• By admin  20 Feb, 2026

How Your CSA Score Affects Trucking Insurance Premiums

How Your CSA Score Affects Trucking Insurance Premiums

A complete guide for carriers and owner-operators on understanding, monitoring and improving your FMCSA CSA score to protect your insurance rates

OLPolicy  |  (866) 757-5350  |  Last Updated: 2024  |  Reading Time: ~20 min

Most trucking operators know that their driving record affects their insurance rates. Fewer understand how deeply the FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program – commonly called CSA – extends that principle beyond individual driving incidents to encompass the entire safety culture of their operation.

Your CSA score is not just a government compliance metric. It is a publicly accessible data set that insurance underwriters review as a standard part of evaluating any motor carrier. A carrier with deteriorating CSA scores is, in the eyes of an underwriter, a carrier with increasing accident probability – and that probability gets priced into your premium whether you have filed a claim or not.

Understanding how CSA scores are calculated, which categories carry the most weight with insurers, how score problems translate into premium increases and what you can do to improve your profile is one of the highest-value insurance management activities available to any trucking operation. This guide covers all of it. For a direct assessment of how your current CSA scores are affecting your insurance options, call OLPolicy at (866) 757-5350.

What Is the CSA Program?

Overview and Purpose

The Compliance, Safety, Accountability program is the FMCSA’s primary safety measurement and enforcement framework for commercial motor carriers. Launched in 2010, CSA replaced the earlier SafeStat system with a more granular, data-driven approach to identifying carriers with safety performance problems before those problems result in fatal accidents.

The core idea behind CSA is straightforward: the FMCSA has limited enforcement resources and it needs to direct those resources toward carriers most likely to be involved in serious crashes. CSA creates a ranked, data-driven prioritization system that allows the FMCSA to identify and target those carriers for investigation, audit and enforcement action. As a byproduct of that system, it also creates a publicly visible safety record for every carrier that the rest of the freight ecosystem – shippers, brokers and insurers – can access and act on.

The Safety Measurement System (SMS)

The operational engine of CSA is the Safety Measurement System or SMS. The SMS aggregates data from three primary sources and uses it to generate percentile-ranked scores for every motor carrier with sufficient data:

•       Roadside inspection results: Violations identified during roadside inspections conducted by state and federal enforcement officers under the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) inspection protocols
•       Crash data: Reportable crashes involving the carrier’s vehicles, as recorded in the FMCSA‘s Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS)
•       Investigation findings: Results from FMCSA compliance reviews and investigations

This data is organized into seven categories called BASICs – Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories – each of which measures a distinct dimension of safety performance. Carriers are scored within each BASIC relative to other carriers with similar numbers of inspections, using a percentile ranking system where higher percentile scores indicate worse performance relative to peers.

Who Can See Your CSA Scores

This is the aspect of CSA that most directly affects your insurance: the data is public. The FMCSA’s SMS website (ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SMS) allows anyone – including insurance underwriters – to look up any carrier’s BASIC scores, inspection history, violation details and crash data. Shippers and freight brokers routinely use this data to qualify carriers. And insurance underwriters use it as a standard component of their risk assessment process for every commercial trucking account they evaluate.

Unlike your personal credit score, you do not need to authorize anyone to check your CSA scores. Any underwriter writing a quote for your operation has almost certainly already reviewed your SMS profile before presenting that number to you.

The Seven BASIC Categories Explained

Understanding each BASIC – what it measures, how it is weighted and which violations feed into it – is essential context for understanding how your CSA profile is constructed and where improvement efforts will have the most impact.

How Violations Are Weighted Within Each BASIC

Not all violations within a BASIC carry the same weight. The SMS assigns severity weights to each violation type on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 represents the most severe violations – those most directly associated with crash risk. These severity weights multiply the time-weight of the violation (recent violations count more than older ones) to produce the violation’s total contribution to your BASIC score.

Time Weighting: When Violations Age Off

CSA violations do not carry equal weight throughout their lifespan. The SMS applies a time weight multiplier that makes recent violations count more heavily than older ones:

•       Violations within the past 6 months: Time weight of 3x (full weight)
•       Violations 6 to 12 months old: Time weight of 2x
•       Violations 12 to 24 months old: Time weight of 1x
•       Violations older than 24 months: Drop off the SMS entirely

This time-weighting structure has two practical implications. First, a cluster of recent violations has an outsized impact compared to the same violations spread over two years. Second, if you have a period of elevated violations in your history, the full weight of those violations begins declining at six months and continues to decay until they fall off at 24 months. Consistent clean operation during that period accelerates the practical impact of the time decay.

BASIC Alert Thresholds and What They Mean

The FMCSA uses percentile thresholds within each BASIC to identify carriers that warrant intervention. When a carrier’s percentile score exceeds the threshold for their peer group, the BASIC is flagged with an alert – a publicly visible indicator that the carrier’s performance in that area is significantly worse than comparable carriers.

Current Alert Thresholds by BASIC

A carrier in the 65th percentile for Unsafe Driving is performing worse than 65 percent of comparable carriers in that category. This is the threshold at which the FMCSA flags the BASIC for potential intervention – and the same threshold at which many insurance underwriters begin applying premium adjustments.

What an Alert Actually Triggers

A BASIC alert does not automatically result in an FMCSA enforcement action, but it does trigger a series of escalating consequences depending on the number and severity of alerts:

•       Single BASIC alert: Carrier appears on FMCSA’s priority list for potential contact and monitoring. May receive a warning letter. Insurance underwriters note the alert.
•       Multiple BASIC alerts: Carrier is prioritized for compliance review or roadside investigation. Freight brokers and shippers may restrict or terminate carrier relationships. Insurance market access begins to narrow.
•       Out-of-service orders: If an investigation reveals safety violations, the FMCSA can issue an out-of-service order that prohibits the carrier from operating until corrective action is verified. Operating authority can be suspended or revoked.
•       Unsatisfactory safety rating: The most severe outcome of an FMCSA compliance review. An unsatisfactory rating must be corrected within 45 to 60 days or the carrier’s operating authority is revoked.

How Insurance Underwriters Use CSA Scores?

Insurance underwriters for commercial trucking accounts review CSA data as a routine part of every account evaluation – new business, renewals and mid-term audits for larger accounts. Understanding exactly how underwriters use this data helps you anticipate how your profile will be received across different market segments.

The Underwriting Review Process

When an underwriter receives a new submission or renewal for a commercial trucking account, one of the first steps is pulling the carrier’s SMS profile from the FMCSA database. This review typically includes:

•       Current BASIC percentile scores across all seven categories
•       Number of active alerts and which categories are flagged
•       Inspection history: total inspections, out-of-service rate and the specific violations driving high BASIC scores
•       Crash indicator data: number, type and severity of reportable crashes in the 24-month window
•       Trend analysis: whether scores are improving, stable or deteriorating from one review period to the next

This review happens before the underwriter looks at your application narrative, your loss runs or your premium history. In many cases, a problematic CSA profile will result in a declination or referral to a higher-risk market before the rest of your application is evaluated in detail.

Which BASIC Categories Matter Most to Underwriters?

While underwriters review all seven BASICs, they weight them differently based on their predictive relationship to claims. Research by insurance actuaries has identified the BASICs with the strongest statistical correlation to future claim frequency and severity:

CSA Scores vs. Loss Runs: How They Interact

CSA scores and loss runs are separate but complementary data sources that underwriters use together. Loss runs show you what has already happened – claims that have been filed and paid. CSA scores show the conditions that make future claims more or less likely.

A carrier with a clean loss run but deteriorating CSA scores is a carrier whose claim-free history may be about to change. Underwriters recognize this pattern and will typically apply forward-looking adjustments to accounts with improving CSA scores differently than those with worsening scores, even when the loss runs look similar on the surface.

Conversely, a carrier with adverse loss history but genuinely improving CSA scores – demonstrated by declining percentile rankings across key BASICs – has a credible case to make to underwriters that the conditions leading to prior claims have been addressed. This narrative matters and it can influence both market access and premium level when presented effectively by an experienced broker.

How Insurers Quantify the Premium Impact

Different insurers use different methodologies for translating CSA scores into premium adjustments and not all insurers are transparent about the specific formulas they use. However, the general framework is consistent across most standard market carriers:

How to Monitor Your CSA Score

One of the most important and most neglected aspects of CSA management is simply staying current on what your scores actually are. Many carriers only discover they have a CSA problem when their insurer declines to renew their policy or presents a dramatically higher renewal premium. By that point, the underlying violations may be months old and the damage to the score already done. Proactive monitoring gives you the ability to respond to score changes before they affect your insurance.

Accessing Your SMS Data

The primary tool for monitoring your CSA scores is the FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System website at ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SMS. The public portal shows:

•       Your current BASIC percentile scores for all categories with sufficient data
•       Which BASICs, if any, are currently flagged with alerts
•       Your inspection history for the past 24 months
•       The specific violations recorded at each inspection
•       Your crash data for the past 24 months

Carriers can also register for the FMCSA Portal at portal.fmcsa.dot.gov, which provides access to more detailed data including the full narrative of violation descriptions and the ability to submit data quality challenges (discussed below). Portal registration requires your USDOT number and a PIN.

How Often to Check Your Scores

For owner-operators and small carriers, checking your SMS profile monthly is a reasonable cadence. For larger fleets with more drivers and more inspections, weekly monitoring may be appropriate. The key trigger events that should prompt an immediate check are:

•       Any roadside inspection, regardless of outcome – even a clean inspection changes your inspection count denominator
•       Any reportable crash involving one of your vehicles
•       Any FMCSA warning letter or notification received by mail
•       Any insurance renewal quote that is significantly higher than the prior year without an obvious explanation
•       Any change in your freight broker or shipper relationships that seems inexplicable

Setting Up SMS Alerts

Carriers registered in the FMCSA Portal can set up automated notifications that alert them when their SMS scores change or when new violations are added to their record. This is one of the most useful and underutilized tools in CSA management. An automated alert the day after a roadside inspection is recorded gives you immediate visibility into what violations were cited and allows you to begin the data quality challenge process immediately if the violation is inaccurate.

Challenging Inaccurate CSA Data

The CSA system depends on the accuracy of the violation and crash data that feeds into it. That data is entered by enforcement officers in the field and data entry errors – incorrect violation codes, wrong carrier assignments, misidentified vehicles and factual errors in crash reports – occur regularly. The FMCSA’s DataQs system exists specifically to allow carriers and drivers to challenge data they believe is inaccurate.

What Can Be Challenged

Not every negative piece of CSA data is challengeable, but the following types of errors are legitimate grounds for a DataQs challenge:

•       Incorrect violation code: The officer cited the wrong regulation number or the violation description does not accurately describe what was found
•       Violation attributed to the wrong carrier: The inspection record identifies your DOT number but the vehicle was operated by a different carrier
•       Inspection on a vehicle not in your fleet: Data entry error linking an inspection to your record that belongs to a different carrier
•       Crash recorded under wrong carrier: A crash report that incorrectly assigns your carrier as the carrier of record
•       Crash coded as preventable when determined to be non-preventable: If an independent review determined the crash was not preventable, the coding can be challenged
•       Duplicate inspection record: The same inspection appears more than once in your data

What Cannot Be Challenged

DataQs is a data accuracy tool, not an appeals process for legitimate violations. The following cannot be successfully challenged:

•       Violations that were accurately issued and properly coded, even if you disagree with the officer’s judgment
•       Crashes that were correctly attributed to your carrier, even if you believe the crash was non-preventable
•       Violations that were resolved through citation payment or adjudication – the fact that a violation occurred is the data point, not the outcome

How to File a DataQs Challenge

1.   Access the DataQs system at dataqs.fmcsa.dot.gov
2.   Register for an account using your USDOT number and carrier information
3.   Locate the specific inspection record or crash report you wish to challenge
4.   Submit your challenge with supporting documentation – this can include the original inspection report, vehicle maintenance records, employment records showing the driver was not in your fleet or other evidence supporting the correction
5.   The state agency responsible for the original data entry reviews the challenge and responds, typically within 30 to 60 days
6.   If the state upholds the data, you can request a federal review through the FMCSA

Successful DataQs challenges that result in violation corrections or removals are reflected in your SMS scores within the next monthly data update. For violations that are pushing you toward or beyond a BASIC alert threshold, a successful challenge can produce immediate, meaningful score improvement.

How to Improve Your CSA Score?

CSA score improvement is not a quick fix. The 24-month rolling window means that the full impact of poor performance takes time to clear and genuinely improving scores requires sustained operational changes rather than one-time corrections. The following strategies are the most reliable and impactful for carriers committed to CSA improvement.

Identify Your Highest-Impact Violation Categories

Before investing in broad safety improvements, identify which BASICs are driving your score problems and which specific violations within those BASICs are contributing most heavily. Your SMS profile shows the individual violations behind each BASIC score. Ranking those violations by their severity weight and frequency tells you exactly where to focus.

A carrier with a high Vehicle Maintenance BASIC score driven primarily by brake adjustment violations has a very specific, tractable problem: pre-trip inspection procedures and maintenance scheduling. A carrier with a high Unsafe Driving BASIC driven by speeding violations has a driver behavior problem that requires a different intervention. Knowing the specific root cause is the prerequisite for effective remediation.

Address Driver Behavior Directly

The Unsafe Driving and HOS Compliance BASICs – the two with the lowest alert thresholds and the highest insurance weight – are primarily driver behavior issues. The most effective interventions for these categories are:

•       In-cab camera systems (dashcams): Front-facing and in-cab cameras create accountability for driving behavior and provide objective evidence for training conversations. Carriers that implement dashcam programs consistently see reductions in hard braking, speeding and following-too-close violations within the first months of deployment.
•       Electronic logging devices (ELDs): Already federally required for most carriers, ELDs eliminate logbook falsification violations and provide objective HOS compliance documentation. Ensuring your ELD system is properly configured and that drivers are trained on its use eliminates the most common HOS compliance violations.
•       Speed management policies: Establishing and enforcing a company speed policy – typically 65 mph or below in compliance with all posted limits – and monitoring compliance through GPS telematics data reduces speeding violations, which are among the highest-frequency violations in the Unsafe Driving BASIC.
•       Driver coaching programs: Regular, data-driven coaching conversations with drivers based on their individual violation history are more effective than generic safety training. Drivers who receive specific, behavioral feedback on their own performance improve more reliably than those who receive only general safety instruction.

Implement a Pre-Trip Inspection Culture

The Vehicle Maintenance BASIC is almost entirely preventable through rigorous pre-trip and post-trip inspection practices. Brake adjustment violations – the most common equipment violation in commercial trucking – are detectable during a thorough pre-trip inspection. Tire condition, lighting and coupling equipment issues are all identifiable before departure with a properly conducted inspection.

The FMCSA requires documented pre-trip and post-trip inspections. Many carriers complete these inspections as a compliance exercise rather than a genuine safety check. Carriers that treat pre-trip inspections as a serious operational control – with driver accountability for thorough completion and supervisor review of inspection reports – consistently maintain lower Vehicle Maintenance BASIC scores than those that treat inspections as paperwork.

Establish a Structured Maintenance Program

Beyond pre-trip inspections, a systematic preventive maintenance schedule that addresses brake adjustments, tire rotations, lighting system checks and coupling inspections at regular intervals prevents the equipment deficiencies that generate Vehicle Maintenance violations. Carriers with documented, regularly audited maintenance programs present a stronger case to underwriters than carriers who rely on reactive maintenance.

Maintenance records are also valuable documentation in DataQs challenges. If a violation is issued for a brake adjustment deficiency and your maintenance records show a brake service within the prior week, that documentation supports a challenge to the violation’s accuracy.

Selective Load and Lane Choices

Roadside inspection frequency is not uniform across all routes and all states. Some states conduct substantially more inspections than others and certain locations – weigh stations, state border crossings and specific enforcement corridors – generate disproportionate inspection volume. Carriers with CSA score problems can reduce their inspection exposure while improving their underlying compliance by being strategic about the routes and loads they accept during a recovery period.

This is not a long-term strategy – avoiding inspections without improving underlying compliance simply delays the inevitable. But for carriers working to clean up their scores, reducing inspection frequency while simultaneously improving compliance gives the time-weighting mechanism more time to work in their favor.

Monitor the Impact of Your Improvements

CSA scores update monthly in the SMS. As you implement improvements, track your percentile scores monthly to confirm that they are moving in the right direction. Look for reductions in your percentile rankings across the target BASICs, watch for violations to age from the 6-month to 12-month tier (reducing their time weight from 3x to 2x) and set specific score targets tied to insurance threshold levels.

Communicating documented score improvements to your insurer – through your broker – at renewal time is an important step that many carriers skip. A carrier that can present a chart showing its BASIC scores declining over the past 12 months, alongside a narrative explaining the specific operational changes that drove the improvement, gives an underwriter a credible basis for recognizing that improvement in the renewal rate.

CSA Scores and Insurance Market Access

Beyond the premium surcharges associated with high CSA scores, there is a less-discussed but equally important consequence: market access. Different market segments have different tolerance levels for CSA risk and understanding where you stand in the market helps you set realistic expectations and work effectively with your broker.

Standard Market Carriers

Standard (admitted) market trucking insurers – the large, well-known carriers that write the majority of commercial trucking policies – apply the most conservative CSA underwriting guidelines. Most have internal thresholds that trigger either declination or mandatory referral to a higher-level underwriting review when BASIC scores exceed specific percentiles. Many standard carriers will decline to quote accounts with two or more BASIC alerts regardless of loss history.

The benefit of standard market placement is competitive pricing, broad coverage terms and state guaranty fund protection. Maintaining the CSA profile required to qualify for standard market placement is a direct insurance cost management strategy.

Non-Standard and Excess & Surplus Lines Markets

The non-standard and surplus lines markets – which write higher-risk trucking accounts that standard carriers decline – have more flexible underwriting guidelines for CSA issues, but they extract a price for that flexibility in the form of higher premiums, more restrictive coverage terms and less rate regulation.

For carriers with CSA alerts, surplus lines markets are often the only viable option. This is not a permanent condition – consistent CSA improvement over 12 to 24 months can reopen standard market access – but it is a real cost that compounds with other risk factors already present in higher-risk accounts.

Specialty and Captive Programs

Some carrier associations and trucking organizations have established group insurance programs with specialty insurers who have calibrated their underwriting guidelines specifically for the member population. These programs can sometimes provide more favorable rates for carriers with moderate CSA issues than the open surplus lines market, because the insurer has detailed knowledge of the risk pool and can spread that risk across a large, similar group of carriers.

OLPolicy maintains relationships with multiple specialty programs and can evaluate whether any of them represent a better option than the open market for your specific profile. Call (866) 757-5350 to discuss.

CSA Scores for Owner-Operators

The CSA framework applies differently to owner-operators depending on their operating structure. Understanding which CSA data applies to you – and which applies to the carrier you work with – is important context for managing your own profile.

Owner-Operators on Their Own Authority

An owner-operator running under their own MC number has their own USDOT number and generates their own CSA data. Every roadside inspection, every violation and every reportable crash feeds into their carrier CSA profile. Their BASIC scores are their own and insurance underwriters evaluate them the same way they evaluate any other motor carrier’s CSA profile.

For independent authority owner-operators, all of the CSA monitoring and improvement strategies described in this guide apply directly. Your CSA profile is visible to every insurer you approach and it directly affects both your market access and your premium.

Owner-Operators Leased to a Carrier

An owner-operator leased to a carrier operates under the carrier’s authority and USDOT number. Roadside inspections during this period are recorded under the carrier’s CSA profile, not the owner-operator’s personal profile. This means that a leased owner-operator does not build their own CSA history during the leased period – for better or worse.

The practical implication is that when a leased owner-operator eventually applies for their own authority, they may have limited or no CSA history under their own USDOT number, which is evaluated differently than a carrier with a documented history of clean inspections. Underwriters may treat the absence of a CSA record similarly to how they treat a new operator – as an unknown risk rather than a demonstrated safe operator.

Driver-specific violation data is tracked separately in the FMCSA’s Driver Information Resource (DIR), which records CSA data at the driver level. This data informs carrier safety management but is not directly used by insurance underwriters in the same way carrier-level BASIC scores are.

How a Carrier’s CSA Score Affects Leased Owner-Operators

Owner-operators leased to a carrier with poor CSA scores face indirect insurance consequences. When a carrier’s scores deteriorate significantly, freight brokers may restrict their loads, reducing the owner-operator’s income. More directly, if the carrier loses their operating authority due to CSA enforcement, the leased owner-operator immediately loses their ability to haul freight under that authority.

Before signing a lease agreement, reviewing the carrier’s CSA scores at ai.fmcsa.dot.gov takes less than five minutes and provides meaningful insight into the carrier’s safety culture and regulatory standing. A carrier with multiple BASIC alerts should be a factor in your evaluation alongside compensation rates and load access.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do insurance companies actually check CSA scores?

Yes, consistently and as a standard part of every underwriting review. The FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System is publicly accessible and commercial trucking underwriters review it as a routine step in evaluating any new or renewal trucking account. Your BASIC scores, inspection history, specific violations and crash data are all visible before an underwriter ever speaks with you or your broker. Assuming your CSA scores are not being reviewed is one of the most common and costly misconceptions among trucking operators approaching the insurance market.

How much can a bad CSA score raise my insurance premium?

The premium impact of a poor CSA profile ranges from modest surcharges for a single non-critical alert to dramatic increases for carriers with multiple alerts or an unsatisfactory safety rating. A single alert in a lower-weight BASIC such as Driver Fitness might add 5 to 15 percent to your baseline premium. Two or more alerts, particularly in Unsafe Driving or the Crash Indicator, can add 30 to 60 percent or more. In the most severe cases – multiple alerts, an unsatisfactory safety rating or an active out-of-service order – some carriers will decline to quote entirely and the available market may charge two to three times the baseline rate. The exact impact depends on your loss history, carrier market and which BASICs are flagged.

How long does it take for a CSA violation to come off my record?

CSA violations drop off the SMS after 24 months. However, the time-weighting system means their impact begins declining well before that: a violation that occurred seven months ago carries only two-thirds the weight it did in the first six months and a violation that occurred 13 months ago carries only one-third the weight of a recent violation. The practical effect is that the score impact of a violation declines gradually over two years rather than dropping off all at once. Insurance underwriters who review SMS data monthly will see this gradual improvement reflected in your percentile scores over time.

Can I dispute a CSA violation I think is wrong?

Yes. The FMCSA’s DataQs system at dataqs.fmcsa.dot.gov allows carriers to challenge violation data they believe contains errors – incorrect violation codes, misattributed inspections or crash data incorrectly linked to their carrier record. DataQs is a data accuracy process, not an appeals mechanism for accurately recorded violations. Successful challenges result in corrections that are reflected in the next monthly SMS data update. Carriers should file DataQs challenges promptly – within 60 to 90 days of the inspection – while supporting documentation is easiest to obtain.

Will improving my CSA score lower my insurance premium?

Yes, over time. Demonstrated, sustained CSA improvement – measured by declining percentile scores across key BASICs – opens access to more competitive insurance markets and supports premium reduction requests at renewal. The most direct path to lower premiums through CSA improvement is maintaining clean inspections for 12 to 24 months, which causes older violations to age off and drives percentile scores below alert thresholds. At that point, standard market access reopens and competitive shopping becomes most effective. Communicating documented improvement to your insurer through your broker at renewal time accelerates the recognition of that improvement in your rate.

Does my personal driving record affect my CSA score?

Not directly. CSA scores are carrier-level metrics measured at the USDOT number level, not individual driver records. Your personal MVR is a separate data source that insurance underwriters evaluate alongside your carrier CSA profile, particularly for owner-operators where the carrier and the driver are the same person. A clean personal MVR combined with a clean CSA profile presents the strongest possible risk profile to underwriters. Personal driving violations can still affect your insurance rate even if they do not appear in your BASIC scores.

What is a good CSA score?

In the CSA system, lower percentile scores are better – a percentile of 20 means you are performing better than 80 percent of comparable carriers in that category. The alert thresholds are 65th percentile for Unsafe Driving, HOS Compliance and Crash Indicator and 80th percentile for the other BASICs. For insurance purposes, staying well below these thresholds – ideally below the 50th percentile in all BASICs – minimizes the premium impact of CSA data and maintains access to the broadest range of insurance markets. Carriers below the 30th percentile in all BASICs are typically viewed favorably by underwriters and may qualify for safety performance credits from some carriers.

Conclusion: CSA Score Management Is Insurance Cost Management

The connection between your CSA scores and your insurance premiums is direct, quantifiable and often underestimated by operators who focus only on claims history when thinking about their insurance costs. Every roadside inspection, every violation and every driver behavior incident that feeds into your BASIC scores is simultaneously a safety event and an insurance cost event.

The carriers that manage their insurance costs most effectively over the long term are not simply the ones that avoid claims – they are the ones that manage their entire safety profile proactively, understand what underwriters see when they review their account and approach each renewal from a position of documented, improving performance rather than hoping that nothing bad has happened in the past year.

Monitoring your CSA scores monthly, challenging inaccurate data promptly, investing in driver behavior technology and maintaining rigorous maintenance practices are not separate activities from managing your insurance cost. They are the same activity, viewed from different angles. OLPolicy helps operators at every stage of this process – from understanding how current scores affect available options to presenting documented improvement to underwriters at renewal time.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, regulatory or insurance advice. CSA thresholds, SMS methodologies and FMCSA enforcement procedures are subject to change. Always consult the current FMCSA resources at fmcsa.dot.gov and a licensed commercial insurance professional for advice specific to your operation. OLPolicy is a licensed insurance agency.