Amazon Relay insurance requirements

The same limits. Relay's equipment list includes two box trucks, a 26-foot and a 16-foot, each "with a functional tuck-under lift-gate," alongside day cabs, sleepers and trailers. Neither the FAQ nor the blog publishes a separate, lower set of limits for box trucks, so a box truck carrier needs the $1,000,000 auto, $100,000 cargo, $1,000,000/$2,000,000 general liability, and workers' comp and employer's liability lines the same as a tractor fleet.

The one line that may differ is trailer coverage. The blog ties it to running a semi, and a straight box truck pulls no trailer; the FAQ lists it inside the auto requirement without that condition. Do not drop it on your own reading. Ask Relay, or check what the Insurance tab flags once your agent's certificate is in, and add it if Relay's reviewer asks for it.

Two practical points for box truck owners. The cargo policy must be at $100,000 even if your usual freight is light. And the 26-foot and 16-foot listings both specify a working lift-gate, which is an equipment question, not an insurance one.

From your agent, not from you. Relay's blog says you enter your insurance details when you apply, and then "our third-party vendor gets the COI from your company's agent, broker, or insurance company on file." The useful thing to do is give your agent the request and the deadline, so the certificate goes out when the vendor asks.

The agency that sold you the policy is the one that issues the certificate. When a policy is written through a wholesaler or managing general agent, that market may not issue certificates at all; one told Redoubt in writing that certificates "would need to come directly from the agency office." If the vendor's request lands with a market that does not answer it, the request sits.

At renewal, Relay recommends entering your updated details in the Insurance tab at least five days before the policy ends and renewing two to three weeks before expiry, which it says gives RMIS time to update its records. If coverage lapses, Relay says you cannot book or haul loads until it is reinstated.

Relay asks for more than federal law. The federal minimum for a for-hire carrier hauling nonhazardous property interstate in a vehicle of 10,001 pounds or more is $750,000 of public liability, under 49 CFR 387.9. Relay's $1,000,000 auto requirement is above that, which is why a policy written to the federal floor can get a carrier its authority and still fail Relay's check.

Cargo is a different story. J.B. Hunt's carrier page says there is no USDOT cargo requirement for freight motor carriers, only for household goods carriers. Relay's $100,000 cargo figure, like its general liability requirement, is Amazon's own requirement.

No insurer publishes a premium for Relay-compliant coverage. Amazon does publish a range: its February 13, 2026 insurance post says newer carriers typically pay $12,000 to $18,000 a year for the required coverage, and experienced carriers with clean records often $8,000 to $14,000. Those are Amazon's figures, read 2026-10-03, with no method behind them, not an insurer's rate. The price depends on your equipment, radius, drivers, losses and the five lines Relay requires, and only a quote on your own application answers it.

Amazon also says onboarded Relay carriers can get quotes through McGriff Insurance as part of its deals program. Whoever writes the policies, check that general liability and workers' comp are quoted alongside the truck policy, because those are the lines a truck-only quote leaves out.