The insurance sector is beginning to turn its back on freight transportation in Mexico. In San Luis Potosí, this trend is already evident, according to Raúl Torres Mendoza, state president of the Mexican Alliance of Transport Organizations (AMOTAC). The reason is the increasing number of robberies, road rage, and the lack of vehicle recovery that make insuring a tractor-trailer truck a practically unviable business for companies.
“Today, very few insurers are investing in freight transportation because it’s unaffordable,” stated Torres Mendoza. And this is no exaggeration. According to the leader, a comprehensive insurance policy for a tractor-trailer can cost over 300,000 pesos annually, while the value of the vehicle is between 3.5 and 4 million pesos. Despite this high cost, companies have no guarantee of recovery in the event of total theft.
So far in 2025, at least 270 tractor-trailer thefts have been reported in San Luis Potosí, and only 10 to 12% of these units have been located. The cargo, in virtually all cases, is completely lost. Insurers, faced with this situation, have begun to close their doors to the sector.
“The insecurity is such that even if you have insurance for your truck, if you lose it within three months of purchasing it, you often don’t get paid. And if you do get paid, it comes after lengthy processes and under increasingly restrictive conditions,” said Torres Mendoza.
From the insurers’ perspective, freight transport has become a high-risk sector: expensive vehicles traveling on roads in poor condition, with little or no security in critical sections, and with a growing trend of violent assaults that, in many cases, end in the murder of the operator.
“It’s not just that your truck is stolen,” the AMOTAC representative emphasized, “it’s that the driver is also killed, your cargo is stolen, the truck disappears, and in many cases, neither the authorities nor the insurance companies respond.”
The withdrawal of insurance companies represents another blow to a sector already operating under constant pressure. Without adequate coverage, transportation companies must assume losses in the millions of dollars on their own. This not only jeopardizes their financial viability, but also raises operating costs, affects the supply chain, and increases the cost of transporting goods for the entire industry.
Furthermore, the lack of insurance exacerbates the lack of protection for operators, who travel dangerous roads daily without effective support in the event of an accident or attack. For many, risk is no longer a possibility: it’s a certainty.
Faced with this reality, AMOTAC demands not only that road violence be addressed, but also that an environment be created where insurers can once again operate under viable conditions. “We need real security. If they don’t stop truck theft, no one will want to insure our trucks. And without insurance, small businesses will go bankrupt,” warned Torres Mendoza.
Source: oem
