Freight Insurance

Freight insurance provides additional protection beyond the default carrier policy. Standard carrier policies tend to only cover blanket amounts and do not adjust according to your freight’s value. The blanket amounts may be a flat amount or a sliding scale based on a dollar-to-pound ratio. An independent freight insurance policy can offer protection for the full value of your shipment and help you avoid the burden of proving liability should any damage occur. If your shipment is valuable, insurance adds the peace of mind of knowing you’re covered. Claims are handled directly between the insurance company and the consignee.

What Is Carrier Liability?

Every freight shipment that you book comes with limited liability coverage. The amount of coverage is determined by the carrier and dependent on the commodity type and freight class that is on the BOL. The limited coverage covers a certain dollar amount per pound of freight, which may offer less coverage than the actual value of the freight.

To make a valid liability claim, the carrier must be at fault for the damaged or lost freight. If damages occurred from inadequate packaging, loading errors, or weather-related instances, the carrier is not responsible or at fault for the damage. In addition, any damage must be noted on the delivery receipt, or else the carrier will deny liability instantly.

About Freight Insurance Coverage

It is best practice to talk with a freight agent and discuss the details of your shipment and your needs for freight insurance coverage. You and your freight agent will work together to decide what extent of freight insurance coverage you may need. Additionally, a freight agent will be able to provide you with recommendations for how to proceed and will inform you of what is insurable under FreightCenter’s insurance partners. This way, you can rest assured knowing you’ll be covered in the unfortunate event that something happens to your freight.

When booking an LTL shipment online, you will simply be asked if you would like to add insurance. Remember, certain items may not be insurable. Below are types of insurable items and types of not insurable items.

Types of Insurable Items:

Types of Not Insurable Items:

Get the Right Coverage

We understand it can be difficult to trust a company with your freight. Get extra piece of mind by purchasing additional freight insurance for your next shipment. Insurance options may be available when you book your freight shipment with FreightCenter. Shipment insurance purchased through FreightCenter takes the hassle and worry out of coordinating your next shipment. Obtaining your own freight insurance causes extra stress and work for you, so let FreightCenter handle all the paperwork for you!

Other Excluded Items

1. Motorized vehicles including automobiles, motorcycles, and boats.
2. Firearms, firearm parts, weaponry, ammunition, and fireworks including, but not limited to, replica or inert explosives or weapons that bear an appearance to actual explosives, or weapon.
3. Furs, including, but not limited to, fur clothing, fur-trimmed clothing, fur pelts, and taxidermy.
4. Any product made or derived from tobacco that is intended for human consumption, including any component, part, or accessory of a tobacco product, including, but not limited to, e-cigarettes, e-hookah, e-cigars, vape pens, advanced refillable personal vaporizers, and electronic pipes.
5. The following electronic equipment: cellular telephones and other cellular devices; computer and/or electronic components assembled on racks; desktop, laptop and tablet computers and similar devices; computer memory modules and cards; gaming consoles, gaming systems, and handheld electronic gaming devices. Arcade Games and Pinball Machines.
6. Pharmaceutical drugs, including, but not limited to, those used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease.
7. Live animals of all varieties.
8. Flowers, trees, plants, and shrubs of all varieties.
9. Biological materials, including, but not limited to, a virus, therapeutic serum, toxin, antitoxin, vaccine, blood, blood component or derivative, allergenic product, or analogous product, or arsphenamine or derivative of arsphenamine (or any other trivalent arsenic compound) applicable to the prevention, treatment, or cure of a disease or condition of human beings or animals.
10. Artwork, including, but not limited to, items such as paintings, drawings, vases, tapestries, limited- edition prints, fine art, statuary, sculpture, and collector’s items.
11. Film, photographic images, photographic negatives, photographic chromes, and photographic slides.
12. Antiques, or any item that exhibits the style or fashion of a past era and whose history, age, or rarity contributes to its value. These items include, but are not limited to, furniture, tableware, and glassware.
13. Guitars and other musical instruments that are more than 20 years old, customized musical instruments, and personalized musical instruments.
14. Scale models, including, but not limited to, architectural models, dollhouses, and prototypes.
15. Fragile items including, but not limited to, glassware, signs, mirrors, ceramics, porcelains, china, crystal, glass, framed glass, and any other item with similarly fragile qualities. Including Spanish roof tiles.
16. Jewelry, including, but not limited to, costume jewelry, watches and their parts, mount gems or stones (precious or semiprecious), industrial diamonds, and jewelry made of precious metal.
17. Precious metals, including, but not limited to, gold and silver bullion or dust, precipitates or platinum, except as an integral part of electronic machinery.
18. Stocks, bonds, cash letters or cash equivalents, including, but not limited to, food stamps, postage stamps, traveler’s checks, lottery tickets, money orders, bond coupons, and bearer bonds.
19. Phone cards, tickets, gift certificates, gift cards, coupons, or other similar printed matter except for the cost of replacing the items, but in no event the value attached to the card, certificate, coupon, or similar printed matter.
20. Collector’s items such as coins, stamps, sports cards, souvenirs, and memorabilia.
21. Any commodity or item that by its inherent nature is particularly susceptible to damage or the market value of which is particularly variable or difficult to ascertain.
22. Vehicles(s), trailer(s), and container(s) carrying Insured Goods.
23. Unrefrigerated produce and fruit; notwithstanding the preceding, soft fruit are excluded in their entirety.
24. Contraband.
25. Illegal drugs as determined by federal law.