It’s been quite some time since I have contributed to The Rear View Mirror. It’s clearly indicative of what’s going on in my trucking world. As an insurance broker, I am very familiar with many facets of the trucking industry, not just trucking insurance. We are all facing several challenges in our industry. Since the beginning of this year, I have found that our industry is unhealthy. Unhealthy in that we have some bad practices and situations that are causing great pain.
Insurance companies have always had rules. They are referred to as underwriting rules. It has always been up to the respective insurers as to how they are enforced. Well, right now, they are all strictly enforcing their rules.
In the past, as insurance brokers, we would bring trucking companies, no matter the size, to the insurers, along with certain documents. We would provide proof of previous driving history, proof of viable Level II CVOR scores, loss experience from previous insurers, fuel tax reports to proof exposure in each state, and a brief history of the company. Over time, these documents have been falsified, manipulated or just plain fraudulently tampered with. Insurers have been forced to disregard documents coming from the potential clients and request that they come from either the insurance broker or previous insurer directly. It’s a shame that the unethical practice of falsifying information has not only been perpetrated by the trucking companies, but by some of the insurance brokers that represent them. This is why our industry is unhealthy. Gone are the days when a handshake and common goal were good enough and meant something. Now, we are detectives, truth seekers and are constantly wary of each new client’s intentions.
Not all is doom and gloom, however. Those of us passionate about our industry and wanting more for it, are shining a light on these practices and fighting against them in several ways. We are having the hard discussions with the trucking companies. We are assuring them that best practices have been and always will be, looked upon favourably by insurers and shippers alike. It may seem unfair that they are spending safety & compliance dollars and following the rules when others are not. However, I always say that the truth never changes, and they will be seen as pillars in their industry and history will show that they were responsible members of the trucking industry. The others will be found out, they will lose their ability to be insured and their Level II CVOR’s will be in jeopardy.
Educate, advocate and facilitate. These words have never been more important than they are today. It’s everyone’s responsibility to participate in an accountable manner and to get our industry healthy again!
