I Own My Truck, So Why Do I Have To Insure It?

THIS question is a lot more commonly asked than most punters would probably realise.

Although we suspect that most of you would know the most answers, we will attempt to provide some of the main reasons without all of the insurance jargon, or at least help interpret some of the insurance jargon for you.

So without rambling on for hours by getting into the nitty-gritty, here are some of what we believe would be just some of the reasons why you should, insure your truck (even if you do own it).

The big one – liability

Most commercial motor policies have a liability component attached (included) as part of your commercial motor policy.

While a similar type of product to public liability, the liability component of your motor policy (section 2) operates separately from your public liability policy as damage to a third party or property while using a registered motor vehicle is generally considered an exclusion under a standard public liability policy.

You may also find that many commercial motor policies provide around $30,000,000 of liability cover within their policies.

Example: Where a liability cover under a commercial motor policy would come into play.

Say you had an accident and hit a bridge. The liability section of your commercial motor policy is there to pick up the cost to repair the bridge and any other damage caused by the incident, along with the other associated costs of the incident, such as the attendance of emergency services and road closures etc (up to the limits of the policy).

The damage bill could add up to millions of dollars and if you’re not insured, there goes the house and everything else you may own.

You are at fault in an accident

Don’t think it will never happen to you! Hopefully it never will, BUT accidents happen, that’s why they call them accidents.

Example: You are in an accident with another truck valued at $300,000. You are found to be at fault and the other truck has been written off.

You may own your truck, but now and at the very least you’ll need to come up with $300,000 out of your own pocket to pay for a truck that you don’t and never will own.

Financial protection for your assets

You have worked smart, worked hard and been frugal to pay off or buy your truck outright to set yourself up for the future.

However, if you are involved in an incident and your truck is written off, everything you have worked for, along with your family’s security, could be lost and you’ll be starting again from scratch.

Important: All information contained within this article should be considered as general advice only. This advice should only be considered as general in nature and its intent is only to prompt the readers to investigate their own individual insurances. It has been prepared without taking into account the readers’ own individual objectives, financial situation or needs. Because of that, before acting on the above advice, the client or any persons should consider its appropriateness (having regard to their objectives, needs and financial situation) and seek further independent advice from their own financial adviser.

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I own my truck, so why do I have to insure it?