Whenever you ship something with a courier service, insurance is going to be involved in some way. The distinction though, is whether you are simply going to be using the insurance which is provided as a part of your service, or if you’ve had to purchase extra insurance to put on the cargo. First, if insurance is optional with your courier company, which is unusual, you should always opt for that insurance first and foremost.

Insurance is so important for the transportation industry that there are actually entirely different insurance policies which are designed solely to cover goods while they are in transit with a professional transport company. Every courier company will have an insurance provider that they work with which will provide coverage to every shipment which they carry.

This type of insurance is meant to anticipate almost everything which might happen to a package that a courier is carrying and to insure them against that kind of damage. Of course, they provide protection against the most common types of damage to packages which includes things like damage caused by a courier, damage sustained in a traffic accident, and damage caused due to weather.

These policies often cover much more exotic circumstances as well. Although these things don’t happen often, you should be reassured that your packages are going to be insured should they be stolen, damaged due to vandalism, damaged in a fire, or destroyed in a natural disaster even.

The way the courier industry works though, means that sometimes a vehicle which normally carries packages which are only worth an average of $100 a piece could end up carrying something which is worth $10,000. Typically, courier insurance does not account for that. There is usually a standard policy in place which provides coverage up to a maximum amount. You should always ask what that amount is. If it is less than what you consider the value of your goods to be, you may have to look into buying your own insurance for the shipment.

If you contact your insurance carrier and tell them that you need to purchase insurance to cover goods while in transit, they should have several options available to you. The important thing is to be sure that you understand how the claims process works between the insurance in place at the courier company, and with your own policies that you may have taken out should any damage occur to the packages.