When our clients receive their annual cargo policy, it generally gets safely filed away completely unread. After all, thumbing through hundreds of pages of insurance verbiage isn’t exactly the most enthralling task as a business owner. Clients more often prefer to trust their agents to choose the correct cargo policy to meet their trucking business needs. And while our expert agents strive to provide the most complete coverage, clients should have an understanding that each cargo policy is often drastically different from the next. Being familiar with policy exclusions can be extremely helpful for the policy owner, as needs and operations may change throughout the life of their policy.
Each insurance company reserves the right to create their own version of a cargo policy. Each policy contains its own general set of unique exclusions and enhancements that should always be taken into account when choosing a policy to suit your trucking business. For example, commonly excluded or items in cargo insurance policies include: alcohol, tobacco, silk, jewelry, electronics, seafood, eggs, frozen foods, and flowers. Cargo policies also often exclude losses arising from particular situations, such as mechanical breakdown of a refrigeration unit, rust, or wetness. And often, there are exclusions for certain niche cargo such as autos, boats, yachts, used household goods, motor homes and livestock.
Other common differences in cargo coverage includes a co-insurance clause, (a penalization for under-valuing cargo), no coverage for newly acquired or substitution vehicles and no cargo coverage if the cargo is loaded on a trailer that is not attached to an insured vehicle at the time of loss.
Our clients should also consider additional expenses that some insurance companies will provide, above and beyond the general loss of cargo. Some examples include pollutant clean-up, payments to help reduce the loss, expenses for freight re-loading, debris clean-up, and earned freight reimbursement (reimbursement for the miles you would have invoiced from the point of pick up to the point of loss, that your client will most likely not be paying for.)
With so much information and individual considerations, our agents work tirelessly to ensure proper coverage for our clients. However, client education is equally important.
Should any questions arise; review your policy and limits, and then feel free to call our office for a no obligation quote at 1-800-266-8789, and our agents and customer service team will be happy to help you.
