ATRI: Safety strategies help fleets reduce insurance losses

What the data revealed

According to ATRI, liability insurance costs rose by 18.6 percent (to 10.2 cents per mile) from 2021 to 2024. The institute's research notes that this rise happened at the same time that heavy-duty truck-involved crash rates fell by 2.6 percent and per-mile liability losses rose by 33.1 percent, suggesting that a rise in crash claims influenced the rise in insurance costs.

In addition, from 2021 to 2024,per-mile premium costs for excess coverage rose by:

• 34 percent to 1.58 cents for the $5-10 million insurance layer, and
• 45 percent to 1.05 cents for the $10-15 million layer.

ATRI suggests that these increases are linked to amplified litigation in inflating claims costs.

Some positive outcomes

ATRI’s research found that fleets with more retained risk in their primary coverage layer had lower combined liability losses and premium costs, regardless of fleet size. In addition, the data shows that fleets with reduced total purchased coverage saw, on average, a year-over-year 2.4 percent reduction in combined liability losses and premium costs after adjusting for inflation.

The research suggests that these outcomes come from a mix of premium reductions and a heavy-handed application of fleet safety strategies, such as implementing new safety technology.

Overall, the report helps fleets analyze their own insurance strategies and apply risk management adjustments to mitigate costs. Find full details of the report at https://truckingresearch.org/2026/05/truckings-rising-insurance-costs-issues-and-opportunities/.