Austin, TX • Licensed • Insured
Whose coverage applies, what the BOL means, and exactly what to do if something goes wrong.
The most important question in auto transport is the one too many sites bury: whose insurance covers your car while it’s on the truck, and what actually happens if something goes wrong? Here is the whole answer, in plain language, exactly as we explain it on the phone every day.
The motor carrier’s cargo insurance is primary from the moment your vehicle is loaded until it’s delivered. Federal law requires every carrier to hold cargo coverage; the open carriers we dispatch typically carry $100,000–$250,000 in cargo limits, and enclosed carriers typically $250,000–$1,000,000 — higher limits can be arranged for exceptional vehicles. Before any carrier is assigned to your shipment, we pull their active certificate of insurance (COI) and verify their authority is current in FMCSA records. You may request a copy of the assigned carrier’s COI at any time, and we’d frankly think better of you for asking.
Your own auto policy generally is not needed for transit damage — but keeping your comprehensive coverage active during the move is smart belt-and-suspenders, and some owners of high-value vehicles add a rider for the transport window. Personal items left inside the vehicle are not covered by carrier cargo policies, which is why we counsel shipping the car empty or nearly so.
At pickup, the driver performs a walk-around inspection with you (or your designated contact) and records the vehicle’s existing condition — every scratch, chip, and ding — on the Bill of Lading (BOL). Photograph the car yourself at the same time, all four corners and the roof, with the odometer. At delivery, you inspect again before signing: compare against the pickup BOL, note any new damage on the delivery BOL in writing, and photograph it. A clean signature at delivery is a legal statement that the car arrived as it left — so take the ten minutes, in daylight if at all possible. This document discipline is 90% of every successful claim.
1) Note the damage on the delivery BOL before signing and photograph everything. 2) Call your Ship Guy dispatcher — the same office that booked you — and we open the claim with the carrier’s insurer the same day, sending you the carrier’s COI and claim contacts. 3) Submit your photos, both BOLs, and a repair estimate; we stay on the file, follow up with the adjuster, and escalate if response lags. 4) Most straightforward cosmetic claims resolve in two to six weeks. If a carrier or insurer stonewalls — rare, because we don’t re-dispatch carriers who behave that way — the FMCSA complaint process and, for broker-conduct issues, our own $75,000 surety bond exist precisely as your backstops. We’ll tell you honestly at every step whether a claim is strong, and why.
One candid boundary: as a broker we facilitate and pressure claims; the paying party is the carrier’s insurer. That’s the industry’s legal structure everywhere — any site that implies otherwise is marketing, not law. What we control is who we dispatch, and the COI-verification and carrier-scorecard discipline behind every assignment is exactly how we keep claims the exception.
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