Glossary

BIPD insurance (public liability)

BIPD stands for bodily injury and property damage: the public liability insurance that covers harm a carrier's operations do to other people and their property. For-hire interstate carriers must keep proof of BIPD coverage on file with FMCSA, filed directly by the insurer; without it, operating authority is not granted and does not survive.

The minimums

Federal rule (49 CFR Part 387) sets the floor by what is hauled: $750,000 for general freight in vehicles over 10,001 lbs, $1,000,000 for oil and certain hazardous materials, and $5,000,000 for the most dangerous hazmat classes. Many shippers and brokers contractually require $1,000,000 even where the federal floor is lower; the federal record shows what is filed, not what your contract demands.

Reading the filing

The insurance section of the federal record shows the insurer of record, the form type, the coverage amount, and any cancellation notice. The high-stakes states are absence and lapse: a for-hire carrier with no required liability filing on file, or one whose filing has a cancellation pending. Because a lapse triggers revocation of authority, insurance is the single most common reason carriers lose authority. fleetfax reads the filings and the cancellation ledger together so the report reflects the filing's actual state, not just its existence.

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