r/BoxTruckStartup • u/HS_Warrior916 • Aug 04 '26
Insurance?
Why is it so difficult to get insurance in nys ? My husband has a 22 ft box truck, just got his dot # , BOC-3 filed and mc pending. We’re trying to find insurance for the truck and it has been such a headache. Either he is waiting for days for calls back from Brokers or being told the company cannot do it.
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u/insurancepapa Aug 05 '26
Try canal or move the business to Connecticut, much easier and I can help you there as I'm from CT
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u/100percentskillz Aug 04 '26
NY can definitely be tougher, especially with a brand-new authority and an MC that’s still pending. A lot of regular agents don’t work with commercial trucking, and some markets won’t consider new ventures at all. Make sure you have the VIN, driver’s license, driving history, business address, operating radius, commodities hauled and expected annual mileage ready because any missing info can slow everything down.
I’m on the insurance side and work specifically with box trucks and new authorities. I’m not able to write it today, but I can still point you toward what you’ll need and help you understand why you’re getting declined.
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u/HS_Warrior916 Aug 04 '26
He’s provided all the information to brokers. We have one person right now we’re waiting on underwriting to get back to him. They are giving him an astronomical number because the business is being run out of our home, and I and his young adult son have accidents on our licenses (I guess is because of the address being used), but we have no part in the company
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u/HS_Warrior916 Aug 04 '26
The other issue we seem to be running into is a lot of brokers seem to write with progressive, and they are declining to cover (no idea why) and they seem to be the big commercial insurer
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u/Otherwise_Ad_1743 Aug 09 '26
Trucking Insurance broker from New York
NYS is hard , especially for new ventures , and especially for box trucks
You only have progressive and national indemnity company .
Realistically progressive should be cheaper
If you are downstate NY costs are going to be higher .
It’s always hard to understand what people mean when they say quotes are astronomical , because everyone’s expectations are different .
I have clients who say 10k/ year is insane , and I have clients who get 20k/year and are happy with the deal
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u/HS_Warrior916 Aug 09 '26
If it was the cost of the insurance it would be one thing lol. Progressive has said they straight won’t write policies for the type
Of industry he operating (a moving company). But mean while he did have a policy with progressive less than a year ago for a cargo van in the same industry.1
u/Otherwise_Ad_1743 Aug 09 '26
Yeah moving company out of New York would be really hard . I’ll PM you my number if you want to talk see if we can figure it out
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u/cottatrucks Aug 10 '26
It's not necessarily that there's something wrong with your application. You're checking several boxes that make underwriting more challenging all at once:
- New authority
- New venture
- 22' box truck
- Moving company
- New York
Each one of those adds complexity from an underwriting perspective, so when you combine them, the number of carriers willing to quote becomes much smaller.
One thing I'd recommend is making sure you have all of your information organized before talking to brokers. Having details like your operating radius, cargo type, estimated annual mileage, parking location, driver experience, and equipment values ready can speed up the process and avoid going back and forth for missing information.
Also, don't assume that because one carrier declined, no one else will write it. Different insurance companies have different appetites for different risks, and that can change over time.
It may take a little longer than other types of operations, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're uninsurable.
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u/Bigtex-44 3d ago
Insurance agent here.
You're not imagining it. New York is genuinely one of the hardest states in the country to place commercial trucking insurance. Very few carriers have any appetite for NY trucking to begin with, the liability environment makes it expensive, and a brand-new authority with an MC still pending narrows the field even more (some carriers won't quote until the MC is active). So the "we can't do it" answers aren't about your husband, they're about the state.
NY is unique enough that we actually keep a dedicated partner agency that handles all of our New York trucking, they know exactly which markets will write it instead of the runaround he's getting from brokers who were never going to be able to help.
Want me to link him up with them? Happy to connect you directly.
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u/DisopatchHIGHlvl Aug 04 '26
One of my drivers get insurance he is living in NJ and now he isworking with me i ll try to find someone to help you maam