Cargo insurance is bought as a formality and read for the first time after damage. For vehicle shipments that is an expensive habit, because the exclusions that matter are specific to how vehicles travel.
Cover levels
Marine cargo cover comes in graded forms, conventionally lettered. In broad terms:
- The broadest cover — all risks of loss or damage except stated exclusions. This is what vehicle shipments should normally carry.
- Intermediate cover — named perils only. Covers major events like fire, stranding and collision, but not handling damage.
- Basic cover — a narrower list of catastrophic perils.
The difference matters because the most common vehicle damage is not catastrophic. It is a scrape from a lashing strap, a dent from a forklift, or a scratch from a vehicle parked too close. Named-peril cover does not respond to any of that.
Exclusions that specifically affect vehicles
Insufficient packing or preparation. If a vehicle was not properly secured for transport, damage arising from that may be excluded. For RoRo shipments the lashing is the carrier's responsibility; for container shipments it is often the shipper's, and the distinction determines who bears the loss.
Inherent vice and gradual deterioration. Battery discharge over a long voyage, tyre flat-spotting, and surface oxidation from humidity are generally treated as inherent to the goods rather than as insured damage.
Delay. Losses caused purely by delay are excluded under standard cargo terms, even where the delay itself was caused by an insured peril.
Pre-existing damage. Anything present before the voyage. This is why the origin photograph set is the foundation of any claim.
RoRo against container
The shipping method changes the risk profile, and the insurance conversation should reflect it.
RoRo — vehicles are driven aboard and secured on decks. Exposure to salt air is greater, handling damage risk is higher because vehicles are driven by port staff, and vehicles are accessible during the voyage. Loose items inside are at risk.
Container — vehicles are enclosed and secured inside the box. Better protection from weather and handling, higher cost per unit, and loading and unloading require skill. Damage in container shipping tends to occur during loading rather than at sea.
For high-value vehicles, container shipping plus broad cover is the conservative combination. For volume shipments of commercial vehicles, RoRo with careful pre-shipment documentation is the normal commercial choice.
Insured value
Cargo is typically insured at CIF value plus a percentage — commonly 10% — to cover incidental costs. Two points:
Under-insurance reduces payouts proportionally. Declaring a lower value to save premium means a partial claim is scaled down by the same proportion, which is rarely what the buyer expected.
The uplift should reflect real incidental costs. If clearance, inland transport and duty are substantial, 10% may not cover the actual loss of a total write-off.
Making a claim
The sequence that preserves a claim:
- Note damage on the delivery receipt before signing. A clean receipt is strong evidence that the goods arrived undamaged.
- Notify insurer and carrier in writing immediately. Both have notification windows, and the carrier's is often shorter than the insurer's.
- Do not repair or move the vehicle before survey if a survey is required. This is the requirement most often breached and it is usually fatal to the claim.
- Assemble the document set — policy, bill of lading, invoice, packing list, origin photographs, arrival photographs, survey report, repair estimate.
- Quantify precisely. A repair estimate from a competent workshop, itemised, rather than a general assessment.
The claim that fails
Almost always for one of four reasons: the delivery receipt was signed clean; notification came weeks later; the vehicle was repaired before survey; or there were no origin photographs, so the insurer could not exclude pre-existing damage.
All four are procedural rather than substantive, which means all four are preventable at no cost beyond attention at the right moment.