“Small-midsize truck fleets?” “Tweener operations?” Call them what you want, but if you peel back the layers of the trucking industry, you’ll find a treasure trove of growth potential powered by an unexpected hero: the emerging truck fleet of 4-9 power units. This crucial segment, less celebrated and often underinsured, holds substantial potential for the industry’s growth.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment opportunities for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers to grow 4 percent by 2032, outpacing the average across many other industries—and much of this growth will be fueled by emerging fleets at a time when they’re uniquely poised for success.
Factors like online shopping, changes in manufacturing patterns such as near-shoring, and advancements in technology, including fleet management systems and automated logistics, have recently fueled an uptick in demand for reliable and flexible freight services, a space where emerging fleets excel.
Addressing Insurance Challenges for Expanding Fleets
So why, then, is it so hard to find truck insurance for emerging fleets?
The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) noted in 2019 that about 80 percent of the smallest motor carriers (those with just 1-6 units) had boosted their fleet sizes over a five-year span. As these fleets grow, their insurance needs also proliferate, morphing into a knotty challenge that needs careful untangling. Perhaps that is why so few trucking insurers will even take a look at the risks associated with emerging fleets.
Part of the issue relates to the larger insurance landscape. Dominated by incumbent titans, the commercial auto insurance market is striking in its scale but also in its concentration. Data from Insurance Business Mag reveals a sobering picture; a scant 15 percent of insurers are responsible for offering nearly 80 percent of the coverage. This hints at a blind spot created by the market concentration, leading to the emerging-fleet segment getting lost in the shuffle. Many incumbents consider growth beyond three power units within a certain limited time frame to be “too fast” and, therefore, too risky.
Cover Whale’s Innovative Approach to Emerging Fleet Coverage
The Cover Whale approach marks a leap forward in insuring fleets with 4-9 power units. It’s about the smart use of technology.
Cover Whale uses advanced underwriting technologies to assess risk, ensuring it can offer coverage to emerging fleets profitably. This AI-driven methodology allows a level of precision previously unseen in the industry.
With our proprietary algorithms and vast telematics-driven data sets, we can evaluate risks much more accurately, enabling us to offer responsive and competitive insurance pricing. This is where our unique and leading-edge Driver Safety Program comes in.
The Driver Safety Program is part of Cover Whale’s commitment to emerging fleets. By providing sophisticated tech, such as AI-powered dashcams and telemetry, we can monitor things like incidences of speeding, hard braking, hard-turning events, and myriad other factors that determine risky driving behavior. This also helps fleet owners and managers assess risk and skills and avoid costly claims.
This program is like having a full-time safety manager on board but without the significant start-up cost of talent, hardware, and software. Its success lies in the combination of technology and tailor-made driver coaching, identifying areas for safety improvement, and offering actionable advice so that they can drive safer, protecting themselves and those with whom they share our roads.
Cover Whale’s approach, rooted in AI and data-driven insights, enables us to support emerging fleets in their responsible growth. We’re not just offering insurance. We’re helping these fleets to thrive.
How Cover Whale Enhances Your Fleet Safety Strategy
- Proactive Risk Assessment: Cover Whale’s tailored insurance and telematics solutions enable small-fleet operators to identify and assess potential risks proactively, ensuring they are adequately prepared to address any issues that may arise.
- Continuous Improvement: Just as a safety manager encourages a culture of continuous improvement in driving skills and safety awareness, the combination of Cover Whale’s driver coaching and telematics solutions fosters ongoing growth and development in driver performance.
- Compliance and Regulation: Cover Whale’s suite of tools, such as real-time monitoring and coaching, help maintain compliance with safety regulations, minimizing penalties, fines, and litigation risks associated with non-compliance.
- Cost Reduction: By promoting safety and efficiency through coaching and telematics, Cover Whale contributes to reducing overall operational costs for fleets, from fuel consumption to insurance premiums and accident-related expenses.
For a more in-depth look at Cover Whale’s commitment to emerging fleets, check out our webinar, Gearing for Growth with Emerging Fleets.
Download the one-pagers for our Driver Safety Program and Emerging Fleet Coverage.
