What You Can Carry in the Back of a Pickup, and What It Costs When It Goes Wrong

The open bed is what makes a pickup useful, and it is also the part of the vehicle with no seats, no belts and no roof. Two Vehicle Code sections govern what goes back there.

People in the bed: what Vehicle Code 23116 says

No one driving a pickup or flatbed truck on a highway may transport a person in or on the back, and no one may ride there. The rule doesn't apply when the person is secured in a restraint system that meets the federal motor vehicle safety standards for seating, seat belt assemblies and their anchorages. The other exceptions are narrow:

• a farmer's or rancher's truck used only within land the farmer or rancher owns or manages, including up to one mile of highway between parts of the property;
• transport in an emergency response by, or at the direction of, a public agency;
• a parade supervised by law enforcement, at no more than eight miles per hour.

A camper shell adds no seats or restraints, so it doesn't turn the bed into a passenger area.

What it means if someone back there is hurt

Bed riders are the most exposed people in any crash, even a minor one. If one is injured, the claim commonly runs against the truck's liability coverage, and medical payments coverage, where the policy carries it, may pay medical bills regardless of fault. How a policy treats injured passengers who are members of your own household varies by insurance company. A claim built on an unlawful arrangement is not one you want to be explaining.

Dogs in the bed: Vehicle Code 23117

An animal may not ride in the cargo area on a highway unless the space is enclosed or has side and tail racks at least 46 inches high, the vehicle has a means of preventing the animal from being thrown out, the animal is cross-tethered, or it is in a secured crate or cage. Livestock and certain ranch and farm dogs are exempt. An animal that falls or jumps out at speed can cause a crash behind you, which is a liability claim like any other.

Cargo: what Vehicle Code 23114 requires

A vehicle may not be driven on a highway unless it is constructed, covered or loaded so that nothing except clear water or feathers from live birds can drop, sift, leak, blow, spill or otherwise escape. Aggregate such as gravel, sand, dirt and asphalt has stricter rules of its own and must generally be covered.

For a pickup, the practical version is simple: a mattress, ladder or bag of yard waste that leaves the bed at freeway speed becomes road debris. Damage it does to the car behind you is commonly a property-damage liability claim against your policy, and an injury it causes is a bodily-injury claim.

What about the vehicle itself can matter

For families, cab configuration is the real decision. A crew cab carries passengers in belted seats; a regular cab with a long bed carries cargo. If you regularly carry more people than the cab seats, the honest answer is a different vehicle, not the bed. For cargo, tie-down points, a bed extender, a cargo net or a tonneau cover do more for your liability exposure than any coverage option.

Before you load up

1. Count belted seats, not people.
2. Strap long or light items at both ends; wind lifts things a single strap won't hold.
3. Net or tarp loose loads, and close the tailgate.
4. Check the truck's payload rating before carrying heavy loads.

What varies by insurance company

Whether medical payments coverage is available and at what limit, how household passengers are treated, and how equipment fixed in the bed, such as toolboxes and racks, is valued all differ between insurers. If the truck hauls for paid work, tell your insurer, because business use changes the policy you need.

Want a pickup quoted for how you actually use it? Start here and describe the hauling plainly.