Heavy Vehicle Insurance

What Is Heavy Vehicle Insurance?

Heavy Vehicle Insurance is a specialist form of commercial motor insurance designed for trucks, prime movers, trailers, and other large vehicles used in transport and logistics. It provides financial protection when accidents, theft, breakdowns, or damage occur, covering both property and liability risks. It acts similar to regular car insurance, but is specifically build for heavy vehicles, and contains additional and optional benefits that are better suited for commercial and business use cases.

According to the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA), motor vehicle accidents are among the most common causes of insurance claims nationwide. For businesses operating heavy vehicles, these risks are magnified by long hours on the road, large payloads, and the critical role transport plays in supply chains. Heavy Vehicle Insurance takes into account the scale of commercial transport operations, the higher value of trucks and trailers, and the unique risks of freight carriage, interstate travel, and heavy machinery use.

Whether you’re an owner-operator, small fleet owner, or run a national transport company, this insurance can help protect your vehicle assets and keep your deliveries moving. You can cover one vehicle or multiple units under a single policy.

At Bluewell, we help Australian businesses get flexible, competitive cover for their trucks, trailers, and transport equipment to keep their assets on the road. Whether that’s with one vehicle, a handful, or organisaing a specalised fleet product.

Why You Might Need Heavy Vehicle Insurance

Repairs are costly, downtime hurts your business, and crashes can lead to major damage or legal claims. Heavy Vehicle Insurance can help with:

Accidents on public or private roads
Fire, theft, or storm damage
Damage to someone else’s property
Legal costs after an accident
Damage caused while loading or unloading
Replacing lost or stolen parts or trailers
Some contracts, lenders, or licences may also require you to hold this type of insurance.

What Does Heavy Vehicle Insurance Cover?

Cover can be tailored to suit different vehicle types, uses, and industries. Options typically include:

Comprehensive Cover

Accidental damage (on or off the road)
Fire, theft, and attempted theft
Storm, hail, and flood damage
Vandalism or malicious damage
Windscreen and glass repairs
Towing and recovery costs
Replacement of locks and keys

Third-Party Liability

Damage to another person’s vehicle or property
Legal costs if your driver is at fault

Optional Extras

Downtime – A reduced cover option where you notify the insurer when you expect your vehicle to be non-operational for an extended period of time. The insurer will reduce cover for this time period.
Goods in transit cover – Ideal for operators that are carrying third party goods. If the items are damaged or lost in transit, the responsibility and financial burden often falls to the transport operator.

What Effects Your Insurance Premium?

There are some things that are out of your control when it comes to risk underwriting and premium calculations. Insurers price their risks on their entire portfolio, while also considering your individual situation. Large losses from weather events or high claims frequency across their book impacts your premium, even though you might not be directly involved. Insurers spread their costs across many policies to help be competitive. However, they also consider your individual circumstances including; the type of vehicle, its age, maximum distance travelled, age and experience of business operators and drivers, the insured sum, excess levels, and claims history. Maintaining a good driving record helps reduce any premium jumps, and you might consider having a higher excess to take on more of the financial burden yourself, with the intention of reducing overall premium.

Types of Vehicles Covered

Heavy Vehicle Insurance can apply to:

Prime movers
Rigid trucks
Refrigerated trucks
Tippers and dump trucks
Tankers and fuel carriers
Tilt trays and recovery vehicles
Logging trucks and livestock carriers
Trailers

Policies can be built for single units or full fleets.

Risk Management Tips for Heavy Vehicle Operators

Insurance is only one part of protecting your transport business. The other half comes from managing risks before they turn into claims. A strong risk management plan not only reduces the chance of accidents but can limit premium hikes. When claims occur, premium jumps are based off severity and frequency of claims. By limiting both as much as possible, future claims might not have the biggest impact in comparison. Below are practical ways to manage risk when running heavy vehicles in Australia.

Regular Maintenance and Servicing

Heavy vehicles are more prone to wear and tear than smaller commercial vehicles because of the loads they carry and the distances they travel.

Stick to strict servicing schedules that meet both manufacturer guidelines and National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) requirements.
Keep a record of all inspections, repairs, and part replacements. This helps prove compliance and diligence if a claim arises.
Pay attention to high-risk areas such as brakes, tyres, hydraulic systems, and refrigeration units.

A well-documented maintenance program can reduce downtime, catch onto issues earlier and show insurers that you are a lower-risk operator.

Driver Training and Competency

Drivers are at the heart of risk management. The NHVR Fatigue Management Standards highlight how important it is to monitor driver behaviour.

Provide ongoing training in load restraint, fatigue management, and defensive driving.
Use mentoring systems for younger or less experienced drivers. Pairing them with seasoned operators can reduce early mistakes.
Encourage drivers to report mechanical issues early instead of waiting for service intervals.

A culture of safety improves claim outcomes and helps prevent avoidable incidents.

Security Measures

Heavy vehicles and trailers are attractive targets for theft, particularly when carrying high-value loads.

Install GPS tracking and telematics systems to monitor routes and locate stolen vehicles.
Use dashcams to capture incidents for evidence in claims disputes.
Secure depots with fences, lighting, and CCTV monitoring.
For on-road security, encourage drivers to park in well-lit, monitored truck stops rather than isolated areas.

These measures not only deter theft but also help in claim investigations.

Load Management and Cargo Care

Incorrectly loaded vehicles can cause accidents, damage goods, or trigger liability claims.

Invest in high-quality straps, gates, and refrigeration monitoring equipment.
Conduct spot checks to confirm drivers are following load security procedures.

Effective load management reduces cargo disputes, which are often excluded unless you have a Goods in Transit policy.

Claims Documentation and Reporting

The way you respond to an incident can influence how smoothly your insurance claim is processed.

Train staff to document every incident with photos, driver statements, and witness details.
Report accidents promptly, even if you are unsure whether a claim will be made.
Keep digital logs of fuel, mileage, and loads. These records often help clarify disputes.

Insurers prefer businesses that demonstrate control over risks, and that can translate to better terms, reduced premiums, and smoother claims handling.

Common Claims We See

A driver reverses into a loading dock, damaging the rear of the truck
A refrigerated truck’s unit is damaged in a storm, spoiling the cargo
A prime mover is stolen from a depot overnight
A collision with a car results in major front-end damage and legal liability
A vehicle rolls over during wet conditions, damaging the trailer and freight
Windscreen cracked on a long-haul trip, needing urgent replacement
Fuel tank is vandalised at a rest stop, leading to costly downtime

What Isn’t Typically Covered

Operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Reckless driving
Operation of unroadworthy vehicles
Unlicenced or suspended operators
Criminal, illegal, or grossly negligent behaviour
Internal issues of the vehicle
General wear and tear

Frequently Asked Questions

Heavy Vehicle Insurance is for larger trucks over 4.5 tonnes and has specific cover for business transport and freight use, but is still considered a commercial motor insurance product.

Risks like theft, fire, storm damage, or vandalism can happen while your vehicle is parked. Comprehensive insurance helps protect your investment even when the truck is not on the road.

Downtime cover helps pay for lost income if your vehicle is off the road after a claim. This helps reduce the financial hit while you wait for repairs. This product is being phased out, but insurers will still review reduced cover depending on when you expect the vehicle to be out of action.

Not by default. You can add Goods in Transit Insurance or General Property Insurance to cover tools and cargo. These are optional but often recommended. Some insurers may have limited cover automatically included in their Product Disclosure Statements, but often this amount isn’t sufficient to appropriately cover the items.

You can have your trailer included on your policy after the insurer has reviewed and approved.

We work with a wide range of providers, some specialists in the field, others more general providers with a wide appetite. All our vehicle insurance providers are APRA approved insurance providers.

Yes. Policies often list your travel radius, such as metro only, state-wide, or national. Make sure the locations your vehicle travels to are noted.

Your insurance provider should be made aware of any business or commercial use of your vehicles, and they can confirm if your current policy is appropriate. Most often, insurance providers will decline to cover commercial use vehicles under a domestic product. Your broker can discuss the options to switch to something more appropriate.

Insurance premiums will usually always increase year over year, remember your insurer isn’t just covering you, but likely thousands of other drivers on the road, cost of repairs increase, and supply chain issue might cause replacement parts to increase in cost, so if the industry experiences large losses, they will likely pass this cost onto every policy holder. We remarket your policy every year, so if there are large unsubstantiated jumps, it’s likely another provider might be more competitive.

Compulsory Third Party or CTP for motor vehicles targets personal injury caused to third parties while operating the motor vehicle. The Public Liability Insurance built into motor insurance products mainly targets property damage you cause to third parties and the corresponding financial losses.

Whether you run a single truck or manage a growing fleet, we’ll help you get a policy that fits your vehicles, routes, and operations. Talk to our team to get the cover you need at a price that makes sense.

Get a Quote for Heavy Vehicle Insurance