FMCSA Withdraws Truck Insurance Proposal

Last week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced it is withdrawing its proposal to expand the scope of which types of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) warrant a minimum amount of insurance per truck annually and then increase that current amount. Currently, these limits are generally set on the state level for ready mixed concrete trucks, not on the federal level. The now abandoned regulatory direction from FMCSA, in addition to the minimum increase, also aimed to put private carriers, such as ready mixed concrete companies, under the federal requirements. These requirements were generally limited to high risk carriers such as hazardous materials carriers. FMCSA announced the withdrawal because, according to FMCSA, it "has determined that it has insufficient data or information to support moving forward with a rulemaking proposal, at this time."

In an effort to oppose FMCSA’s onerous proposal, NRMCA surveyed its membership about truck insurance in the industry. The results of the survey determined that "most companies in the ready mixed concrete industry hold coverage amounts in excess of the minimum requirements and/or umbrella policies to cover rare [higher] claims." The information was stated as such in comments NRMCA submitted to FMCSA back in February 2015. NRMCA maintained then, and still holds now, that "the ready mixed concrete industry survey data directly calls into question the necessity for proposing to make any changes to the current financial responsibility regulatory scheme. " NRMCA welcomes this latest development from FMCSA.