TCP insurance requirements in California

The Commission does not accept your certificate of insurance. It accepts a filing made by the insurer, on the Commission's forms, that promises the policy meets the minimums and that the Commission will be told before it cancels. If that filing is missing, rejected, or cancelled, the authority is suspended automatically under General Order 115. Everything below follows from that.

Liability minimums

The minimum combined single limit depends on the seating capacity of the largest vehicle on your equipment list, not on what you usually drive:

• Up to 7 passengers (a sedan or SUV): $750,000.
• 8 to 15 passengers (vans, small sprinters): $1,500,000.
• 16 or more passengers (large sprinters, minibuses, coaches): $5,000,000.

What the insurer must file

• The Commission's certificate form for the liability policy, submitted by the insurer or its filing service, not by you.
• Notice of cancellation: the insurer agrees to tell the Commission before the policy lapses, which is why a missed premium shows up as a suspension weeks later.
• Ask your broker for the filing confirmation and the date it was accepted. A certificate of insurance addressed to you is not evidence of a filing.

Non-admitted carriers

Many small operators end up with a surplus-lines (non-admitted) insurer because admitted carriers have pulled out of livery risk. That is allowed, but the filing still has to be made and the policy still has to meet the minimums. Expect a minimum earned premium, premium financing at a real interest rate, and exclusions you should read, such as unlisted-driver exclusions that mean a driver who is not scheduled on the policy is not covered at all.

Workers' compensation

A workers' compensation policy must be on file, or a signed declaration that you have no employees. The State Fund will write it when nobody else will. Two traps: an audit that estimates payroll far above reality and bills accordingly, and a lapse that suspends the authority even though liability is perfectly in order. Treat the workers' comp expiry as its own deadline.

Physical damage and the lender

The Commission does not require collision coverage. Your lender does, and a livery policy that is liability-only will not satisfy a lien. Keep that separate from the CPUC question so that the two do not get confused at renewal time.

Dates to track

• Liability policy expiry, and 30 days before it, confirmation from the broker that the renewal filing is scheduled.
• Workers' compensation expiry.
• Any premium finance payment date. A missed installment cancels the policy, and the cancellation reaches the Commission.
• Every equipment list change. Adding a larger vehicle can raise the minimum the same day.