Freight trucking and passenger transport look similar from outside — big vehicle, CDL driver, federal authority, DOT number — and they are underwritten as different businesses. The reason is arithmetic. A severe truck crash typically produces one or two bodily-injury claimants. A severe motor coach crash produces as many claimants as there were people on board, and they all share a single per-accident limit.
Charter and shuttle operators are a small, tight class across South Georgia and the Lowcountry — university and high school athletic charters, church and youth group trips, Savannah tour and port work, hotel and airport shuttles, casino and event runs, employee transport for the plants and the distribution centers. Almost all of them are family-run. Almost all of them are quoting against a transportation agreement someone else wrote. And it is a class where a broker who only writes freight will hand you a program that misses the two exposures that matter most.
If you also run freight, or use owner-operators, start with why trucking insurance jumped and non-trucking liability. For medical transport specifically, see ambulance and EMS.
| Line | What drives it on a passenger transport account |
|---|---|
| Auto liability | Dominant by a wide margin. Priced per unit, and generally higher per unit than freight of comparable size, because the cargo is people. |
| Excess / umbrella | Not optional at any meaningful size. Availability and price of this layer is often the binding constraint on the whole program — see umbrella cost. |
| Auto physical damage | Heavy. A late-model highway coach can replace well into seven figures. Valuation basis matters more than the rate. |
| Abuse & molestation | A named coverage question the moment minors ride. Commonly excluded, sublimited, or written claims-made with a separate limit. |
| Workers comp | Drivers, plus mechanics — and the shop is a heavier class than the seat. See the mod guide. |
| Premises & garage | Terminal, yard, fuel storage, lift and pit — and garagekeepers if anyone else's vehicle sits on your lot. |
Federal minimum financial responsibility for for-hire passenger carriers in interstate commerce is tiered by seating capacity, with a substantially higher minimum for vehicles designed to carry more than a defined number of passengers including the driver, and a lower one for smaller vehicles. Evidence gets filed with the federal regulator on the prescribed form.
Three cautions about that number:
Operators who build to the federal floor find out at the exact moment they lose a contract. See contractual risk transfer and additional insured vs. certificate. Financial responsibility levels and filing requirements are set by federal and state authority and are amended — confirm with the relevant agency.
Most commercial auto policies on passenger vehicles carry a combined single limit per accident. All bodily injury and property damage from one occurrence shares one number, however many people were hurt. A loaded coach seats more than fifty. A rollover or a highway collision that seriously injures even a portion of them divides a limit that looked generous into numbers that do not approach the cost of the worst injuries — and the operator, its owners, and whoever hired the coach are exposed above it.
Four consequences for how the program gets built:
This is the one that ends companies. If you carry children, students, youth groups, church groups, athletic teams or vulnerable adults, the driver is regularly alone with passengers and sometimes overnight on multi-day trips. Many auto and liability forms exclude or sublimit abuse and molestation; where it is available it is commonly claims-made with a separate limit. Underwriters — and the organizations hiring you — will ask about criminal background checks, rehire screening, a two-adult rule, prohibitions on a driver being alone with a minor, lodging protocols and complaint reporting. Our page on abuse and molestation liability for churches and ministries covers the coverage mechanics in more depth; the same analysis applies to the coach.
The highest-frequency injury in passenger transport, by a distance: slips and falls at the door, on the steps, in the aisle, on a wet floor, or during luggage handling — often to elderly passengers, which converts an ordinary fall into a fracture claim. It is also the loss category most improvable by procedure.
Premises liability at the terminal, garage operations liability for maintenance, garagekeepers if any customer or leased vehicle sits on the lot, fuel storage, lift and pit hazards — and the comp exposure of mechanics, which prices higher than driving.
Passengers' checked baggage and personal effects. Wheelchairs and mobility devices on accessible service. Trip cancellation and interruption obligations to a group when a coach breaks down four states from home. And where a driver escorts or arranges the tour, a professional exposure the auto form does not address — see professional liability.
Standard actual cash value settlement fits this equipment badly. Used coach values have moved substantially in recent years, and a depreciated book settlement may not buy a comparable unit in the market that actually exists. Ask specifically about agreed value or stated amount wording, confirm what the stated amount on your schedule reflects and when anyone last revisited it, and size the deductible to a coach fleet rather than to a pickup.
Extensions that matter more here than elsewhere:
Check your covered auto symbols while you are in the declarations — on a fleet with leased-in units and staff vehicles, the symbol set is where coverage quietly fails.
Underwriters treat the driver file as the best available proxy for how the company is run, and passenger transport adds requirements freight does not have. The CDL needs the passenger endorsement, must not carry an air brake restriction where the equipment has air brakes, and needs a school bus endorsement where applicable. Beyond that: application and verified prior-employer inquiry; MVR at hire and at least annually against a written hiring standard; current medical examiner certificate from a certified examiner; road test on the specific equipment; a compliant drug and alcohol program with pre-employment, random, post-accident, reasonable suspicion and return-to-duty testing plus the required clearinghouse queries; hours-of-service and ELD data with a documented process for reviewing violations rather than merely storing them; annual review of driving record and certificate of violations; entry-level driver training where applicable; and passenger-specific training in passenger assistance, wheelchair lift and securement, emergency evacuation and abuse prevention.
Two more items are pure signal rather than compliance: turnover, because a company churning drivers is hiring from a thinner pool and training less; and the age and experience distribution, because inexperience on a fifty-foot vehicle is not inexperience on a straight truck. Driver qualification, testing, training and hours-of-service requirements are set by federal and state authority and are amended.
We are an independent agency in Statesboro placing every line a transportation company carries through one person. On a charter or shuttle account the first review is short and specific: whether your limit clears what your largest customer's transportation agreement actually requires, whether abuse and molestation is covered or assumed, whether the coach schedule is on a valuation basis that can replace a unit today, and whether the covered auto symbols match a fleet that has changed since the policy was written. Those four answers take about twenty minutes and are worth more than a quote. More on how we work: Statesboro and Savannah. If you bid transit, school district or municipal contracts that require a bond, our sister brand BettrBonds handles that side — see bid vs. performance vs. payment bonds.
Send your auto declarations with the unit schedule and limits, your umbrella declarations, a copy of the transportation agreement your largest customer requires, and your driver list. We'll tell you whether the limit and endorsement wording satisfy that contract, whether abuse and molestation is actually covered on your forms, whether your coach values would replace the equipment in today's market, and which line of your program is most likely to be the problem at renewal.
Get a free coverage reviewPassenger transport is priced per unit rather than per $100 of payroll, and the per-unit number is generally higher than freight trucking of comparable size because the cargo is people and one event can produce dozens of claimants under a single limit. Auto liability dominates. The variables: seating capacity, since federal minimums are tiered by whether the vehicle is designed for more or fewer than a defined number of passengers including the driver; radius and interstate operation; the type of work, since fixed-route shuttle, employee transport, hotel and airport shuttle, school and athletic charter, church and youth charter, tour and casino runs, and long-distance line haul underwrite differently; equipment age, value and type, since a late-model coach replaces well into seven figures and a cutaway shuttle does not; driver experience, turnover and MVRs; the safety measurement profile and inspection history; and losses read claim by claim. Comp on drivers and mechanics, premises and garage liability for the yard, and physical damage fill out the program.
Federal minimum financial responsibility for interstate for-hire passenger carriers is tiered by seating capacity, with a substantially higher minimum for vehicles designed to carry more than a defined number of passengers including the driver, filed with the federal regulator on the prescribed form. Three cautions: it is a compliance floor rather than an exposure assessment and is not indexed, so it has eroded in real terms; intrastate work, school transportation and transit or paratransit contracts run on state requirements and on the contract, which routinely demand more plus additional insured, waiver of subrogation, primary and non-contributory wording and notice provisions; and commercially the binding number is whatever the school system, university, athletic program, casino, cruise line, tour operator or corporate account writes into its transportation agreement, because no certificate means no purchase order. Requirements are set by federal and state authority and are amended.
Because most commercial auto policies on passenger vehicles carry a combined single limit per accident: all bodily injury and property damage from one occurrence shares one number regardless of how many people were hurt. A loaded coach seats more than fifty, so a rollover or highway collision that seriously injures a meaningful share of them divides a generous-looking limit into amounts that do not approach the cost of the worst injuries, leaving the operator, its owners and whoever hired the coach exposed above it. This is the structural reason passenger transport underwrites differently from freight, where a severe accident typically produces one or two claimants. It is also why excess capacity is not optional at any meaningful size, why passenger accident medical coverage matters for closing small claims quickly, why UM/UIM deserves a deliberate decision, and why every additional insured added by contract shares the same limit.
Abuse and molestation first, because drivers carrying children, students, youth groups, church groups, athletic teams or vulnerable adults are regularly alone with passengers and sometimes overnight. Many forms exclude or sublimit it, coverage where available is commonly claims-made with a separate limit, and both underwriters and hiring organizations will ask about background checks, rehire screening, two-adult rules, lodging protocols and complaint reporting. Second, boarding and alighting: slips and falls at the door, on steps, in the aisle, on a wet floor or during luggage handling are the highest-frequency injuries and they happen to elderly passengers. Third, the yard and shop: premises liability, garage operations, garagekeepers if customer vehicles are on the lot, fuel storage, lift and pit hazards, and mechanics' comp, which is heavier than driving. Fourth, everything that is not the vehicle: baggage and personal effects, wheelchairs and mobility devices, trip cancellation obligations when a coach breaks down far from home, and a professional exposure where the driver escorts or arranges the tour.
Deliberately, because standard actual cash value settlement fits this equipment badly. A late-model highway coach replaces well into seven figures, used coach values have moved substantially, and a depreciated book settlement may not buy a comparable unit in the market that exists. Ask about agreed value or stated amount wording, confirm what the stated amount reflects and when it was last revisited, and size the deductible to a coach fleet rather than to a pickup. Downtime or loss-of-use coverage matters because an out-of-service coach is a canceled charter and replacement units are not rented the way a tractor is. Towing and recovery of a loaded coach is expensive and the standard sublimit is frequently inadequate. Rental reimbursement rarely fits the class. Glass on a large curved windshield is frequent and expensive. And where units are financed or leased, confirm loss payee interests and any gap between settlement and payoff against the loan documents.
The CDL with a passenger endorsement, no air brake restriction where the equipment has air brakes, and a school bus endorsement where applicable. Then the application and verified prior-employer inquiry; an MVR at hire and at least annually against a written hiring standard stating what disqualifies; a current medical examiner certificate from a certified examiner; road test documentation on the specific equipment; a compliant drug and alcohol program with pre-employment, random, post-accident, reasonable suspicion and return-to-duty testing plus required clearinghouse queries; hours-of-service and ELD data with a documented process for reviewing violations rather than merely collecting them; annual review of driving record and certificate of violations; entry-level driver training where applicable; and passenger-specific training in passenger assistance, wheelchair lift and securement, emergency evacuation and abuse prevention. Turnover and the age and experience distribution are pure underwriting signal on top of compliance.
Operations split into charter and tour, school and athletic, church and youth, employee shuttle, hotel and airport shuttle, transit or paratransit contract, casino and entertainment runs and any scheduled service, with revenue share for each; radius and states operated, interstate authority and filings; whether overnight or multi-day trips run and whether drivers lodge with groups; a unit schedule with year, make, model, seating capacity, VIN, value and the basis for that value, plus any leased-in or leased-out units; the driver list with hire dates, license numbers, endorsements and MVRs, and twelve-month turnover; the written hiring standard, drug and alcohol program administrator and background check policy including recheck frequency; the safety measurement profile, roadside inspection history and any compliance review; the maintenance program, inspection interval, tire policy and recordkeeping; the abuse prevention program where minors or vulnerable adults ride; the terminal description including fuel storage, security and any customer vehicles kept; sample charter agreements and school, university, transit or corporate contracts showing limits and indemnity obligations already agreed to; and three to five years of losses with boarding-and-alighting slips separated from vehicle accidents.
For general information only. Not legal advice and not a quote or contract of insurance. Policy forms, endorsements, sublimits and exclusions vary by carrier and form edition — covered auto symbols, combined single limit and per-accident wording, medical payments and passenger accident provisions, uninsured and underinsured motorist terms and rejection requirements, abuse and molestation exclusions, sublimits and claims-made terms, care custody and control provisions, garagekeepers coverage forms and limits, physical damage valuation clauses including agreed value and stated amount, downtime, towing, glass and loss-of-use sublimits, employer's liability limits under Part Two, additional insured wording and primary and non-contributory endorsements, and umbrella schedules of underlying insurance must all be read as actually issued. Federal minimum financial responsibility levels, filing requirements, operating authority, driver qualification, drug and alcohol testing, hours of service, entry-level driver training and vehicle inspection and maintenance requirements are set by federal and state authority; workers' compensation classification, payroll allocation, officer inclusion and exclusion and premium audit rules are set by the applicable rating bureau and state authority; background check, mandatory reporting and negligent hiring obligations are set by state statute and case law. All are amended over time — confirm your obligations with the relevant agency and qualified counsel. Coverage subject to policy terms, conditions, exclusions and carrier appetite.