What is blanket BIPD insurance for motor carriers?
Blanket BIPD is a §387.9-compliant insurance policy that covers the carrier's entire fleet under a single BMC-91 filing, rather than requiring separate per-vehicle filings. Most insurance providers structure §387 coverage as blanket by default — the carrier's policy lists all covered vehicles and a single BMC-91 references the policy. Adding or removing vehicles updates the policy schedule without triggering a new BMC-91.
The 49 CFR §387 financial-responsibility framework does not require per-vehicle BMC-91 filings. The default structure is a fleet-wide BIPD policy with a single BMC-91 referencing the policy number, the insurer, and the policy effective date. The policy itself contains the schedule of covered vehicles, which the carrier updates as the fleet changes — adding new tractors, removing retired equipment, swapping owner-operator leases — without re-filing BMC-91 each time.
For owner-operators and small fleets, blanket BIPD is the standard structure because it eliminates the operational friction of per-vehicle filings. The insurance provider handles the BMC-91 once at policy inception and then maintains the carrier's coverage status throughout the policy term. Carrier-side operations need to notify the insurer of vehicle additions and removals so the policy schedule stays current, but no FMCSA-side filing is required for routine fleet changes.
Some specialty operations (oversize, hazmat with high-value loads) operate with per-vehicle policies for cost-allocation reasons — the insurer prices each vehicle separately based on the specific equipment configuration and operating profile. Even then, the BMC-91 filing typically references the master policy that covers all the per-vehicle line items, rather than requiring 50 separate BMC-91 filings for a 50-vehicle fleet.
Carriers operating mixed property/passenger authority (MC and MC-P) typically have separate BIPD policies for each authority because the §387.9 vs §387.33 minimum coverage levels differ. Each authority has its own BMC-91 referencing the relevant policy. Combined-coverage policies that wrap both into a single BMC-91 exist but are less common because the underlying §387 regulations treat property and passenger as separate financial-responsibility regimes.