If your truck is written off, will the payout clear what you still owe on it?

On the commercial motor wordings we place through the Steadfast platform, most trucks are settled at sum insured or market value at the time of loss, whichever is lower. That figure is worked out after the accident using comparable sales, unless you specifically ask for agreed value.

True agreed value is a locked-in figure agreed with the insurer before anything happens. Of the five commercial motor wordings we place, three let a truck go on agreed value with no vehicle-type or weight limit, as long as the insurer agrees to schedule it that way. The other two limit it: one to sedans, wagons, 4WDs, vans, and utes, the other to vehicles of 2 tonnes payload or less, which rules out a heavy prime mover on both.

On a financed truck, the separate finance-payout top-up benefit decides whether a write-off leaves you square with the bank: it pays on top of the settlement towards what you still owe. All five of the commercial motor wordings we place carry it as an extension, and only on comprehensive cover.

Buy a new truck partway through the year and, on the commercial motor wordings we place, it is usually covered automatically from the day you take delivery. There are two conditions: the new truck is a similar type of vehicle to what is already insured, and you let us know. Most of the commercial motor wordings we place allow 60 days written notice, and we ask for it within 30.

A prime mover and the trailer behind it are commonly insured on different terms. An owned trailer sits on your own schedule and gets the same treatment as the truck. A trailer you do not own but are towing sits under a separate benefit. That benefit only pays where you are legally liable for the damage, and is capped at a dollar figure that varies between the wordings we place.

On a general commercial motor policy, the closest thing to downtime is an optional hire-cost reimbursement extension. Two of the five wordings we place limit it to vehicles under 2 tonnes, which rules it out for most heavy trucks. The other three set no weight limit. Where the extension applies, it pays back what you spend hiring a replacement vehicle, up to a set limit, commonly a daily cap for a set number of days.

On the dedicated transport package wordings built for freight operators, downtime is an optional weekly cash benefit. You ask for it, pay for it, and choose the amount in advance. The benefit is paid once your damage claim is accepted, whether or not you hire a replacement truck. For a solo owner-driver, we commonly place that benefit somewhere around $1,000 a week, as at September 2026.

There is also the freight question. Are you paid to carry other people's goods under a haulage contract (carriers cargo insurance)? Are you carrying your own goods (marine cargo insurance, also called goods in transit)? Or both? Get this wrong and a load claim can come out of your own pocket regardless of who was at fault.

On a financed prime mover, a settlement that lands below your loan balance leaves you paying out a truck you no longer have. Agreed value helps, but it is a settlement basis rather than a loan-balance guarantee. The finance-payout top-up benefit described above narrows the gap, and no direct quote will ever mention it.

Without cargo cover of your own, a customer's damaged freight starts as an argument about whether you are legally liable. Carriers cargo insurance placed on an accidental damage basis does not start there.

An online truck quote asks for the vehicle details, not those three questions, but those questions decide whether the policy pays. Disclose every driver and their licence history at quote time as well: state road authorities set the minimum age and licence-holding periods for each licence class.

If your prime mover is financed, we check you are on the comprehensive cover that carries the finance-payout top-up benefit, rather than assuming agreed value is the answer.

If you are carrying freight under a haulage agreement, the cargo cover needs to match what you are liable for. We have placed enough of this business to know what the major freight companies expect: commonly around $1 million of carriers cargo cover, as at September 2026.

The company you haul for will also want a certificate of currency from us, so a sum insured that is not fit for purpose is found out well before a claim tests it.

What does an insurance broker actually do when you make a claim?

When a Queensland transport operator faced a total loss across a prime mover, trailer, and forklift at the worst possible time, CIB took the admin off their plate, pushed the insurer for a fast settlement across all three units, made sure the people affected were looked after first, and had the settlement paid straight to the financier. Claims service, at the moment a client can least handle it, is what a broker is actually for. The full story of what that looks like sits on Claims Management.

A truck with a clean claims record can sometimes stay cheaper on its own individual policy than folded into a fleet structure. For a genuine fleet of trucks, or a mixed fleet alongside utes and vans, see Motor Fleet Insurance. Our article on why fleet insurance goes up at renewal explains how claims history and driver management affect a bigger fleet. If what is scaling is the freight side, Transport Operators Insurance covers how carriers cargo insurance and income cover come together as one package. That package is built differently, and can add a further excess for a young driver on an articulated combination.

Assuming CTP is enough. Compulsory Third Party insurance only ever pays for injury to other people, never your truck, its freight, or a dollar of lost income.

Shopping the same policy to multiple brokers. It feels like due diligence, but in heavy motor insurance it usually backfires. Once an insurer sees your risk quoted through more than one broker, there is no discount left to give, and the insurer sends every broker the same premium. Pick one broker and let them work the whole panel hard on your behalf.

Skipping downtime cover, or assuming it works like a hire car. If you are the only driver, a truck that is written off or in for repair earns nothing for however long the repair takes. On a dedicated transport package, downtime is a weekly cash benefit, not a hire-car reimbursement. Downtime is optional, so it is often the first thing cut by whoever is buying on price.

Assuming a market-value or sum-insured settlement will clear the finance owing. Without the finance-payout top-up benefit described above, a written-off truck on a growing loan can leave you short.

Not telling us whose freight is on the tray. Answering that once, at the start, decides whether a freight claim gets paid.

Treating safety and compliance paperwork as someone else's job. Underwriters now ask for that paperwork before they bind cover: here is what insures a chain of responsibility breach.