Consignments · passing of risk · packing
Transport insurance for Self-employed professionals
A Self-employed person who buys, sells or has goods delivered bears the risk more often than they think. The carrier does not pay the value, but an amount per kilo.
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A premium indication, not Personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
Transport Insurance is a cover on the goods themselves. It pays out if the consignment is damaged or disappears on the way, regardless of who is at fault. That is something other than the carrier's liability: that is limited by convention to an amount per kilogram of cargo weight and produces hardly anything for light, valuable goods. Electronics, Jewellery, clothing and cosmetics weigh little, so that is where your gap is largest.
For a Self-employed person with a webshop or a trading activity, the key question is when the risk passes. If you buy from a foreign supplier, the delivery term chosen determines whether the consignment is at your expense or the supplier's while it is on the way. If you deliver to consumers yourself, you bear the risk until delivery. In both cases there is a period in which, Without cover of your own, you depend on someone else's goodwill. How that cover is built up is set out on the page Goods in transit insurance.
If you drive your own materials and do not trade in goods, you do not need consignment cover but Own goods in transit cover. If you carry for clients as a Business, your position is that of a carrier and different rules again apply; see courier Insurance. Confusing those three situations is the most common mistake in this part of the market.
This page deals with one Situation. The full overview is on Compare Goods in transit insurance.
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Goods-in-transit Insurance
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Get coveredWhat to look out for
Four points that make the difference for a Self-employed person with consignments between being paid and writing it off.
delay is never insured
Loss arising solely from delay is excluded on every transit policy, even where the delay results from a covered event. If you lose a sale because a consignment arrives late, or you have to compensate a customer, that is your risk. Provide in your own terms of delivery that delivery times are indicative.
Packing is your responsibility
Unsound or insufficient packing by or on behalf of the insured is a standard exclusion, and the first thing a surveyor looks at. A fragile item in an oversized box Without padding does not produce a covered loss. Use the carrier's packing instructions as a minimum and keep photographs of how you dispatch.
Lost Without proof of dispatch
Without a consignment note, proof of dispatch or track-and-trace data it cannot be shown that the consignment was ever handed over. If a parcel disappears in that gap, the policy speaks of unexplained loss and that is excluded. Make sure every parcel has a scanning moment and keep the evidence at least as long as the returns period runs.
Inherent defect and loss of value
Goods that spoil, dry out, shrink or rust Without a covered cause come under inherent defect and the nature of the goods. Pure loss of value Without visible damage also stays outside the cover. And payment is limited to your actual loss: Article 7:960 of the Dutch Civil Code does not allow lost margin to be paid as profit.
What does your premium depend on?
- Value carried per year: the usual basis under an Open contract
- Nature of the goods: fragile, perishable or prone to theft
- Origin and destination: domestic, European or intercontinental
- Method of transport: road, sea, air or a combination
- Maximum value per consignment: determines the limit per event
- Condition chosen: wide cover or named Events only
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | Through the carrier | On your goods Insurance |
|---|---|---|
| A pallet of electronics falls off the Forklift in the distribution centre | Provided that | Yes |
| A box of Jewellery disappears from the van during the delivery round | No | Yes |
| The consignment you bought is damaged at sea, while you bought ex works | No | Yes |
| A container goes overboard in a Storm on the North Sea | No | Yes |
| The Trailer's refrigeration fails and your fresh consignment has spoiled on arrival | Provided that | Provided that |
| Your customer refuses the consignment because he does not like the model after all | No | No |
The carrier pays at most an amount per kilo. With light, valuable consignments little of that remains.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Is the parcel carrier's cover not enough?
Rarely. That liability is capped at an amount per kilo and carries exclusions for fragile, valuable and badly packed items. You also have to show first that the carrier fell short, while he can invoke force majeure. Goods Insurance pays out on the basis of the event and then pursues recovery from the carrier itself.
What is the difference from own Goods in transit insurance?
own goods in transit cover is about your own things that you move with your own vehicle, such as tools and materials. Transit insurance is about trade goods on the way, usually with a third party as carrier. If you sell products and also drive your own materials, you need both; one does not cover what the other leaves out.
Can I insure per consignment?
Yes. For occasional or exceptionally valuable consignments there is separate cover you take out per journey. If you dispatch regularly, an Open contract is cheaper and above all more reliable: you then do not have to remember to declare something each time. Under Open cover you declare the value carried periodically.
What should I do with a damaged consignment?
Do not sign off Without reservation on receipt, but note the reservation on the consignment note and report it in writing within the period the carriage conditions prescribe; protesting too late costs you the right of recovery. Keep the packaging and photograph everything before you unpack. Then report the loss to your insurer at once, as Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires.
Read more
Within Compare Goods in transit insurance
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