Nearly every reroof involves two kinds of hauling: material coming in and old roofing going out. Both generally belong on a contractor's auto policy, as long as the trucks, trailers and loads are described the way they really run.
Quick answer
Material runs and tear-off hauling are usually your own business use, the kind of driving a roofing contractor's auto policy is built for. Schedule every dump trailer with its value, describe your heaviest load rather than your average one and tarp every tear-off load. Hauling for other contractors or suppliers for pay usually counts as for-hire work and can change the policy substantially.
A typical residential reroof starts with a run to the supply yard or a delivery to the house, and ends with several loads of tear-off headed to the transfer station. In between, a crew-cab pickup with a dump trailer behind it may make two or three trips a day, and a stake bed may carry concrete tile, which weighs more per square than almost anything else in the trade.
Most underwriters don't see a roofer as a hauler, and they shouldn't. But they do read roofing loss runs for the claims that hauling produces: shingles and nails scattered across a freeway lane, a tile pallet that shifted on an off-ramp, a dump trailer that came loose on a downhill. The owner's job is to describe the hauling so the policy can respond to it and the account still reads as a roofing contractor rather than a trucking company.
Moving your own materials to your own jobs is generally treated as ordinary contractor use. Weight is usually what changes the picture. CSLB's C-39 roofing classification spans asphalt, metal, tile, slate and membrane systems, and those materials load very differently. Concrete and clay tile, wet underlayment and full bundle pallets can push flatbeds and stake beds toward their ratings, and an overloaded truck stops poorly and wears through brakes fast. Carriers typically ask about the heaviest load a truck carries in a normal month, not the average, and whether the supplier's boom truck or your own equipment lands material on the roof.
Old roofing is your own waste, and hauling it to a transfer station or recycler is generally still your own business use. The main exposure is whatever leaves the load at speed. Debris that blows off an untarped trailer and cracks the windshield behind you is typically an auto liability claim, and a run of those small claims can weigh on a renewal as heavily as one serious crash. California's Vehicle Code speaks to this load twice: In general terms, one section bars driving a vehicle unless it's built, covered or loaded so nothing drops, sifts, blows or spills from it, and another calls for anything hauled for disposal or recycling to be totally covered.
A dump trailer has its own VIN and usually needs its own line with a value. While it's hitched, liability generally follows the truck towing it; for theft, fire or collision damage to the trailer itself, it typically has to be on the schedule. Trailers left at a customer's curb between tear-off days are exposed to theft and to the occasional parked-car claim, so tell the carrier if that's your habit. Our page on trailer coverage on a commercial auto policy walks through how towed units are listed.
If a truck starts earning money hauling for someone else, such as another roofer's tear-off or a supplier's deliveries, it has likely become a for-hire truck. Carriers generally rate and file those differently, and it isn't a program we place, so raise it before the first paid load.
Here's a composite residential reroof company: three crew-cab pickups, a 1-ton stake bed for tile and material runs, two dump trailers and an estimator who drives their own car to bids. In a normal week it runs two houses in parallel.
| Day | Haul | Unit | Where the risk sits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Concrete tile from the supply yard to house one | Stake bed | Weight close to the truck's rating; the load shifting in turns |
| Tuesday | Tear-off, three loads to the transfer station | Pickup and dump trailer | Tarping, hitch checks, debris on the freeway |
| Wednesday | Tear-off at house two, with the trailer left at the curb overnight | Pickup and second dump trailer | Theft and parked-car exposure at the curb |
| Thursday | Underlayment and flashing run; the supplier lands shingles on the roof | Stake bed and the supplier's boom truck | The supplier's truck usually answers to the supplier's policy |
| Friday | Cleanup load and a magnet sweep of the street | Pickup and dump trailer | Nails left at the curb and a final tarp check |
What an underwriter usually wants from that week is simple: both dump trailers on the schedule with values, the stake bed's rating and its heaviest tile load, a tarping rule and the estimator's car covered by non-owned auto. When we first saw an account like this one, the second dump trailer was missing from the schedule, and the tarp rule existed only in the owner's head. Both were fixed before the quote went out.
The rainy season stretches the same setup. After a wet week, leak calls and emergency tear-offs pile up, and owners often reach for a rented dump trailer or a borrowed pickup to keep pace. A rented trailer behind your truck generally takes its liability from the towing unit, but damage to the trailer itself depends on the rental agreement and on whether your policy includes hired auto physical damage. Settle that before the rush, not in the middle of it.
General contractors who hire you will likely ask for certificates, and a general contractor's guide to auto coverage for crews and subs shows what they're checking for. Landscapers face a similar trailer question with mowers on board instead of tear-off; see how landscapers insure trailers and what's on them. Everything else about the account, from boom trucks to limits, is on our page for roofing company fleet insurance.
Have the trailer list in hand and start a quote for your trucks and dump trailers.
Behind a roofer's own truck, a rented dump trailer usually takes its liability from the towing unit. Damage to the trailer itself depends on the rental agreement and on whether the policy includes hired auto physical damage.
A dump trailer bought midyear often never reaches a roofing company's schedule. If it's stolen from a customer's curb between tear-off days, the auto policy may have no value on file to pay for it.
A windshield cracked by shingles off an untarped trailer looks minor on its own. Several of them on a roofer's loss runs tend to read as a pattern, and underwriters can weigh that pattern as heavily as one serious crash.
Once a roofing truck hauls another contractor's tear-off or a supplier's deliveries for pay, it's generally treated as a for-hire truck. Those are rated and filed differently and sit outside our program, so mention it before taking that first paid load.
Official resources
Requirements change without notice. Confirm what applies to your fleet with the agency before relying on it.
A distributor's route sheet can answer most underwriting questions. Here's how to insure the delivery trucks, the route and the customers' cargo on board.
Read the guideA chip truck and its tow-behind chipper are usually insured differently on the road and at the curb. Here's how tree services schedule both and close the gaps.
Read the guideChlorine, acid and tablets ride on most pool route trucks. Here's what that means for auto coverage, spill cleanup and truck fires, with a storage checklist.
Read the guidePesticide and product on a pest control truck shape what underwriters ask and which losses auto insurance is likely to pay. Here's how to answer, with a checklist.
Read the guideLandscaping trailers and the equipment on them are usually insured on different policies. Here's how to schedule both and what to do before a trailer gets stolen.
Read the guideA written take-home van policy is often one of the first things an HVAC underwriter asks about. Here's what it should settle, with a sample outline.
Read the guideA brewery delivering its own kegs to bars, restaurants and distributors runs a small delivery fleet. Here's how to insure the route, the drivers and the load.
Read the guideHow a general contractor sorts auto coverage when company trucks, subcontractors' vehicles, rentals and employees' own cars all share one job site.
Read the guideTiming depends on the carriers and your loss history.
Have ready: vehicle list with VINs, driver list, current declarations page, loss runs.
Next Level Experience. Insurance Done Right.
Fleet quotes for California businesses running up to 50 trucks and vans.