Primary Liability Insurance
What is primary liability insurance? Primary liability is the required commercial auto liability coverage that pays for bodily injury and property damage a trucker causes to others — the FMCSA-mandated minimum is $750,000 for general freight.
Full definition
Primary liability is the foundational coverage every for-hire interstate motor carrier must carry to maintain operating authority. The FMCSA minimum is $750,000 combined single limit for general freight, $1 million for hazmat, and up to $5 million for certain bulk and passenger operations. Most brokers and shippers contractually require $1 million as a floor.
The coverage responds only to third-party losses — injuries the trucker causes to other people, and damage to other people's property. It does not cover the trucker's own truck (physical damage), the freight in the trailer (cargo insurance), or workplace injuries to the driver (occupational accident or workers' comp).
Premiums vary widely by state, CSA score, fleet size, and driving history. New-authority owner-operators in higher-risk states often pay $9,000-$16,000 per year for $1 million in primary liability, while established fleets with clean histories can underwrite for materially less.
Filing the BMC-91 with FMCSA is what publicly evidences the coverage; without an active filing, MC authority is suspended. Maintain primary liability uninterrupted — even one day of lapse can trigger an authority revocation that costs weeks of downtime to restore.
Example
- An owner-operator running general freight under their own authority files a BMC-91 evidencing $1 million in primary liability — meeting both FMCSA minimums and the contractual floor most brokers require.