operator. It is important to understand how minimum insurance increases have impacted the industry so that we can relay that information to lawmakers.”

In 2020, an amendment that would have increased motor carriers’ insurance requirements by 167%, advanced to the Senate before the bill stalled. A coalition of about 60 organizations, including OOIDA, is fighting to prevent a similar measure in the next highway bill.

“Nuclear verdicts, or in other words those verdicts over $1 million, have increased dramatically over the past few years,” King said. “An increase in insurance minimums will only serve to exacerbate this problem. Thereby pushing premiums even higher and potentially putting many owner-operators out-of-business.” LL