What is BIPD insurance and how much does it cost?

What BIPD means

BIPD stands for bodily injury and property damage. The FMCSA uses the term for the auto liability insurance a motor carrier must keep on file, and its database shows the BIPD amount required and on file for each carrier. It is not a separate policy: it is the primary liability coverage on your commercial truck policy.

BIPD pays for injuries and damage your truck causes to other people, plus your legal defense. It does not pay for the freight you haul, which is cargo insurance, or for damage to your own truck, which is physical damage coverage. Trucking liability is normally written as a combined single limit, so $1,000,000 BIPD means $1,000,000 per accident for all injuries and property damage together, not $1,000,000 per person.

FMCSA BIPD requirements by operation

The federal minimums are set in 49 CFR 387.9 and 387.303 and summarized in the FMCSA’s insurance filing chart. The $300,000 limit applies only if every vehicle in your fleet is under 10,001 pounds gross vehicle weight rating, so adding one heavier truck moves you to $750,000.

These are legal floors. Trucking Insurance Services notes that brokers and shippers almost always require $1,000,000 for general freight, so many new carriers buy that limit from the start.

Who needs a BIPD filing, and who doesn’t

The FMCSA will not grant operating authority until the minimum insurance is on file, so any for-hire carrier applying for an MC number needs a BIPD filing. A few common situations work differently:

• Leased owner-operators: Progressive Commercial notes that an owner-operator permanently leased to a motor carrier may be covered by the carrier’s primary liability while under dispatch, but may still need non-trucking liability.
• Freight brokers: no BIPD is required, but brokers must file a $75,000 surety bond or trust fund (Form BMC-84 or BMC-85).
• Intrastate-only carriers: federal limits apply to interstate for-hire carriage and certain hazmat, while your state sets its own minimums and may require a separate state filing.
• Private carriers hauling their own goods: no federal filing for general freight, but private carriers of certain hazardous materials must meet federal minimums.

How the BIPD filing works

You don’t file BIPD yourself; your insurer files it electronically. Under 49 CFR 387.313, Form BMC-91 certifies the full required limit from one insurer, while Form BMC-91X can show full coverage or one layer of it. The regulation defines primary coverage as the first dollar of a claim and excess coverage as the layer above it. If you stack a $750,000 primary policy with an excess policy to reach $1,000,000, each insurer files its own BMC-91X.

The policy behind the filing carries the MCS-90 endorsement, which the FMCSA requires for all for-hire interstate carriers and which, under 49 CFR 387.7, must be kept at your principal place of business as proof of coverage. For a new authority, the steps are:

• Apply for your USDOT number and MC authority, and file your BOC-3.
• Bind a truck liability policy at the required limit, issued in your exact legal name.
• Ask the insurer to file right away. The FMCSA says that if proof isn’t filed within 20 days of your application appearing in the FMCSA Register, it will notify you that the application will be dismissed unless you comply within 60 days.
• Make sure your business name and address match your other registrations exactly; the FMCSA says any mismatch delays the grant.
• Check the FMCSA licensing and insurance database to confirm the BIPD on file meets the amount required.

How much BIPD insurance costs

Few insurers publish liability-only prices. Trucking Insurance Services reports that, across the policies it places, one truck typically pays about $5,000 to $20,000 a year for $1,000,000 of liability alone, and roughly $4,000 to $16,000 at $750,000. Driving record, time under authority, radius and garaging location move the price more than the limit does.

For the whole policy, Progressive Commercial reports 2025 national averages of $734 a month for specialty for-hire truckers and $926 a month for other for-hire transport truckers. Those totals include more than BIPD.

What happens if your BIPD is cancelled

Under 49 CFR 387.313, an insurer can’t withdraw a BIPD filing until 30 days after it submits a notice of cancellation to the FMCSA on Form BMC-35. Separately, 49 CFR 387.7 requires 35 days’ written notice between the insurer and the carrier to cancel the policy itself.

If no replacement filing posts before the cancellation takes effect, the FMCSA database shows you out of compliance and you may face revocation; for-hire interstate operations under inactive authority are illegal. If you switch insurers, have the new one file before the old policy ends.

How to pay less for BIPD

Liability is usually the largest part of a trucking premium, so it is where savings matter most.

• If you have no broker lined up yet, ask whether you can bind at $750,000 and raise the limit later. Trucking Insurance Services notes not every insurer allows a mid-term increase.
• Hire drivers with clean records and check motor vehicle records before adding anyone.
• State your radius and cargo accurately; overstating long-haul exposure raises the price.
• Avoid lapses. A cancellation for nonpayment can put your authority at risk and make future quotes harder to get.
• Compare several insurers, since appetite for new authorities varies widely. A broker such as Florin can compare quotes from several insurers for the same limits.