Truck insurance

Commercial Lorry Insurance

The word that matters in this phrase is commercial, not lorry. The line between private and business use is the single most consequential thing on a truck policy, because crossing it without telling anyone is how claims get declined.

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Cover

What commercial lorries insurance covers

Carrying for Reward Is the Trigger

The moment you are paid to move something belonging to someone else, you are in commercial territory regardless of the vehicle. Private and even some business-use policies exclude carriage for hire or reward outright, and it is the first exclusion an insurer reaches for.

Own Goods Versus Other People's

Carrying your own materials to your own job is a different use from carting freight for customers, and they are rated differently. Businesses drift from the first into the second as they grow, usually without updating the policy.

Occasional Commercial Work Still Counts

A few paid jobs a month is still carriage for reward. There is no threshold below which it stops mattering, and part-time use can be rated honestly at a lower level rather than left undeclared.

Subcontracting Changes Your Position

Running under someone else's authority as a subcontractor brings their contract requirements onto you, typically specified liability limits and evidence of carriers cover. The principal's insurance rarely covers you as fully as assumed.

The Cost of Getting It Wrong

A declined claim on a truck is not a small loss: the vehicle, the freight, third-party damage and your income can all be in play at once. The premium difference between honest commercial rating and a private policy is trivial next to that.

Cover, limits and examples shown are general in nature and subject to eligibility, underwriting and the terms of the issued policy.

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Reviews are for Stonewell Insurance, the business behind Truckie Cover. Authorised Representative of McLardy McShane Partners Pty Ltd (AFSL 232987).

FAQ

Commercial lorries insurance questions.

Speak with our team on 1300 080 323.

When does truck insurance need to be commercial rather than private?
Being paid to carry goods, whether for a customer, a principal or a platform. Carrying your own tools and materials for your own business is business use but not carriage for reward; the moment someone pays you to move their property, it is.
I only do a few paid jobs a month. Does that count?
Yes. There is no minimum below which carriage for reward stops applying. The better approach is declaring a realistic level of commercial use and being rated for it, which is inexpensive, rather than leaving it undeclared.
Does my principal's insurance cover me as a subcontractor?
Rarely as fully as subcontractors assume. Most principals require you to hold your own liability and carriers cover at stated limits, and their policy protects them rather than you. Read the contract and insure to what it specifies.
What happens if I claim on the wrong basis of use?
The insurer can decline the claim and in some cases avoid the policy from inception. On a truck that can mean the vehicle, the freight and a third party's damage all falling to you personally, which is why the use description matters so much.

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Truckie Cover is a trading name of Stonewell Insurance Pty Ltd (ABN 23 645 965 699), Corporate Authorised Representative No. 1285612 of McLardy McShane Partners Pty Ltd (ABN 14 064 465 309, AFSL 232987).