The number Jerry Kocan of Four Star Freightliner gave was jaw-dropping.

His insurance premiums on umbrella and property insurance increased by 80-90% over the last five years. He didn’t file a single claim.

“I don’t understand,” he says. “They can’t be basing it on experience. I don’t know where it’s coming from.”

Part of it could be Kocan’s locations in the southeast, which have been hammered by hurricanes this year. I should know, I live in the same town as one of his locations, Tallahassee, Fla. Hurricane Helene’s eye passed just a few miles east of my house and a handful more from Four Star when it made landfall in September. While we were both lucky and sustained no real damage, others in our area weren’t so fortunate. The same insurance companies that insure Jerry and I pay out on our neighbors’ claims, and everyone’s rates go up.

But there’s more to it. It’s not just us here in Florida.

Louisiana, another Gulf Coast state, is seeing it too. But there, it has to do more with another factor in everyone’s rising rates: Nuclear verdicts and state law.

Renee Amar, executive director of the Louisiana Motor Transport Association, says she attributes the hikes to “jackpot justice.”

Injury attorneys see trucking companies — and really, anyone that touches a truck — as a deep pocket.

“I think it’s the culture in the state at this point,” she says. “When you have that kind of culture, where people are willing to slam into an 18-wheeler to get a paycheck, that’s scary.”

[RELATED: Wabash’s nuclear verdict exposes fleets to equipment liability issues]

Beyond Louisiana’s reputation for smash-and-sue schemes, there’s also the huge verdicts rendered recently in cases involving trucks. Wabash was recently hit with a $462 million verdict in a case where a jury determined the underride guard on a trailer was liable in the deaths of two men, despite meeting safety standards when it was manufactured.

While dealers weren’t a part of this case and haven’t been in others, yet, the potential is certainly there.

What dealers are liable for right now is the increased repair costs when accidents happen. Loretta Worters, vice president of media relations at the Insurance Information Institute (III), says the jump in repair costs is a result of accidents, increased litigation costs, increased operational costs, inflation and more expensive technology on the truck itself.

“Accidents are more costly and common, and the number of verdicts over $10 million has nearly doubled,” Worters says.

In other words, accidents happen. As many hours and miles as trucks and drivers rack up, it’s not surprising. Several things happen as a result of those accidents. First, the truck must be repaired. It’s more expensive these days, as trucks are more technologically advanced, in many ways to help prevent some of these accidents. Then, there’s the potential for litigation, which drives up everyone’s costs.

Worters says a recent study by III found attorney representation in commercial vehicle claims drove a 21% increase in allocated loss adjustment expenses (ALAE) and a 19.1% increase in total loss and ALAE.

From 2014-2019, when economic inflation was fairly stable, verdicts ballooned by $21 billion, suggesting the increase is due to social inflation. That’s excessive inflation in claims caused by policyholder or plaintiff attorney practices that increase costs and time required to settle insurance claims to the detriment of customers, Worters says. From 2010-2018, the average size of commercial trucking verdict awards grew 33% per year. Overall inflation during the same time frame was a scant 1.7%, Worters says.

The costs of these verdicts, much like in the case of Helene, spreads to the neighbors, hitting dealers where it hurts.