12.3 Motor Carrier / Trucking and MCS-90

The Motor Carrier Coverage Form

For businesses that transport property or passengers for hire, ISO offers the Motor Carrier Coverage Form (CA 00 20), which replaced the older Truckers Coverage Form (CA 00 12) for most filings. A motor carrier is anyone providing commercial transportation by auto. The form mirrors the BAP but adds trucking-specific symbols and addresses trailer interchange and operations under others' authority.

The Motor Carrier form uses an expanded symbol set; notably it adds Symbol 67 (specifically described autos for which the insured is liable on a trailer interchange) and broadens the way liability follows the operating authority.

Three definitions anchor this material. A private carrier hauls its own goods; a common carrier offers transport to the public for hire; and a contract carrier serves specific customers under contract. For-hire carriers crossing state lines are subject to FMCSA financial-responsibility rules, which is what drives the MCS-90 requirement discussed below. Cargo itself (the goods being hauled) is not covered by the auto form — it requires a separate motor truck cargo inland-marine policy.

Trailer Interchange and Who Is Insured

Trailer interchange insurance covers physical damage to trailers in the insured's possession under a written interchange agreement but owned by others. It responds for comprehensive, specified causes of loss, or collision on borrowed trailers.

A critical trucking concept is liability under leased operations. Under federal leasing rules, when an owner-operator leases a truck to a carrier, the carrier (lessee) is generally responsible for the public's safety while the equipment is operated under its authority. The form contains an Other Insurance condition that determines whether the carrier's or owner-operator's policy is primary based on whose authority and whether the trailer was being used in the carrier's business.

The practical exam point: while a unit operates under the carrier's authority, the carrier's policy is primary. When the owner-operator runs the same truck for their own account (a non-trucking or bobtail use), the owner-operator's coverage applies. Bobtail (driving the tractor with no trailer) and deadhead (driving with an empty trailer) exposures are commonly carved out and handled by a non-trucking liability endorsement, which the exam may contrast with the carrier's primary coverage.

The MCS-90 Endorsement

The MCS-90 (Endorsement for Motor Carrier Policies of Insurance for Public Liability) is required by the FMCSA under the Motor Carrier Act of 1980 for interstate carriers of property. It is not coverage in the ordinary sense — it is a federally mandated financial-responsibility surety ensuring the public is paid for BI/PD from negligence, even if the policy would otherwise exclude the loss.

Key mechanics:

• The insurer pays the public up to the MCS-90 limit even if the auto was not a scheduled covered auto or an exclusion applies.
• The insurer then has a right of reimbursement from the insured for any amount it would not have owed under the policy terms.
• It applies to negligence in the operation of any motor vehicle in interstate/foreign commerce, listed on the endorsement schedule or not.

The endorsement was created under the Motor Carrier Act of 1980 so that an injured member of the public is not left uncompensated by a policy gap. A frequent exam scenario: a carrier operates a truck that was never added to the schedule, or hauls a load outside its filed authority, and the policy would deny the claim. The MCS-90 forces payment to the public anyway, then the carrier owes the insurer back. It is excess of nothing to the public but creates a debt for the insured.

MCS-90 Minimum Limits

Federal minimums under 49 CFR depend on cargo:

Trap: MCS-90 protects the public, not the insured. If the insurer pays a claim under the MCS-90 that the policy itself would have excluded, the carrier must reimburse the insurer dollar-for-dollar.

What the MCS-90 Actually Does

The MCS-90 endorsement is required of interstate motor carriers under the Motor Carrier Act of 1980 and is widely misunderstood, so it is a favorite exam target. It is not coverage for the insured; it is a financial-responsibility guarantee to the public. It obligates the insurer to pay a judgment for bodily injury or property damage to the public arising from the carrier's operations even if the loss would otherwise be excluded by the policy (for example, an unlisted auto or a pollution loss), up to the federally required minimum.

The catch is reimbursement: when the insurer pays under the MCS-90 a loss the policy would not have covered, the insured must repay the insurer. So the endorsement protects injured members of the public, not the trucker. The federal minimums it backs scale with cargo: commonly $750,000 for general freight, $1,000,000 for oil/certain hazardous materials, and $5,000,000 for the most hazardous substances. Recognizing the MCS-90 as a public-protection backstop with an insured-reimbursement feature is the precise point examiners test.