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BI/PD filings, explained

What a BI/PD filing is, who files it, the minimum liability limits it evidences, and why active authority with no filing on file is a genuine red flag.

A BI/PD filing is the evidence of bodily injury and property damage liability insurance that a for-hire motor carrier's insurer files with the federal government. The insurer files it, not the carrier. It is public, it is dated, and without one on file a for-hire carrier cannot hold active operating authority.

It is not a policy. It is proof that a policy exists, at or above the required minimum limit.

#Who has to have one

For-hire motor carriers operating in interstate commerce. Two common exceptions catch people out:

  • Private carriers (a company hauling its own goods in its own trucks) generally do not need operating authority, so no filing.
  • Intrastate-only carriers are governed by their state, not the federal requirement.

So "no BI/PD filing" on a carrier that turns out to be a private fleet is normal, not a flag.

#Minimum limits

The federal minimum depends on what is being hauled and the weight of the vehicle. General freight sits at one level; hazardous materials and certain other commodities require substantially more.

A filing evidences coverage at or above the minimum. It does not tell you the actual limit purchased. A carrier carrying far more than the minimum and one carrying exactly the minimum look identical in the filing record.

Note

This is the single most common misreading of the public record: a filing tells you coverage exists, not how much. For the real limit, ask for the policy or the certificate.

#What the filing record shows

For each filing:

  • the insurer that filed it
  • the type of filing
  • the effective date
  • the cancellation date, once one is filed

The last two are what make the record useful commercially. A sequence of filings and cancellations over years is a carrier's insurance history: who wrote it, for how long, and how often it moved.

#Cancellation and the replacement window

When an insurer cancels, it files a cancellation notice with a future effective date. That creates a window in which the carrier is still authorised but its coverage is ending.

Three things can happen:

  1. A new insurer files replacement coverage before the date. Nothing visible goes wrong.
  2. The same insurer files new coverage: a renewal that arrived late in the record.
  3. Nothing gets filed, the date passes, and the carrier's authority is at risk.

The third case is the clearest possible buying signal, and it is public. Detail: What happens when a trucking company's insurance is cancelled.

#Active authority with no BI/PD on file

This is a genuine compliance flag, not a data gap.

A for-hire carrier showing active authority with no liability filing is either operating without required coverage, or in a gap between filings, or is not actually the kind of carrier that needs one. All three are worth knowing before you quote it, and the third is the most likely, so ask before assuming the worst.

#Checking a carrier

The filing record is public. The free authority and insurance lookup reads it live from a USDOT number: current authority status, the insurer on file, filing type and dates.

For the full history rather than the current state, the insurance inspection history lookup goes further back.

Across a whole book, Native Base Market Tracker filters the carrier census on BI/PD status and flags accounts in your own book where the insurer on file is not you: see Book of business.

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