Trucking insurance built around the load, the liability, and the bad day on Highway 1.

No — they're two different things. Commercial auto (through ICBC if you're based in BC) covers the truck itself: the vehicle, third-party injury from a crash, and liability on the road. Cargo covers the load you're carrying — its value, and damage or loss to it during transit. One accident can pull on both, but they're written as separate policies or sections. A lot of operators assume commercial auto "covers the freight too." It doesn't.

Yes. Commercial auto handles what happens with the truck on the road. CGL handles everything else — what happens at a loading dock, in a yard, at a customer site, or when a fuel spill turns into a municipal clean-up bill. It's also what pays your legal fees when someone sues your business. Most shippers and freight brokers will require CGL right in their contract, on top of your commercial auto. They're not interchangeable.

Honest answer: size it for your biggest realistic load, not your average one. Say you normally haul $50,000 loads but once a quarter a shipper hands you a $200,000 specialty load. Your cargo limit needs to cover the $200,000 — or you need to know you're running uninsured above the limit on those days. We size cargo against realistic high-end exposure. If you're not sure what yours is, that's exactly what the Coverage Review is for.

The common ones: high-value electronics, tobacco and alcohol, pharmaceuticals, firearms, live animals, jewellery and art, perishable produce if the reefer goes down, and some hazardous materials. Every insurer's list is a little different, and a lot of these can be added back with a specific endorsement — for a bit more premium. The rule is simple: tell your broker what you actually haul before the first load, not after a claim.

It's coverage for a trailer that isn't yours but is in your hands for a while. A customer drops a trailer in your yard overnight for staging. A trailer gets left at your customer's dock. You swap trailers with another carrier. Without trailer interchange, damage to that trailer while it's in your possession can come back to you personally. If your day-to-day operation ever touches a trailer you don't own the paperwork to, you probably want this on your policy.

Different answer depending on your setup. If you have drivers working for you — yes, mandatory. If you're one guy with one truck and no employees, you're not required to carry it for yourself, but Personal Optional Protection through WSBC is usually worth the cost given the injury risk in this line of work. Plenty of shippers and brokers will also want to see WSBC clearance before they dispatch you. We can walk through what makes sense for your specific operation in a 15-minute review.

For existing Prime commercial clients with active policies: within 2 business hours, during commercial desk hours (Monday to Friday, 8:30am–6pm). For new clients: same business day once we have complete information. Trucking COIs aren't simple — they often list multiple shippers as additional insureds, specific coverage confirmations a broker wants to see, and multiple policy numbers. Two hours gives us time to get it right. If we miss the window for an existing client, we send you a $50 gift card.

Yes — a lot. Inter-provincial work changes how your commercial auto is placed (through pro-rating), how WSBC works across borders, and how your cargo policy's territory language reads. Cross-border US work is another layer on top: US DOT filings, customs bonds, and making sure your CGL actually reaches over the border. There's enough going on here that we built a dedicated Fleet & Commercial Auto page — call and ask, or start there.

"Fully covered" is a sentence, not a coverage. The 15-minute Coverage Review is exactly for this. We look at what's on your CGL declarations page, what the sub-limits say, what your cargo limit is and what's excluded, whether trailer interchange is there, and whether your commercial auto rate class matches what you actually do for a living. You get the answers in writing. You keep the document. If "fully covered" was accurate, we'll tell you. If it wasn't, you'll see exactly where.

Yes. People on our Fleetwood team speak English, Punjabi, and Hindi. Coverage reviews, claims, and Certificate of Insurance requests can all be handled in your preferred language. Ask for Kul, Kuljeet, or Seema by name when you call.

The office is in Fleetwood. The service isn't limited to Fleetwood. Our trucking clients run out of Surrey, Delta, Langley, Abbotsford, the rest of the Fraser Valley, up into the Interior, and across the country. Where we sit is just an address — where the trucks go is where the service goes.

Over the past decade, a lot of BC family brokerages have been bought up by national consolidators and insurance-company-owned networks. Prime hasn't. Same Shergill family. Same Fleetwood address. Same voices on the phone when your load is on the ground at 4am. When you need to file an accident report, you reach the same person who wrote the policy — not a queue at a call centre.

Call us the same day and file any required incident or police report. One of our advisors — preferably the advisor who placed your coverage, or a senior advisor — stays on the line with the adjuster from first report to final cheque. We pull the policy, identify which sections respond — cargo, CGL, commercial auto — and keep the file moving. If your limits are too low to cover the loss, that is a conversation we should have had before the accident — and the reason we size cargo against your real loads, not your average ones.

If you're leased onto a carrier, their liability policy usually covers you while you're under dispatch — hauling their load. It typically does not cover you when you're driving the truck for personal use or deadheading between loads without a dispatch. Non-trucking liability (often called bobtail) covers that gap. If you're an owner-operator leased to a carrier, this is one of the most commonly missing pieces.

Physical damage coverage pays out on one of two bases. Stated value means you and the insurer agree on the truck's value up front. Actual cash value (ACV) means the insurer pays what the truck is worth at the time of loss — after depreciation. After a total loss, the gap between the two can be tens of thousands of dollars. We confirm which basis your policy uses, and whether it matches what you'd actually need to replace the unit.

Partly covered, and the gaps are the expensive part. Under a lease, the carrier's policy typically covers your liability while you're under dispatch hauling their freight. It usually does not cover the truck itself (your physical damage), non-trucking/bobtail use, your own cargo arrangements, or occupational injury. Before you sign a lease, bring it in — we'll read the insurance clauses, tell you exactly what the carrier covers and what you're responsible for, and fill the gaps so you're not personally exposed.

We usually wait for your renewal to avoid mid-term cancellation penalties, but we start the review and quote now. Bring your current declarations and a few details about your equipment, lanes, and loss history. Within two business days we produce a written comparison against the markets that will entertain your operation. You decide. If we're a fit, we handle the handover end-to-end — no day of missed coverage, no lapse a shipper could catch.