There’s this thing called Murphy’s Law that states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Perhaps it seems a tad pessimistic, but as a tow truck driver, you may be inclined to believe it. You’ve seen plenty of strange, unlucky, and crazy situations out there on the road. But what if Murphy’s Law hits your business? What if something happens to one of your tow trucks – say, a cracked windshield or a smooshed front bumper? You might immediately think to file a claim on your tow truck insurance. It was invented for Murphy’s Law, after all. But you may want to pull out a calculator and do some numbers before you do. Claims have an influence on how much tow truck insurance costs. We’ll explain why.
Should I file a tow truck insurance claim?
Okay, here’s the thing about claims – they go on your business’s loss run, or record of all your claims. And once they’re there, they tend to stick around. The problem is that insurance companies don’t particularly like to see claims because, in their eyes, it makes you more of a risk to insure. Claims are one of the factors that impact your tow truck insurance rates. If you file a lot of small claims, like a claim for a dent in the hood of your tow truck from a rogue tree branch that fell during a storm, your insurance company may decide not to renew your policy. And even if they don’t, many small claims can make it hard to get cheap tow truck insurance.
Anyways, all of this is to say that if you have a small loss that you can cover yourself, you may want to pay for it on your own. Try to reserve your insurance for catastrophes and reach out to your agent to see if you need to file a claim or not.
Your deductible and claims
When considering whether or not to file a tow truck insurance claim, you also have to think about your deductible and how much you would have to pay for the claim anyway. Now, to give a quick definition, a deductible is the amount you agree to pay if you had a claim before the insurance company would step in to cover the rest of the cost.
So, let’s create a scenario to illustrate. Let’s say there’s a tow truck company with a $1000 deductible for their physical damage insurance. During a bad storm, a hefty tree branch falls and smashes the hood and windshield of the truck. The loss comes to $1450 total. The tow truck company would have to pay $1000 before their insurance company would pay the remaining $450.
The point we’re trying to make is that you may want to show some restraint and think about your deductible when you consider filing a claim. Yes, your tow truck company’s insurance is there for you and you definitely need to make sure your operation has enough insurance. It will bail you out if you run into a really big loss, a catastrophic claim. For the smaller claims that you’re able to afford and cover on your own, you may want to grit your teeth and open your wallet. If you ever have any questions about a loss to your tow truck business, you can always reach out to your agent for advice – just make sure you make it perfectly clear that you’re not filing a claim just yet.
We can help you save money on tow truck insurance.
Anyways, if you’d like to save some money on your tow truck insurance, we can help. We know that tow truck insurance rates have been going up lately, but our mission is to help businesses just like yours save money, and we remain undaunted in our mission. We can help you get tow truck insurance quotes and shop for your rates – all you have to do is fill out our quote form online or give us a call.