The Cost of Farm Truck and Semi Truck Insurance

Depending on your farm’s work, you may use many commercial vehicles. You might have grain trucks, semis, or even pickups for hauling goods, delivering products, or other business needs. What would you do without these assets? Farm semi insurance or a commercial vehicle plan for farm vehicles is vital to make sure your trucks, grain trucks, semis, and more are safe if anything happens.

A big worry when insuring a farm and its stuff is the cost. Farming already has lots of costs, so it makes sense that a common question about farm truck insurance is, “How much?” Sadly, there’s no easy answer, as each farm has different numbers of commercial vehicles: semis and trucks. Plus, they all have different values, uses, makes, and models.

The best way to know how much your farm truck insurance will be is to call a farm insurance expert at Hitchings Insurance Agency for a quote. Like other insurance, farm vehicle insurance is based on the individual things being insured. In this post, we’ll go over farm truck insurance cost factors and some average costs.

Farm Truck Insurance Price Factors: What Affects the Cost?

Much like a personal car plan, your farm semi insurance or commercial vehicle coverage has different prices depending on lots of things. Note that while it’s not required for some machines to carry liability, farm trucks and semis are required to have this coverage by state law. Comprehensive and collision are optional, but depending on your farm’s needs, it’s still good to talk about buying these coverages to protect your vehicles and assets.

Your insurance company may charge you differently based on the following:

• Your deductible amount: A higher deductible may give you lower insurance payments. For example, you might get a small payment discount by raising your original $250 deductible to $500 or $1,000.
• Your driving record: Insurers might look at your driving record to see how likely you are to make a claim later. This includes any workers who may drive your farm vehicles. The more issues you have on your record, including speeding tickets and crashes, the higher your payments might be.
• Your insurance history: You might pay more for your farm vehicle insurance if you have made many claims before.
• Vehicle usage: Where do you drive your vehicles? Are your vehicles used to haul anything? What is being hauled – crops, materials, goods? How often are the vehicles used?
• Vehicle make, model, type: The overall value of your vehicle will play a big part in its insurance pricing. Is it a semi? A pickup? A grain truck? Tractor? What’s the model and make? What year is it?
• Vehicle number: Often, farms may use several commercial vehicles. You will need to include all the commercial vehicles you want to be insured, as well as their individual details.

Average Pricing for Farm Truck Insurance

Commercial vehicles on the farm are used for many things, in different makes, models, and values. Farms may have semis, pickups, trailers, and grain trucks. It can be hard to guess an average for pricing farm truck insurance because there are so many different things to consider. Listed below are some specific examples of pricing for the liability part (which is required in most states) and separate optional comprehensive/collision coverage for farm vehicles.

Liability

Liability is a must-have if your farm vehicles are driven on public roads. Many states have minimum coverages, but it’s usually suggested you buy at least $1,000,000 coverage to protect your assets in case of a lawsuit.

• As an example, a semi-truck – worth about $80,000 brand-new that is now 25 years old, and a trailer, worth $25,000 brand new and is now 18 years old – might cost about $950 to $1050 each year in liability coverage that goes up to $1 million.
  • A semi-tractor that is similar in price and age but only has $500,000 in liability coverage may cost between $700 to $900 per year.

• A pick-up truck that is 3 years old, worth around $50,000 to 55,000 might cost about $200-400 per year for $1 million of liability coverage.

• Take a grain truck that is worth $50,000 and is around 20 years old. A maximum of $1,000,000 liability coverage might range from $150 to $400 per year with an extra $100 for underinsured and uninsured driver coverage.

• If hauling goods for hire/for profit, the cost of the insurance goes up. If you haul for others you’ll want to talk to your agent, as the needs for insurance can be much different than a standard farm auto plan. There are certain state and federal filings that could apply, along with specific commercial trucking coverages that need to be thought about.

For public-road vehicles, any of your farm vehicles (such as semis and pick-up trucks) that will be driven off the farm will need liability coverage.

Comprehensive & Collision

Collision and comprehensive coverage are optional but strongly suggested given the high value of most farm vehicles. Comprehensive coverage might protect your farm vehicles from damage due to things like hailstorms, fire, lightning, and falling objects. Collision coverage includes damage due to crashes with another vehicle or a stopped object. Below are some examples of what pricing might look like for collision and comprehensive coverage:

• The same semi and trailer in the above example may cost about $150 to $200 per year in comprehensive coverage. Collision coverage may be around $300.
  • Comprehensive for a similarly valued semi might cost about $150 per year. Its collision may range from $300 to 400.
• The same pickup truck as in the above example may cost about $85 to $100 per year in comprehensive coverage and $200 to $250 per year in collision coverage.
• The grain truck as detailed in the earlier example might cost about $10 to $50 per year in comprehensive coverage and $25 to $50 per year in collision coverage.

Insurance Cost for Trailers

Besides vehicles, grain trailers might be an important part of your farming work that will need to be covered. Below we have outlined cost examples for you.

• A 2023 Hopper Bottom trailer worth $61,000 will cost roughly $350 per year which includes liability, comprehensive and collision coverage with $500 deductibles.
• A 2022 16’ Livestock Trailer worth $18,075 will cost roughly $210 per year, which includes liability coverage, collision, and comprehensive coverage with $500 deductibles.

In Conclusion

All in all, you might expect to pay between $350 to $1,500 for a single commercial farm vehicle with a plan that covered liability, personal injury, uninsured/underinsured drivers, comprehensive, and collision.

The total price per semi-tractor used for hire/trucking could range from $3,100 to $7,000 per year depending on driving record, goods hauled, and required forms that need to be okay with the state and federal agencies. The lower cost would be for vehicles without physical damage coverage. The higher cost is based on inclusion of comprehensive and collision coverage. All the prices are used from real examples of current plans at our agency, but only used for examples! Every situation is different.

The bottom line? Your farm semi-tractors and vehicles are worth much more overall than they would take to insure, even if the added cost is a worry of yours. For ways to save or further details on what affects the cost of your farm truck insurance, talk with a farm insurance expert at Hitchings Insurance Agency.