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

Quick answerTruck insurance covers your prime mover or heavy vehicle for accidental damage and theft. But on the wordings we place it is built from several separate products, not one bundle. There is the vehicle, carriers cargo insurance for the freight you carry, public liability, and downtime cover for lost income once a damage claim is accepted. Downtime is an optional extra you choose and pay for, not something every policy includes. Skip one and you are uninsured for that risk, not "mostly covered."

First, the basic tier. A truck can be insured comprehensive (accidental damage, fire and theft, plus your liability to others), third party fire and theft, or third party property damage only. That last one pays for damage you cause to someone else's property and nothing of your own. Everything below assumes comprehensive-style cover.

Start with the vehicle. 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, not settled up front, 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, what decides whether a write-off leaves you square with the bank is the separate finance-payout top-up benefit. 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. Two conditions: 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. Tell us the day it happens and nothing is left to chance.

The trailer is not automatically part of that conversation. 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 simply towing sits under a separate benefit, which only pays where you are legally liable for the damage. That benefit is capped at a set dollar figure, and the figure varies between the wordings we place.

Next is downtime, where a truck policy genuinely diverges from a car policy. On a general commercial motor policy, the closest thing available is an optional hire-cost reimbursement extension, but on two of the five wordings we place it only covers vehicles under 2 tonnes, so it will not be available at all for most heavy trucks. The other three set no weight limit. Where it applies, it pays back what you actually 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 works differently. It is an optional weekly cash benefit. You have to ask for it and pay for it, it is not on every policy, and you choose the amount in advance. It 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.

Then there is 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.

Around those sits public liability, and recovering your own damaged truck to a repairer after an accident. The towing and recovery question in the FAQ has the detail.

Quick answerThe difference a broker makes on truck cover isn't the price on the quote. It's asking who owns the freight, whether the prime mover is financed, and what happens to your income if it's written off. Then it's working one insurer panel hard rather than letting the same risk be quoted through several doors.

An online truck quote asks for the vehicle details and gives you a price. It does not ask who owns the freight on your tray, whether your prime mover is financed, or what happens to your income if it is written off. Those three questions decide whether the policy pays.

Shopping the same policy to several brokers at once does not get you a better price, it gets every broker the same price. The better outcome comes from one broker who genuinely works the panel and plays insurers off against each other on your behalf. The mistakes section below sets out why.

From there the work is in the detail, not the price. 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. Three of the five commercial motor wordings we place offer agreed value with no vehicle-type limit, if the insurer agrees to it for your truck; the other two limit it in a way that rules out a heavy prime mover.

If you are carrying freight under a haulage agreement, the cargo cover needs to match what you are actually 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. And we know what to ask you at quote stage.

There is a built-in backstop too. The company you haul for will want a certificate of currency from us. So a sum insured that is not fit for purpose gets found out fast, 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.

Quick answerThe mistakes that cost the most are the same few every time. Operators assume CTP covers the truck, or shop one risk to several brokers. They skip downtime cover, or assume a settlement will clear the finance owing. They do not say whose freight is on the tray. And they treat safety and compliance paperwork as someone else's job.

Assuming CTP is enough. Compulsory Third Party insurance is real cover, but it only ever pays for injury to other people. It does not repair your truck, cover the freight on it, or replace a dollar of lost income.

Shopping the same policy to multiple brokers. It feels like due diligence. 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 every broker gets sent the same number. 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 written-off or repair-bound truck is a written-off income stream too, for however long the repair takes. On a dedicated transport package it is a weekly cash benefit, not a hire-car reimbursement. It is also optional, which means it is often the first thing cut by whoever is buying on price rather than on what happens next.

Assuming a market-value or sum-insured settlement will clear the finance owing. That settlement basis is completely normal, not a corner-cutting choice. The real mistake is not knowing about the finance-payout top-up benefit described above. Without it, a written-off truck on a growing loan can leave you short. With it, an extra payment on top of the settlement narrows the shortfall. Nobody tells you it is there unless you ask.

Not telling us whose freight is on the tray. Carrying someone else's goods under a contract and carrying your own goods are two different insurance problems. Answering this question properly, once, at the start, is what decides whether a freight claim actually gets paid.

Treating safety and compliance paperwork as someone else's job. Heavy vehicle regulation in Australia is moving towards outcome-based safety duties rather than a fixed checklist. Insurers are starting to ask about fatigue management, safety systems and compliance evidence before they bind cover. An operator with nothing to show here is not just a compliance risk, they are becoming a harder risk to place.