Motor Truck Cargo Insurance and its Importance

Motor truck cargo insurance is a cargo insurance coverage. It provides insurance to the cargo carried by trucks or multi wheeled trailer in case these goods are damaged, stolen or lost. These goods are insured throughout the process of transportation until they reach the buyers. Truck cargo insurance is very important for the company owners or the shippers who ship their goods from one place to another or one country to another country.

Cargo insurance covers both domestic and international transit of goods. And also, it can be used for transportation through air, sea or land as well. It protects the cargo transported through water, rail, road, registered parcel or even courier. Depending on the transportation modes, cargo insurance can be classified into different classes. These are: land cargo insurance and marine cargo insurance. Under marine cargo insurance, there are some cargo insurance policies including, open cover cargo policies, specific cargo policies, contingency insurance policy etc.

Limitations and deductibles of this insurance

However there are some limitations and deductibles in this insurance. Before going to use this insurance one must first select the limits of coverage under this. This limit implies the amount the company will get or the benefits the company will get if something bad or unexpected happen with their good from the cargo insurance companies. Apart from this the shipment company also needs to agree to pay an amount before going to demand a claim from the insurance company. This amount is called deductible. The deductible should be an amount which the shipment company is able to afford at any time.

Things it covers and not covers

Apart from limitations, this cargo insurance policy has some other sides too. It covers some damages and some damages it cannot cover. Though there are many policies under different names yet none of these can give complete coverage to the goods. Here is the list of categories which are covered and not covered by the cargo insurance policies.

1. All risk coverage: Though it is named as all risk coverage yet there are also some exemptions. Generally, damages due to bad packing, plague, rejection by custom or worker’s deceit are covered by this policy.
2. Free of particular average: Here, this policy does not include minor losses other than damages due to some serious problems like collision, sinking, theft, non delivery, fire, earthquake etc. one of the important aspect of this is that here the company does not need to pay for minor damages.
3. General average coverage: This policy covers the partial loss caused to the goods.
4. Warehouse to warehouse coverage: When goods are unloaded from the ship and taken to the warehouse of the customer, then if any damaged happens this kind of damages are covered by this policy. Cargo insurance companies are very much specific in this regard.

Depending on the policy, truck cargo insurance rates vary and one can calculate the cargo insurance rate accordingly.

Some exceptions

The cargo trailer insurance covers only commercial trucks or trailers like tractor, box trucks, dump truck etc. Garbage trucks, buses, Ice cream trucks etc are not included in this cheap truck insurance. Moreover, some goods including jewelry, animals, shipping containers, explosive etc are not covered by this policy.