Owner Operator Insurance Requirements East Chicago, Indiana
JDW Truckers Insurance can answer your questions regarding Owner Operator Insurance Requirements East Chicago, Indiana. We work with the top commercial truck insurance companies and will help you find affordable owner operators truck insurance.
We have a large network of commercial truck insurance companies East Chicago, Indiana with high AM Best Rating so when JDW Truckers Insurance helps you get your owner operators truck insurance in East Chicago, Indiana in place you will be insured by a financially stable commercial truck insurance company. This is important for many reasons. Contact JDW Truckers Insurance and our agents will review the reasons owner operators should choose their insurance company wisely. Not all owner operator truck insurance policy are created equally.
We will help you customize your owner operators trucking insurance policy to suit your needs and fit your budget.
From one application we can shop & compare commercial truck insurance rates for the top-rated commercial truck insurance companies for you. We will help you find the required commercial truck insurance coverages at affordable rates.
Here are some of the top 10 commercial truck insurance companies which offer commercial truck insurance quotes.
We know trucking and the commercial trucking insurance requirements
- Knight
- Trisura
- Berkley Prime
- Falls Lake
- Progressive
- Travelers
- Seneca
- Great Lakes
- Allied World
- Allianz
- Ace Hazmat
- ACE Fleet
- United Specialty
- Hudson Fleet
- Markel
- Chubb
- Tokio Marine
- National General
- Lexington
- AIG
- Great American
- ACE / Westchester
- NICO
- National Casualty / Nationwide
- Scottsdale Brokerage
- IAT
- Crum Forster
- Canal
- Northland
- USLI
- James River
- IFG – Burlington
- Penn-America
- Century
- Hallmark
- Carolina Casualty
- Protective
Auto Liability Insurance
- Your auto liability or primary liability will be the major cost for your trucking insurance policy. Although the FMCAS can only require $750,000 in most cases shippers will require $1,000,000 in primary liability insurance coverage before they will allow you to pick up loads.
- Primary liability insurance covers damages to third parties for bodily injury and physical damage to others property in the event of an accident.
Medical Pay
- In most cases this is a low cost add on to your primary liability insurance to cover medical expenses.
PIP – Personal Injury Protection
- Some states require this coverage and, in many cases, can reduce the need for Medical Pay.
- Personal injury protection (PIP), also known as no-fault insurance, covers medical expenses and lost wages of you and your passengers if you’re injured in an accident. PIP coverage protects you regardless of who is at fault.
Uninsured Motorist
- If you’re hit by a driver with no insurance…
- Uninsured motorist bodily injury (UMBI) may pay medical bills for both you and your passengers.
- Uninsured motorist property damage (UMPD) may pay for damage to your vehicle.
Underinsured Motorist
- If you’re hit by a driver with not enough insurance…
- Underinsured motorist bodily injury (UIMBI) may pay medical bills for both you and your passengers
- Underinsured motorist property damage (UIMPD) may pay for damage to your vehicle
Motor Truck Cargo
- MTC or Cargo insurance provides insurance on the freight or commodity hauled by a for-hire trucker. It covers your liability for cargo that is lost or damaged due to causes like fire, collision or striking of a load.
- If your load is accidentally dumped on a roadway or waterway, some cargo forms offer Removal Expenses coverage pays for removing debris or extracting pollutants caused by the debris. And can also pay for costs related to preventing further loss to damaged cargo through Sue and Labor Coverage and legal expenses in the defense or settlement of claims. Another option is Earned Freight Coverage to cover freight charges the customer loses because of an undelivered load.
- Cargo insurance deductibles can be set at $1,000, $2,500, $5,000 or even higher if you are self-insured.
- Cargo coverage limits are normally set at $100,00 but some shippers may have higher requirements depending on the cargo you are hauling.
- Cargo policies can have exclusions stating what cargo it will or will not cover.
Trucking Physical Damage Insurance (PD)
- Physical damage insurance coverages are designed to pay for losses to your equipment and damages to others equipment. (Others equipment must be listed on your policy).
- If you own or lease equipment. You may be required to have PD by bank or leasing company to carry a set amount of physical damage insurance and name them as a Loss Payee.
- PD can also cover damage to others equipment you are in possession of if the coverage is listed on your policy. An example would be non-owned trailer insurance coverage.
- Deductibles for physical damage range from $1,000 to $5,000.
- Required deductibles. If you have a loan on your equipment or it is leased. They bank or leasing company may have a minimum deductible you can have on your physical damage policy.
Excess Liability Insurance
- Excess liability can sometimes be called umbrella insurance.
- The excess liability policy sits on top of your primary liability policy.
- For example, if you have $1,000,000 in primary lability coverage and you have a claim which exceeds the policy limit of $1,000,000. In most cases that is all the insurance carriers will try to pay out for a claim.
- Excess policy coverage starts at $1,000,000 and go up.
- So, let’s say you say you purchased a $1,000,000 excess policy. Now if you have a claim that is $1,500,000. Your primary would pay the first $1,000,000 and your excess would pay the remaining.
General Liability Insurance for Truckers
- General liability insurance for truckers should not be confused with primary liability for truckers.
- Similar to primary liability. General liability offers coverages to pay for physical damage to other and/or bodily injury to others. BUT there is a difference between the two.
- For example, if you are loading or unloading and you cause injury to someone or their property this is when the general liability policy would respond.
- The actions of a driver while representing the insured and on the premises of others, such as loading docks and truck stops
- General Liability is normally offered $1,000,00 per occurrence and $2,000,00 aggregate. What does this mean?
- It the insurance company will pay up to $1,000,000 for any one claim and no more than $2,000,000 per year for the total of all claims.
- General liability can be required by shippers and other companies such as the UIIA and flatbed operations.
- If there is any chance you might be involved in loading or unloading. General Liability is relatively inexpensive and is an advised coverage.
Non-Owned Trailer Insurance vs Trailer Interchange (TI)
- Both are insurance coverages are designed to cover damage to others trailers.
- Deductibles for either can range from $1,000 to $5,000.
- Coverage limits for either can range from $25,000 and up depending on the requirements of the company and/or shipper freight you are hauling for.
The difference between Non-Owned Trailer coverage and Trail Interchange coverage
- Non-owned trailer insurance covers physical damage to the trailer only when attached to a truck. And no written agreement is place.
- Trailer Interchange requires a written trailer interchange agreement to be in place. It can provide protection when you have care, custody and control of one, or many, trailers. Whether the trailer is attached to your truck or not.
East Chicago is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,698 at the 2010 census. The city is home of the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, an artificial freshwater harbor characterized by industrial and manufacturing activity. Situated along Lake Michigan, East Chicago is about 18 miles from downtown Chicago, Illinois and is just west of Gary, Indiana.
The land that became East Chicago was originally swampland unsuitable for farming. The state of Indiana began selling off plots of land to railroads and speculators after 1851 to fund the local school system. Settlement of the area was very slow at first, and as late as the 1890s, the city had no proper streets or public utilities. East Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1893. The city was named from its location east of Chicago, Illinois.
The 1900 Census gives a total population of just 3,411, but the arrival of Inland Steel in 1903 transformed the city into an industrial powerhouse. The city’s population skyrocketed to over 24,000 by 1910, powered by immigration from all over Europe and the United States, and quickly became the most industrialized city in the United States, with over 80% of the city’s land zoned for heavy industry. Inland Steel dominated the city’s economy through the 1990s, and expanded its massive integrated mill at Indiana Harbor multiple times through the 1980s. From 60,000 tons of steel capacity in 1903, it expanded to 600,000 tons by 1914 and reached 1 million in 1917, and eventually peaked at 8.6 million tons in 1978. By 1907, East Chicago boasted a navigable waterway link to Lake Michigan and to the Grand Calumet River: the Indiana Harbor Ship Canal. Steel mills, petroleum refineries, construction firms, and chemical factories operated at Indiana Harbor and along its inner canal system.
Republic Steel, Youngstown Steel, LaSalle Steel, and U.S. Steel all eventually had steel-making operations in the city. During World War I, East Chicago was nicknamed the “Arsenal of America” (not to be confused with Detroit’s label as the “Arsenal of Democracy” during WWII) and the “Workshop of America”.
A rivalry developed between Indiana Harbor, the “East Side” home of Inland Steel and most working-class families, and East Chicago’s “West Side,” the residential enclave of the native-born business community. Locals spoke of the “Twin City” to describe spatial, residential, and class divisions at the heart of the town’s identity. The “Twin City” moniker remains to this day.
During the 1910s, several thousand Mexicans immigrated to East Chicago to work in the mills during the labor shortage of 1917-1918 due to U.S. participation in World War I, and also acted as strike breakers during labor unrest in 1919. Most were single men who eventually hoped to return to Mexico, but many stayed on and eventually were joined by their families. The small Mexican community was targeted for voluntary and forced repatriation during the 1930s and 1950s (1,800 were deported in 1932 alone), but those who remained eventually paved the way for later Latino immigration after 1965.
Black Americans also began to arrive in the 1910s and 1920s as part of the first wave of the Great Migration, and this continued from the 1940s to 1960s. According to a city demographic survey in 1959, there were 1,000 Mexican families and 10,000 African American families, along with 3,000 Polish families. There were also a large number of families that identified as Puerto Rican, Romanian, Serbian, Italian, Lithuanian, and Croatian. Over 70 nationalities were represented, with over 59 congregations of the Protestants, Orthodox, Catholic Churches, as well as Jewish synagogues.
Like neighboring Gary, Indiana, East Chicago quickly developed a reputation as a rough industrial city, plagued by extreme pollution, ethnic and racial tensions, organized crime, illegal gambling and clubs, political corruption, prostitution, and other vices. The city continued to rapidly grow in the 1910s and 1920s, and the population peaked in 1960 at 57,669. However, East Chicago’s population began to decline in the 1960s as suburbanization, white flight, affordability of automobiles, and the construction of highways meant that workers no longer had to live in the city, but could commute from less-polluted suburbs.
It was the Steel crisis of the 1974-1986 period that completely devastated East Chicago, as it did other industrial cities like Gary, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and the south side of Chicago. East Chicago’s population plunged to 47,000 in 1970, 34,000 by 1990, and 29,000 by 2010. Employment at Inland Steel peaked at 25,000 in 1969, and successive layoffs over the next 30 years were devastating to the community; by 1998, only 9,000 were employed at Inland Steel. Inland Steel was acquired by Ispat International in 1998. Both the Indiana Harbor mill and Youngstown Steel mill were absorbed and merged by ArcelorMittal in 2004 and subsequently sold to Cleveland-Cliffs in 2020.
The Indiana Harbor Public Library and Marktown Historic District are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2009, parts of East Chicago were discovered to have toxic lead and arsenic contamination, designated the USS Lead Superfund Site. The site is divided into three zones, with public housing and residential properties. Residents’ decades-long concerns about lead contamination were confirmed in 2016 via EPA testing, especially affecting over 270 families in the West Calumet Housing Complex. As governor of Indiana, Mike Pence declined to declare the Superfund site a state emergency; his successor Governor Eric Holcomb has issued Executive Order 17-13, declaring a disaster emergency in East Chicago.
According to the 2010 census, East Chicago has a total area of 16.155 square miles (41.84 km), of which 14.09 square miles (36.49 km) (or 87.22%) is land and 2.065 square miles (5.35 km) (or 12.78%) is water.
As of the census of 2010, there were 29,698 people, 10,724 households, and 7,197 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,107.7 inhabitants per square mile (813.8/km). There were 12,958 housing units at an average density of 919.7 per square mile (355.1/km). The racial makeup of the city was 42.9% African American, 35.5% White, 0.6% Native American, 0.1% Asian, 18.1% from other races, and 2.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 50.9% of the population.
There were 10,724 households, of which 40.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 27.9% were married couples living together, 31.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 7.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 32.9% were non-families. 29.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.75 and the average family size was 3.42.
The median age in the city was 30.9 years. 31.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 9.7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.4% were from 25 to 44; 22.2% were from 45 to 64; and 11.3% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 46.8% male and 53.2% female.
As of the census of 2000, there were 32,414 people, 11,707 households, and 7,937 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,706.3 inhabitants per square mile (1,044.9/km). There were 13,261 housing units at an average density of 1,107.2 per square mile (427.5/km). The racial makeup of the city was 36.54% White, 36.08% African American, 0.51% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 23.98% from other races, and 2.60% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 51.61% of the population. Whites who are not Hispanic or Latino were 12.10% of the city’s population. 54.3% spoke only English at home, while 42.9% spoke Spanish and 1.2% Polish at home.
There were 11,707 households, out of which 35.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.8% were married couples living together, 26.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.2% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.75 and the average family size was 3.41.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 30.5% under the age of 18, 11.1% from 18 to 24, 26.8% from 25 to 44, 18.3% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $26,538, and the median income for a family was $31,778. Males had a median income of $32,588 versus $21,678 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,517. About 22.5% of families and 24.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 33.3% of those under age 18 and 15.6% of those age 65 or over.
The nearest commercial airport to East Chicago is the Gary/Chicago International Airport in neighboring Gary, but it does not have any scheduled passenger service. The closest commercial airport with scheduled passenger service is Chicago Midway Airport.
The South Shore Line has a station in East Chicago.
US 12 and US 20 go through the Indiana Harbor and East Chicago sections of the city, respectively, before joining up on both sides. Indiana State Road 912, the Cline Avenue Expressway, connects East Chicago with the Indiana Toll Road and Borman Expressway, and serves the casino and steel mills on the lakefront.
The city operates a free bus service known as East Chicago Transit. It features three routes: Crosstown, West Calumet, and Griffith Plaza.
GPRT Route R1 stops in East Chicago en route from Hammond to Gary. PACE operates Route 892, a special work shuttle between Gary, East Chicago and UPS’ Hodgkins facility. Its schedule coincides with UPS workers’ shifts. The route is operated in cooperation with UPS, which partially funds its operations.
East Chicago Public Library System operates a main library at 2401 East Columbus Drive and the Robert A. Pastrick Branch Library at 1008 West Chicago Avenue at Baring Avenue.
East Chicago also has two charter school options, East Chicago Urban Enterprise (K-8), and East Chicago Lighthouse Charter School (K-7).
East Chicago is home to the following business and industry:
For 105 years, East Chicago was home to the Inland Steel Company (1893–1998).
The Showboat Casino opened in 1997 with about 900 employees. Other large employers include Amoco Oil Co., Union Tank Car, American Steel Foundries, USG Corp. and St. Catherine Hospital.
