What Is Your Truck Accident Case Actually Worth?

Truck accident settlements are typically much higher than car accident cases due to larger commercial insurance policies ($750,000 to $10 million+), more severe injuries from the force of impact, and multiple potentially liable parties including the driver, trucking company, and freight broker. Settlement values depend on injury severity, medical costs, lost wages, available coverage, and fault under state law.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requires a minimum of $750,000 in liability coverage for general freight carriers. Carriers transporting hazardous materials must carry $1 million to $5 million depending on the cargo. Many large trucking companies carry policies well above these minimums.

Multiple parties may be liable in a truck accident including the truck driver, the trucking company or motor carrier, the freight broker or dispatcher, the cargo loading company, the truck or parts manufacturer (if a mechanical defect was involved), and the maintenance company. This increases the total available compensation.

Truck accidents typically result in higher settlements for several reasons: commercial vehicles cause more severe injuries due to their size and weight (up to 80,000 lbs), trucking companies carry much larger insurance policies than individual drivers, federal FMCSA regulations create additional grounds for liability, and multiple parties can be held responsible.

Critical evidence includes Electronic Logging Device (ELD) data showing the driver's hours of service, the truck's black box data, dashcam and security camera footage, the driver's logbooks and drug/alcohol test results, vehicle maintenance and inspection records, cargo loading documentation, and the police report. This evidence can be destroyed quickly, so contacting an attorney promptly is essential.