Trucking downtime claims: how to prove what a truck lost while it sat

When another driver hits your truck, the repair is only part of the cost. The truck sits in a shop for days or weeks, the loads it would have hauled go to someone else, and the payment, insurance and driver costs keep coming. A downtime claim, also called loss of use, asks the at-fault party's insurer to pay for that lost income.

These claims are paid on evidence. A carrier that can show what that specific truck earned, week by week, before the crash is in a much stronger position than one that offers an estimate.

Not legal advice. Loss-of-use rules vary by state and by policy. Talk to an attorney for large or disputed claims.

The calculation, in one card

Downtime claim (EXAMPLE)

EXAMPLE

Unit 102, 53 ft dry van, hit while parked

1DAYS OUT OF SERVICE

18 days (shop in Mar 3, out Mar 21)

2AVERAGE WEEKLY REVENUE, PRIOR 12 WEEKS

$6,300

3AVERAGE DAILY REVENUE

$900 (6,300 / 7)

4COSTS NOT INCURRED WHILE DOWN (FUEL, TOLLS, VARIABLE DRIVER PAY)

$420 per day

5PROVEN NET DAILY EARNINGS

$480 per day

totalCLAIMED LOSS OF USE

18 x $480 = $8,640

What a downtime claim can cover

Depending on state law and the policy, a loss-of-use claim may cover:

• Lost net income for the days the truck was reasonably out of service.
• Rental or replacement cost for a substitute truck, as an alternative to lost income for the same days.
• Costs you kept paying while the truck sat, in some cases, such as a driver you kept on payroll.

It usually doesn't cover income you can't prove, delays you caused, or days after the truck could reasonably have been repaired or replaced. Expect the insurer to look closely at both the daily amount and the number of days.

The documentation checklist

About the crash

• Police report number and copy.
• Photos of the scene and damage.
• The other party's insurance details and claim number.
• Your driver's statement, written the same day.

About the downtime

• Tow and storage receipts.
• Repair shop records with the date in, date out and reasons for any delay (such as parts on backorder).
• Your notes on efforts to speed repairs or find a replacement.
• Rental agreement and invoices if you rented a replacement.

About the lost income

• Invoices and rate confirmations for that truck for at least the prior 12 weeks, often longer.
• Settlement sheets for the driver or owner-operator.
• Operating costs for that truck: fuel, tolls, variable pay and other costs per mile.
• Loads you were offered and couldn't take while it was down, with dates and rates.
• Any dedicated or contract freight the truck would have hauled.

Maintenance and repair records are records you keep anyway under federal rules 49 CFR 396.3Maintenance records retentionKept 1 year where the vehicle is housed or maintained, and 6 months after it leaves your control49 CFR 396.3(c): inspection, repair and maintenance records for each vehicle controlled 30 days or more are kept where the vehicle is housed or maintained for 1 year and for 6 months after the vehicle leaves the carrier's control.49 CFR 396.3Checked Oct 2026Close; the repair file for the crash belongs in the truck's file.

Steps after the crash

1. Report it to your insurer and the other driver's insurer promptly, and get claim numbers.
2. Get the truck to a shop quickly and ask for a written estimate with expected parts and repair time.
3. Tell the other insurer in writing that you'll claim loss of use, and when the truck went out of service.
4. Track the days and every delay, with the reason.
5. Assemble the revenue history for that truck as soon as possible.
6. Submit the claim with documents attached, and follow up in writing.
7. Consider an attorney if the insurer denies or lowballs a well-documented claim, or if there were injuries.

Why net, not gross

Insurers pay for what you lost. While a truck sits, it doesn't burn fuel, pay tolls or, in many cases, pay a per-mile driver. Those costs come out of the daily figure. Fixed costs you kept paying, such as the truck payment and insurance, generally stay in. Showing your own cost per mile for that truck, broken into fuel and other variable costs, makes the net figure easy to check and harder to argue with.

Common reasons claims get reduced

• No truck-level records. Fleet totals or bank deposits without load detail are easy to challenge.
• Gross instead of net. Claiming revenue without subtracting costs you didn't pay while the truck sat.
• Unexplained delays. Weeks with no record of why the truck wasn't repaired.
• A spare truck sat idle. If you had an unused unit that could have hauled the freight, the insurer may argue the loss was avoidable.
• Short history. A truck with only a few weeks of records, or a brand-new authority, has less evidence to work with.

Leased trucks and owner-operators

When the damaged truck belongs to an owner-operator leased to your authority, who claims what depends on the lease and state law. Often the owner-operator has the loss of income on the truck, while the carrier may have its own losses such as a broken contract lane. Settle in advance, in the lease, who pursues a downtime claim and how proceeds are shared, and share the revenue history the owner-operator needs from your settlement records.

Working with the adjuster

• Put everything in writing. Phone calls are fine for questions, but send the claim, the documents and every follow-up by email or letter.
• Show your math. One page with days down, average revenue, costs not incurred and the result, with the records attached.
• Answer questions quickly with documents, not opinions.
• Ask for the basis of any reduction, in writing, and respond to each point.
• Keep copies of everything you send and receive, with dates.

When fault is disputed or the other driver is uninsured

If the other party's insurer won't accept fault, or there's no insurance, your own policy may cover the repair under physical damage coverage, and some policies include rental or downtime benefits. Check what yours includes before you need it. Your insurer may pursue the other party later to recover what it paid.

Planning ahead

The best time to prepare a downtime claim is before the crash. Keep revenue, miles and costs by truck every week; the trucking company KPI dashboard template sets that up. Keep maintenance and inspection records current per unit, with the annual inspection due date tracker for dates. And review your own physical damage and rental coverage with your agent, in case the other party is uninsured or fault is disputed.

EXAMPLE A four-truck carrier's reefer is rear-ended at a shipper's gate. The owner gives the other driver's insurer 16 weeks of invoices and settlements for that unit from the per-truck reports, a cost-per-mile summary, the shop's dated records showing a 12-day wait for a refrigeration part, and two load offers turned down during the downtime. The insurer pays the net daily figure for the full repair period.

Downtime and the cash reserve

A claim takes weeks to pay, so downtime is a cash problem first; see the fleet benchmark report for cost per mile context and trucking company shut down for how cash problems build. Rule changes can also affect equipment and records; see new trucking laws. If you're buying a carrier, ask about open claims; see buying a trucking company. For how per-truck records fit the rest of the business, see truck fleet management.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Loss-of-use rules vary by state and policy.