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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration lists commercial truck insurance requirements on its website. The basics are simple enough. If you’re trying to get your Operating Authority (MC number), the FMCSA requires that you first get commercial liability insurance with coverages for both bodily injury and property damage.

What are the Commercial Truck Insurance Requirements?

All truckers will need to meet the minimum levels of liability insurance to operate. The minimum as of 2025 is $750,000 if y0u are not hauling hazardous materials. In today’s day and age, this doesn’t go too far. Many truckers are opting for $1M or even $2M of liability to protect their operation.

Interstate Truck Insurance Required by the FMCSA

Commercial Auto liability Insurance is an important coverage for interstate truckers to have because it protects them and the public from accidents where the trucker is at fault. The Bodily Injury portion of liability insurance pays for hospital bills of pedestrians or other motorists hurt in accidents. Property Damage, meanwhile, pays for repairs to other people’s property damaged in an accident.

The FMCSA requires interstate truckers to meet minimum limits of coverage. In other words, if a trucker is at fault in an accident that does $500,000 worth of damage, the FMCSA wants his insurance policy to cover at least $500,000. In this scenario, a policy that only covers up to $250,000 wouldn’t cut it.

Your minimum required limit depends on the type of freight you haul.

Keep in mind that these are the bare minimum limits. Many shippers and brokers require you to have at a liability limit of at least $1,000,000 regardless of what type of material you haul.

Are There Other Required Insurances for Interstate Truckers?

In order to get your operating authority and MC number, you need filings of your commercial liability insurance uploaded to SAFER. Your insurance company will take care of this. In addition to meeting the minimum liability limits, you will also need a few other coverages.

Cargo Insurance

Cargo insurance covers the goods hauled in your trailer. While it’s not required by the FMCSA to have this type of insurance, for-hire interstate owner operators need it anyway. Most shippers that you work with will refuse to do business with an O/O not carrying cargo insurance. The typical limit for cargo insurance is $100,000 but this amount can change with the type of cargo you haul.

Bobtail

If you’re an owner-operator with primary auto liability insurance, then you are not required to get bobtail insurance. On the other hand, if you’re leased on to a motor carrier and you are running under their authority, you might need bobtail insurance. Your lease agreement will specify which coverages exactly you’re responsible for.

Physical Damage

Physical Damage Insurance—insurance that protects your personal tractor or trailer from accidents on the road—is required if you finance your truck. If you own your truck outright, it’s still a smart coverage to have because just one accident could become a financial disaster.

How Much Does Interstate Trucking Insurance Cost?

Besides having a larger radius of operation, truckers that cross state lines are not much different from their cousins, intrastate truckers.

But when it comes to insurance, interstate truckers pay about 30% more than their counterparts.  Most interstate truckers with authority pay around $14,370 per truck for insurance. Truckers that don’t leave their state average $10,303 for their insurance costs.

No interstate trucker is exactly the same, so your insurance costs will vary based on several factors.

Insurance Cost breakdown for an Interstate Trucker

The price you pay is the sum total of the cost for all your coverages. See below for a rough estimate of how much these interstate truck insurance coverges cost. The prices for the coverage costs are presented in ranges. Newer interstate drivers u can expect to pay towards the higher end of the range. Your garaging location and radius of operation will influence where you fall in the range as well.  If you haul more than 500 miles, or if you live in an area with higher-than-average accident rates, then you might be in the upper end of the range.

*Your cargo insurance is determined by the type of freight you haul. Hazardous materials will cost more to insure than if you were hauling hay.

Why Is Interstate Trucking Insurance So Expensive?

A majority of for-hire owner-operators drive across state lines, so why do they pay more for insurance on average when compared to local-only haulers? Insurance rates are calculated by “frequency” and “severity” of losses. Frequency means how likely is it, or how frequent is it, that an accident will occur. Interstate truckers, on average, have a higher frequency of claims than local truckers. Severity is the second part of this equation, and it means when an accident does occur, how “severe” is it. In other words, how big is the average claim. Again, Interstate truckers usually have bigger claims when compared to other types of truckers, on the whole.

How To Reduce Interstate Truck Insurance Costs

Compare Prices from Several Truck Insurance Companies

The price of trucking insurance is determined by several factors inside and outside your control. The biggest variable influencing the price you pay is the company quoting you. Quotes can vary by thousands for the same trucker, so the best thing you can do to lower your premium is to compare rates between different truck insurance providers.

When comparing quotes, all truck insurance companies are not alike. It makes sense to get quotes from the companies that understand long haulers and are the most competitive for interstate operations. The companies that are the most competitive with local haulers are not the ones that are the most competitive with interstate truckers.

Pay in Fewer Installments

Insurance companies almost always give discounts if you can pay your premiums up front instead of month to moth. If you can afford pay the whole annual premium, you can usually save 10% or more!

Ask for Discounts

Insurance companies actually offer discounts for a wide variety of things. If you were a member in the armed services, for instance, some some insurance companies will reduce your premium. It never hurts to ask.

Save on Interstate Trucking Insurance

The easiest way for interstate truckers to find insurance online is to use our service. Fill out one form and we’ll bring you 3 agents to compete for your business. Good luck and enjoy the savings!