If you are in the final stages of acquiring a truck, or are a week out from renting a truck, it is often a good idea to get insurance before you actually have a truck. With this you can start your authority clock early and get on the road making money faster.
The way about doing this is using a “dummy vin”. This is a vin to a truck that you do not own. Most insurance carriers agree to insure a dummy vin for a time until you have secured your long-term truck. When you do secure a long-term truck you’ll often just have to sign that you do not own that dummy vin truck and it is not operated within your authority.
The benefit of this is that you can then start your clock early and your authority will often be active and you’ll be ready to go for when you do actually get your truck. It takes FMCSA at least four days to process your insurance and authorize your authority. If you get insurance on the first of the month, your authority should be active by the sixth, so if you are also getting your truck on the sixth, you are much better off to start your insurance on the first so you don’t have to wait until almost the middle of the month to be on the road with active authority.
Always make sure to ask your insurance broker about this and don’t just give your broker a dummy vin, but have a conversation with them.
