It is necessary to have transportation insurance if you own vehicles such as trucks or buses, taxis, or anything that carries people or goods because protecting the driver and your vehicle are priorities.
Most Transportation Insurance policies cover loss or material damage to insured goods due directly or accidentally to risks suffered by the transporting vehicle, whether carried out by the insured or by responsible third parties.
What is transport insurance?
Transport insurance refers to the contract whereby the insurer assumes responsibility for damages or losses incurred during transport by river, rail, air, or sea.
Despite not being mandatory, it is highly recommended to ensure the transported goods against any risks associated with their transit from the origin to the final destination.
Transport insurance is a contract that covers goods are against the various risks that may affect them during their transfer from one place to another during a specific period, or situation.
Indemnity for transport insurance
Indemnity is fundamental to the existence of insurance, including transport insurance:
- No one may claim indemnity over the damage suffered.
- A policy cannot provide profit or benefit to the insured.
- The indemnity by the insurer must not present a more advantageous situation than if the loss had not occurred.
Basic coverage of a transport insurance policy
- Crash, overturning, collision, running aground, derailment, overturns.
- Fire, lightning, explosion, hurricane, storms, falling aircraft, or objects detached therefrom.
- Collapse of bridges, and platforms.
- Landslides and floods.
- Stranding, grounding, or sinking of the lake, river, or maritime vessels of regular service.
- Fall of the transporting aircraft.
Optional Transport Coverages
These are extra coverages that may or may not be offered by some policies through the payment of an additional premium:
Among the circumstances under which this coverage covers theft, assault, or robbery are:
- Loss of insured merchandise due to the theft of the transport vehicle.
- Fracture or breakage of the load behavior of the transporting vehicle by using violence to steal insured goods.
- Theft of the complete transporting unit, provided that it is in transit and transporting the insured merchandise.
Theft is when there is seizure on the insured goods using the fracture or breakage of the cargo compartment of the means of transport, that there are visible traces caused by the action of tools, explosives, electrical or chemical elements that evidence the seizure of the claimed goods.
Types of transport insurance
Depending on different factors, transport insurance involves some types, such as:
The environment:
- Land: transport by rail or truck; here again a distinction must be made between the means of transport, the vehicle, and the goods.
- Maritime: includes the insurance of ships and material related to navigation and that of goods.
- River and lake: insurance of ships and cargo on rivers and lakes.
- Air: insurance of aircraft and transported goods.
Period of the contract:
- Temporary or term insurance.
- Travel insurance.
Riot, civil commotion, labor disturbances, and malicious damage:
This coverage reimburses the insured for loss or damage suffered by the property as a result of:
- Riot, civil commotion, popular disturbances, and looting.
- Labor disturbances, labor disputes.
- Malicious damage.
- Measures to repress the previously mentioned acts taken by the legally constituted authorities.
Earthquake, earth tremor, tidal wave, tsunami, and volcanic eruption:
This coverage reimburses the direct losses or damages occurring to the insured property caused by or as a consequence of an earthquake or earth tremor, tsunami, volcanic eruption or subway fire, including fire and explosion by natural causes.
What transport insurance does not cover
Although there are policies with very broad coverage, insurance generally does not cover:
- Malicious misconduct of the insured.
- Negligence in driving on the part of the transport operator.
- Insufficient or improper packaging.
- Own defect.
- Loss, damage, or expenses caused by delay.
