Load board insurance requirements

Not as a limit of its own. A load board is a marketplace; the broker or shipper who posts the load decides what coverage a carrier needs to haul it. DAT's carrier help center puts it in one line: "Brokers set insurance requirements for carriers they work with — usually for auto liability (BIPD) and cargo insurance." 123Loadboard's help center says carriers will usually need certificates showing $100,000 cargo and $1,000,000 liability, and adds that "this can vary depending on the broker or shipper."

What has changed is that the boards now enforce the broker's numbers for them. On DAT, a broker's qualification settings compare each carrier's certificate on file with the load's minimums, and a carrier who falls short sees the load marked as missing requirements. On Truckstop, brokers set compliance rules in Carrier Hub, and the advanced tier can restrict a load to compliant carriers. So a carrier with a legal policy can still miss loads if the certificate on file shows lower limits than the broker asks for, or is out of date.

Operating authority is the other gate. Truckstop says the loads a carrier sees "match your operating authority," so an intrastate-only carrier sees intrastate loads. Getting authority and its federal insurance filing in place is a separate step from the certificate; see MC insurance requirements, linked below.

You give DAT your agent's email address, and your agent sends the certificate. DAT partners with Certificial, which "connects directly with insurance agents to collect and confirm Certificates of Insurance (COIs)." On the web, open a load marked as missing insurance, click the update button in the yellow banner, and enter the agent's email; on DAT One Mobile, tap the load, tap Update Insurance, and submit the same address. Certificial then emails the agent a request.

Do not send the certificate yourself. DAT's Certificial page is explicit: carriers "should not send their COI directly to Certificial—Certificial will only accept them from your insurance agent." If the reminders keep coming after you have given the address, DAT suggests the agent send the certificate to support@certificial.com and that you confirm the agent actually answered the request. DAT's blog mentions uploading a certificate; its help center describes the agent route set out above.

DAT also asks to be listed as certificate holder, because "when DAT is listed as a Certificate Holder, we receive notifications about changes to your coverage, including cancellations." Being certificate holder gives DAT no coverage and no right under your policy; the ACORD 25 form says a certificate "confers no rights upon the certificate holder." Whether a holder hears of a cancellation depends on the policy, since the form promises only that notice will be delivered "in accordance with the policy provisions."

DAT's help center names auto liability and cargo as the requirements brokers usually set. 123Loadboard's help center says carriers will usually need to show $1,000,000 liability and $100,000 cargo, and, in its words, "most shippers and brokers expect carriers to carry at least $100,000 in cargo coverage before they will assign loads." Those are the broker's numbers, not the law's.

The federal rule is lower and covers less. 49 CFR 387.9 sets $750,000 public liability for for-hire carriers of non-hazardous property in vehicles of 10,001 pounds or more. On cargo, J.B. Hunt's carrier page says "there is no USDOT requirement for maintaining cargo insurance for freight motor carriers, only carriers who transport household goods," and 123Loadboard calls cargo "no longer a federal filing requirement (except for household goods carriers)." Anything above $750,000 liability is the broker's requirement, not the federal rule's.

Some brokers ask for more: general liability, trailer interchange, reefer breakdown on refrigerated loads, or higher cargo limits for high-value freight. A load board shows you the load; the broker's setup packet or rate confirmation shows you the full list. Price the policy against the loads you actually plan to haul, and ask your agent whether $100,000 cargo is enough for those brokers before paying for more.