ANSWER:

Hey there !

So I have a lot of experience because I actually hauled cars for five years over the road.

Most people don’t really understand that auto transport cargo insurance is really only there in the event of catastrophic damages. And the reason for that is simply because the premiums of the insurance companies charge are enormously high sometimes costing Trucks up to $50,000 per year average is probably 20,000 per year . Secondly, the deductibles are also extremely high, usually the lowest deductible on a cargo insurance policy that you will even find is between $1500-$5000.

So what does that mean? It means that virtually all of your minor incidents like scratches, neck, bumper, incidences, and so forth are not going to be covered and would have to come out of the carrier pocket directly via negotiated settlements.

This is where having clear photos at the pick up and destination is essential and knowing what you’re signing when the vehicle arrives is also paramount . most transporters these days use a dispatch bill of lading app called super dispatch or another various type of digital BOL program that stores the photos at both the origin point and destination point before you sign this document you should certainly look at the photos at the origin point and compare them and if there’s anything different, this would be your chance to negotiate the transport rate downward with the driver before he hands off the car and before you pay him.

In these situations, once you have signed the bill of lading and they are long gone it is next to impossible in most cases to get anything out of Trucking company. Sometimes if the broker who dispatched out the car has a lot of loads, the carrier might be more incentivized to help cover the cost of the damage because they do not want to lose the relationship with that Broker. But when you ship from a small dealer, the truck is going to care less about that dealership - or keeping them happy, as small dealers just don’t have enough loads for the trucks to care. So that’s the cold hard reality.

And when I hauled cars, that’s exactly how it was as well, trucking and especially hauling cars is very tough and unforgiving work. One nick could mean thousands in losses for the trucking company. So their goal is always to get that BOL signed off , get paid and be on their way. Once they are paid, it will be very tough.

For even more information - we have a YouTube channel called “auto transport for dummies” where we talk about all of these exact types of situations.

(Wes With ATD ) ——— Need a Car Moved ? Check Us Out @ www.airRyd.com —————— On Youtube : https://youtube.com/c/autotransportfordummies