On May 3rd, someone stole nearly one million dollars worth of cancer treatment medication from a Pilot in Tennessee. The crime was recorded, the investigation started immediately, and the truck was found several miles down the interstate. While the truck and trailer were recovered, the pallets of medication were gone and the tracking device had been destroyed. Thefts of this magnitude may not be common, but even with the preventative measures of cameras and tracking software the theft still happened.
How are you protecting your customer’s cargo?
Cargo insurance is one of the best ways to protect your company in the event of lost cargo. This type of coverage can cover the costs of everything form decontaminating goods that encountered water damage after a collision to damage during the unloading process. In fact, many corporations require that the trucking companies they contract with have cargo insurance that covers the majority of possible incidents. However, each cargo insurance policy is slightly different and has different exclusions.
There are three main components that can limit how applicable your cargo is to an incident. These are:
- the event. Many cargo insurance policies protect you if the cargo is damaged by a collision, but it’s less common for it to cover the cargo in the event of theft. Ask about the full range of coverage and the specific scenarios that you think are important.
- the type of vehicle. Not all companies will cover the cargo in riskier vehicles such as garbage trucks or cars that carry passengers. Ask about your specific vehicles just to be certain.
- the type of cargo. Many insurance providers won’t insure risky goods, such as art, pharmaceuticals, and animals. They also carefully limit the insurance so it doesn’t apply to your own possessions and can’t be turned into an ad hoc storage insurance policy.
Cargo insurance is important to your business. It’s even more important that your cargo insurance covers your business both sufficiently and as much as you think it does. Go to J.E.B. Insurance Services, LLC to learn more about cargo insurance and your policy’s possible limitations. We provide commercial truck insurance in the states of Florida, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska.
