Bobtail or non trucking liability: which do I need?

Chapter 01

Why does my lease ask me for bobtail insurance?

Because the federal leasing rules require every lease to state who insures your truck beyond the carrier’s own coverage. The carrier must keep the liability insurance that protects the public, and the lease must say so. Then it must name “who is responsible for providing any other insurance coverage” for the truck, “such as bobtail insurance” (the federal leasing rules). Leases often make the owner responsible for that insurance.

Here is how that looks in real life. Say you drove for a carrier for five years. This fall you bought a used tractor, and you want to run it without managing your own operating authority. So you lease it on to a carrier that hauls dry van freight. You haul its loads under its authority. On Monday, October 5, 2026, the carrier’s office hands you the lease. On page four you find the insurance part. It says the carrier keeps liability insurance for the public. It says you must carry bobtail insurance. And it says that if you buy that coverage through the carrier’s program, a set amount comes out of each settlement.

The rules require an insurance section in the lease. The lease must state the carrier’s duty to keep insurance that protects the public. It must name who provides any other coverage. And if the carrier charges any of it back to you, the lease must state the amount (the federal leasing rules). How the rest of a lease works is in our guide to the owner-operator lease.

So why is there a gap at all? While the lease runs, the carrier has “exclusive possession, control, and use” of your truck. It also takes complete responsibility for running it (the federal leasing rules). But each insurance policy is its own contract, and each one says when it pays. Take a case a federal appeals court decided in 1995. There, the carrier’s policy paid first for a hired truck only while it was “used exclusively in” the carrier’s business (the 1995 court decision). The court also said the federal leasing rules do not decide which insurer pays. The policies do. So this clause addresses trips you make for yourself. Think of the drive home, the trip to your own mechanic or the Sunday run to the store.

In both court cases on this page, the lease made the owner responsible for that coverage. In the 1995 case, the owner had to insure the truck when it ran “not under dispatch” (the 1995 court decision). In the 2008 case, the lease made the owner carry non trucking coverage, while the carrier kept its own liability and cargo insurance. The carrier paid the owner’s premium and took it out of his pay (the 2008 court decision). Your lease may be written the same way. Now you need to know what you are buying.

Chapter 02

What is the difference between bobtail and non trucking liability?

Bobtail describes the truck: a tractor running with no trailer. Non trucking liability describes the use: the truck is not working for the carrier. Many people use both names for the same policy, and many policies mix them. A federal appeals court put it plainly in 2008. Cover of this kind “is often referred to as ‘bobtail insurance,’” but it “is not described in terms of bobtailing” (the 2008 court decision). What counts is what the policy says, not what it is called.

The best way to see this is to read the policy wording quoted in the court decisions. The policy in the 2008 case said the insurance “does not apply” to the truck “while used to carry property in any business”. It also did not apply “while used in the business of anyone to whom the ‘auto’ is rented” (the 2008 court decision). In plain words, it did not cover a truck hauling freight or working for the carrier. The words the court quoted say nothing about a trailer.

The policy in the 1995 case was written another way. Its title was “INSURANCE FOR NON-TRUCKING USE (LIMITED) (BOBTAIL/DEADHEAD)”. It did not apply “While the auto is being used to carry property in any business”. And it did not apply while a trailer “is attached” (the 1995 court decision). Deadhead is what owners call driving empty. Yet under that policy, a run with an empty trailer hooked on was outside the coverage, even with deadhead in the title.

The two policies addressed the same need but covered different trips. Policies sold today may have different terms again. We found no State insurance department page and no federal page that defines these types of coverage. So we cannot give you one definition that fits every policy. What we can give you is the words to look for. You may see the coverage sold as bobtail truck insurance, as non trucking liability insurance, or as NTL for short. The name on the bill does not tell you which trips are covered.

In the lease, find the insurance part. Look for the words bobtail, non trucking, NTL, deadhead and “under dispatch”. Note who must buy the coverage and how much is taken from your pay. In the policy, find the part that says when the insurance “does not apply”. Look for “in the business of”, “carry property” and a trailer “attached”. Those lines tell you which trips are covered.

Back to your lease. The carrier’s program offers a policy, and you ask to see it first. The rules help you here. If you buy coverage from or through the carrier, the lease must give you the right to request a copy of each policy. You also get a certificate. It shows the insurer, the policy number, the dates, the amounts and types of coverage, your cost and your deductible (the federal leasing rules). And you do not have to buy it there. The lease must say you are not required to buy or rent anything from the carrier to get the lease. The copy arrives. The policy says it “does not apply” while the truck is “used in the business of anyone to whom it is leased”. So your bobtail insurance is really non trucking liability.

Neither liability policy covered damage to the owner’s own truck. Both covered liability, the harm you cause to other people and their property (the insurance definitions). In the 2008 case, collision coverage for the truck was listed as a separate item (the 2008 court decision). So a bobtail or non trucking policy does not fix your tractor. Damage to your own truck needs separate physical damage coverage. Our guide to truck insurance explains it along with the other types of coverage.

Chapter 03

When does my policy pay, and when does the carrier’s?

It depends on whose business the truck was on at the moment of the crash, and courts decide that from the facts. A drive home after the last delivery, with no more orders, has been treated as the owner’s own business. There, the owner’s policy paid first. A drive to a motel while waiting near the carrier’s freight for the next load has been treated as the carrier’s business. There, the owner’s non trucking coverage did not pay. Driving without a trailer did not settle which policy applied in these cases.

Here are the real cases, as the 2008 decision tells them (the 2008 court decision). In an earlier Louisiana case, a trucker was driving home after his deliveries. He was not under dispatch or waiting for another load. That court held the owner’s bobtail policy paid first. In the 2008 case itself, a driver dropped a load in New Orleans at about 4 in the afternoon. The dispatcher told him to “take the rest of the night off” and to call in the morning about a load. He drove the tractor without its trailer to a truck stop, then set off for a motel, and crashed. The court held he was still on standby for the carrier. Resting for the next load was part of the job. So the owner’s non trucking policy did not apply, and the carrier’s insurance was left to pay. In a third case the decision describes, a driver was waiting at the carrier’s yard for a load. He ran the tractor out for an oil change and parts. That too was the carrier’s business.

In the 1995 case, both insurers had to pay. The owner’s driver turned down a load because his brakes needed work. He was bobtailing to the repair shop when he crashed. The court found the policy’s words could be read two ways, so it interpreted them in the policyholder’s favor. Both policies paid: the carrier’s insurer two thirds of the loss, the owner’s one third (the 1995 court decision).

Now apply those distinctions to your week. Say on Friday, October 16, you deliver in Dallas at 3 in the afternoon. Dispatch says to call on Monday. You drop the trailer at the carrier’s yard and drive home for the weekend. On Saturday you drive the tractor to a friend’s barbecue. Those trips look like the drive home in the Louisiana case: personal trips. Your non trucking policy is therefore the one to check for coverage. Now change one thing. Dispatch says to stay near Dallas, because a load may come at 6 in the morning. You bobtail to a motel. That resembles the carrier business described in the 2008 decision. Keep your dispatch messages. They show whether you were free or on standby.

These cases were decided under Louisiana and Texas law, on the words of those policies. Your State’s law and your policy wording may lead to a different result. We did not read cases from other States.

The lease must also explain insurance deductions from your pay. Every amount the carrier pays first and takes from your pay must be listed in the lease, with how it is worked out. You get copies of the papers that prove each charge (the federal leasing rules). If the carrier takes money from you for cargo or property damage, the lease must set the conditions. And the carrier must give you a written, itemized explanation that “must be delivered to the lessor before any deductions are made”. How to read those lines on a settlement sheet is in our guide to settlements. To see what cargo insurance pays for, read our guide to cargo insurance.

Chapter 04

Do I need either one with my own authority?

Most likely not, but get your agent to confirm it in writing. With your own authority, you are the carrier. Before you run, you must have at least the federal minimum liability in force (the insurance rule). For general freight in trucks rated at 10,001 pounds or more, that is $750,000 (the minimum amounts). Non trucking coverage is built for the time a truck is not working for someone else. When you are the carrier, your own liability policy must address how you use the truck.

Say that in 2027 you leave the lease and get your own authority. Your truck now works only for you. The non trucking policy you bought no longer fits, because its whole point was the time you were not working for the carrier. Your own liability policy is written for your own operations. But policies differ, and we cannot read yours. So ask your agent three questions by email. Does my policy cover the tractor with no trailer? Does it cover it when I drive empty? Does it cover personal trips? Keep the answers.

Time the change so there is no day without coverage. Your policy must be in force before your first load under your own authority. Your insurer must also file proof with FMCSA (the filing rule). What brokers then ask to see is in our guide to certificates of insurance. If you pull trailers you do not own, ask about separate trailer interchange coverage, as our guide to power only loads explains. And what all of this may cost is in our guide to truck insurance cost.

The leasing rules discussed here have not changed recently. The leasing rules were last changed in 2018 (the federal leasing rules). Policy terms can change. The court cases here are from 1995 and 2008, and we could not obtain current policy forms to review. That is why the wording in your own policy matters more than any name.

If you want someone to keep your insurance papers, certificates and renewals in order, here is what we offer.