I'm very famaliar with all 3 insurance types listed above.
Excellent. Then there should be very little misunderstanding as to what they are for.
One thing I still don't understand though is "what if" you guys had to file claim against, let's say against your Cargo Liability policy, for damages to your customers freight that occured while in-transit in your so-called "Non CMV" cargo van and that claim was denied because your policy issuer had the same belief some of you have here that if your van is under 10K GVWR, then it is not a CMV?
It appears that you're one of those who believe, despite what the DOT regulations state, that anyone who hauls freight is hauling it in a commercial motor vehicle. The FMCSA is all about the safety of the public, and to that end, they regulate vehicles that pose a danger to the public. The litmus test for a commercial motor vehicle is one that has the potential for undue damage to the public, primarily very heavy vehicles, but also those regardless of weight which haul Hazardous Materials. Cargo Liability insurers insure cargo, period. That's why people buy cargo insurance, to insure cargo. It's why it's called Cargo Insurance. It's not called Commercial Motor Vehicle Cargo Insurance. It doesn't matter if it is hauled in a CMV or a cargo van or a station wagon. All leased vehicles to a motor carrier are required to carry cargo insurance by the DOT, regardless of whether the vehicle is a CMV or not. Anything that is hauled under authority and bonded must have cargo liability insurance. The insurer couldn't care less if the vehicle is a CMV or not, as long as the vehicle was hauling under proper authority.
You can't file a claim against your "Commercial" insurance policy if you're hauling freight in a "personal vehicle", of which if it is not a CMV, then it's just a MV.(personal vehicle)
That doesn't even make sense. If your personal vehicle has Commercial insurance on it, and you are leased on to a motor carrier and are running under their authority, or you have your own authority, then you absolutely can file a claim against your Commercial insurance.
My opinion still stretches to the belief that your Cargo Vans (5K - 8K - 9K GVWR-whatever) are considered CMV's in the eyes of your Carrier, your Commercial Insurance Policy issuers, FMSCA, DOT Authorities, and everyone else that is involved with the use of that Van in a "For-Hire/Transporting Interstate Commerce" business use.
Is there something about the FMSCA's definition of a CMV that you don't understand? My carrier certainly knows the difference between a CMV and a non-CMV. So do commercial insurance policy insurers. The FMCSA and the DOT know what defines a CMV, because they are the ones who wrote the actual definitions. The whole notion of "For-Hire/Transporting Interstate Commerce" thing equaling a Commercial Motor Vehicle is about the same as someone saying that if you engage in commerce with a vehicle that your vehicle is therefore a commercial motor vehicle. That's gross ignorance.
There is such a thing as a "commercial motor vehicle" and there is such a thing as a "commercial vehicle", and they are absolutely not the same thing.
Like I said earlier, one can go and live with the belief that "No, I am NOT a CMV because I am under 10K GVWR", but when truth be told as in filing a claim against ones commercial insurance policy and the question arises as to whether one IS driving a CMV or not, that one will freely agree that their under 10K GVWR "Cargo Van" is in fact a CMV.
The question never arises, because the answer is already known before the policy it even written. Insurers write policies on vehicles knowing full well what kind of vehicles they are writing the policy for, and what they are to be used for. Commercial liability policies written for vehicles leased on to motor carriers are written without respect to which ones are CMV's and which ones aren't. They are written on the warranty by the contractor that they are permanently leased onto the motor carrier and as such will only be hauling freight under the authority of said motor carrier, and the split second the contractor's lease with said motor carrier ends, so does the insurance coverage.
In any case, get real for a minute... do you think that a cargo van has never had a cargo claim filed on it? They have, and the issue of CMV versus non-CMV isn't an issue.
"Slippery Slope", or just plain common sense???
Neither. The DOT, FMCSA, countless carriers and insurers have been at this a long time, and you haven't stumbled upon something all those experts have been blind to all these years. Read the fine print of cargo and trucking commercial insurance, and read the not-so fine print of the actual FMSCA definitions of what constitutes a CMV.
A lot pf people (Greg, cough, cough) have been beating the "cargo vans are CMV's" drum for a long time, and no matter how badly they wish it to be so, it just ain't so. Just because cargo vans hauling freight under authority have to comply with some of the same authority-hauling rules as CMV's does not magically turn cargo vans into CMV's. All it means is that anyone hauling freight under authority has to comply with the rules of hauling freight under authority, which is a distinctly separate set of rules than the rules governing CMV's.
Hauling freight has nothing to do with being a commercial motor vehicle and being subject to FMCSA rules and regulations. Hauling freight under DOT authority does not make a vehicle a CMV. Having Commercial or Cargo insurance does not make a vehicle a CMV. The weight of the vehicle and the danger to public are the only things that make a vehicle a CMV. It doesn't matter what you think, what you believe, or what you can reason out. It doesn't matter what you think it
"sure looks like", or what it looks like in the eyes of anyone. All that matters is what it actually
is, the true-blue, the indisputable and irrefutable, the honest-to-goodness,
actual definitions of a CMV, and by golly by gum, right from the people who
wrote those definitions and
enforce the rules and regulations.
Now, someone point me to a rule, regulation or law regarding the interstate transport of property, goods or freight that says anything different about cargo vans being CMV's. You can't.
