Auto liability and motor truck cargo are two different policies that answer two different questions. Liability answers for what the truck does to other people and their property. Cargo answers for what happens to the freight in the trailer. The federal financial-responsibility minimums in 49 CFR § 387.9 are about the first; a shipper’s cargo requirement is about the second, and a carrier needs both to take a load.
Auto liability
Primary auto liability is the coverage the federal filing describes. For a for-hire carrier hauling nonhazardous property in a vehicle of 10,001 lbs GVWR or more in interstate commerce, the floor is $750,000, as read on the eCFR on September 15, 2026. It pays when the truck injures someone or damages their property, and it pays the defense. It does not pay for the truck itself, which is physical damage, and it does not pay for the freight.
Motor truck cargo
Cargo coverage pays for the goods you are hauling when they are damaged, lost or stolen while in your care, subject to the policy’s limit, its deductible and its exclusions. Some commodities are excluded or sub-limited by default and have to be added by name. The limit a shipper or broker asks for is written into the contract or the broker-carrier agreement, and it has nothing to do with the federal liability floor.
Physical damage and the rest
A complete program usually also carries physical damage on the tractor and trailer, general liability for the business, and for leased owner-operators, non-trucking liability for the time the truck is not under dispatch. Trailer interchange covers a trailer you pull under an interchange agreement but do not own. Which of these a carrier needs depends on the authority, the lease, and what the contracts say.
What to read before the quote
Bring the contracts. The broker-carrier agreement and the shipper’s requirements say what limits and what endorsements they expect, and the policy is built to those, not to the minimum. Metro Risk Management Group writes trucking programs from Smyrna and Atlanta.