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Disability Insurance for Truck Drivers

Researcher & Writer
April 01, 2020

Truck drivers are aware of just how dangerous their job can be.  In fact, even mentioning the fact that driving a truck can be dangerous will frequently initiate a fascinating conversation about all of the close calls an average truck driver will have had over the years.

We’ve found that in addition to being interested in getting a disability insurance policy, most truck drivers will also have a life insurance policy  in place especially since many life insurance companies are now offering no medical exam life insurance options.

Just because most truck drivers understand that they need to have either a Short Term Disability Insurance or a Long Term Disability Insurance in place does not mean that most of them do.

This is either because most truck drivers don’t fully understand exactly what a disability insurance policy will do for them or its because their skeptical that a disability insurance policy ultimately “pay out” in the event that them become too sick or injured to continue working.

Truck drivers and disability insurance

We’ve chosen to write this article to shed some light on  disability insurance policies for truck drivers.  As well as provide some insight on what an average truck driver should try to avoid when purchasing a disability insurance policy so that they won’t be left disappointed or feeling cheated if they ever needed to use their policy in the future.

Do truck drivers need disability insurance?

For those truck drivers that aren't sure if they actually need a disability insurance policy because of existing auto and health insurance let’s take a moment or two to discuss exactly what disability insurance is and why as a truck driver it is something that you should definitely consider purchasing.

A truck driver's life

Despite the fact that most people think that as a truck driver all you do is sit in your truck all day, the plain truth of it is that driving a truck can often times be quite labor intensive.

Driving a truck is  going to require you to demonstrate quite a bit of stamina, frequently forcing you to work long hours at all sorts of odd hours.

Being a truck driver has historically allowed hard working and self-reliant individuals earn a steady, reliable above average salary.  And while we are aware that truck drivers are on the front lines of many changes currently occurring within our economy today, driving a truck either independently or under management continues to be a pretty attractive career choice given many of the alternatives that are out there. Especially if your good at it.

Truck drivers are at risk

With all of this hard work, its easy to see why in addition to being at risk of being involved in a serious motor vehicle accident, truck drivers aren’t immune to other tragedies that could take place as well.  Tragedies such as:

  • A slip or fall,
  • Development of a back or neck injury.
  • Having “cargo” fall on you,
  • Or just the development of a medical condition as a result of a unhealthly life on the road lifestyle.

When talking about becoming disabled, we’re not just taking about the obvious things, we talking about any one of the millions of things that could prevent you from being able to perform your job in the future.

Millions become temporarily or permanently disabled every year

For many of these people, their new disability was abrupt and completely unexpected. It could be caused from:

  • Accident,
  • Infection,
  • Unknown genetic medical condition,
  • Stroke,
  • Etc, etc…

So, ask yourself… Would you be financially prepared to lose your income for a month?  6 months?  6 years!

Now we don’t want to be all doomsday about it, but have you ever thought about what you – and your family – would do if you became disabled?

How would you manage financially? 

After all, the average income of a truck driver: $70,000+ so it’s not like you could just quit being a truck driver today and find a replacement job overnight.

You’ve probably become accustomed to the lifestyle that a $70,000+ job brings. You’ve bought your house and car in accordance with your salary.  And once you start relying on a certain amount of money to come in every month, it’s really hard to scale it back.  And this is money that you’re not likely to receive back from your auto insurance company.

You might be relying on your car insurance to pay for things if you get hurt. Let’s break it down:

  1. Your car insurance will (likely) cover your medical needs if you get in a car accident
  2. They will not cover loss of wages if you are unable to work
  3. Further, there are many different ways you may be injured aside from a car accident.
  4. And if the accident isn’t your fault, its possible you may receive a settlement or judgement in your favor, but how long is that going to take?

So, what if tomorrow you couldn’t drive a truck?

Would you be able to find another $70,000+ a year job if you were disabled in any way? What if you became blind or physically disabled? How would you find the kind of job that would bring you the kind of salary you’d become used to?

Life would change if you were disabled

Your life would probably have to change drastically, and we don’t just mean because of your disability. This is why we are so passionate about folks understanding at least considering the idea of purchasing a disability insurance policy.

So, what is Disability Insurance and how does it work for truck drivers?

Disability insurance is a way to protect your monthly income should anything happen to you. If you become sick or injured to the point where you can no longer work, disability insurance policies are designed to step in and provide financial assistance you’ll need while your recovering from your disability.

Types of Disability Insurance Policies

In general, there are only two main types of disability insurance policies out there.  You’ll have your Short Term Disability Insurance policies that are designed to help folks in the even that they suffer from an injury or illness that can be recovered from in a relatively short period of time (several months up to around 2 years) and Long Term Disability Insurance policies which are designed to provide more permanent coverage from disabilities that could be permanent or lasting for several decades.

Nobody really knows if their likely to become disabled in the future and their certainly not likely to know how “long” their disability might last.  This is why, here at TermLife2Go, we’ll generally recommend that folks first look at what it might cost to purchase a long term disability insurance policy first, then see if the cost of such a policy would fit into their budget.

The last thing that you want to do is find yourself in a situation where you’re no longer able to work and you know that your condition is going to out last your disability insurance benefit period!

Another major factor that folks will want to take into consideration when determining what type of disability insurance policy is going to be right for them.  And it is here where folks will often make mistakes that could ultimately lead them to be disappointed about their disability insurance policy in the future should they suffer from some type of disability.

When it comes to being disabled, most disability insurance policies will use either an own occupation definition of work or an any occupation definition of work when determining when and if you’ll be eligible to receive your disability benefits.  Which is a big deal which is why we want to take a moment and describe the differences between the two.

Own Occupation.

In general, we here at TermLife2Go will typically recommend that most of our clients try to purchase an Own Occupation Disability Insurance policy because these types of policies will only require you to be unable to perform your “own” job in order to qualify for your disability insurance benefits.

Now, let’s compare…

That to an any occupation policy which would require you to not be able to work at all in any occupation before you would be able to qualify for your disability benefits.

For example:

Let’s say that your involved in a horrible accident and you lose a limb (An arm for example).  And while we’re sure that there are many folks out there who have lost a limb and are excellent drivers even truck drivers, in our example the affected individual isn’t able to perform his/her duties.

Now if this individual had purchased a own occupation disability insurance policy, he or she would be able to qualify for benefits.  Unfortunately, however if they chose to purchase an “any occupation” policy, because they would theoretically be able to perform another job that would be as “labor intensive” they would most likely not be able to qualify for their disability benefits.

This is why its…

So important to choose to work with a professional like the ones at TermLife2Go when considering which type of disability insurance policy is going to be right for you because not only do we offer a wide variety of disability insurance policies, we also offer them from many different companies!  This way, you’re not limited to just one or two different options.  This way, if you decide that purchasing a disability insurance policy is right for you, we should have one that meets your needs.

So, what are you waiting for?  Give us a call today and see what we can do for you.

Written by
TermLife2Go
We are a team of life insurance experts with the simple mission of helping you find the best coverage for your unique situation. We research, review, and rank life insurance companies to make that process easier.