Cargo Insurance Built Around What You Actually Haul
Your cargo policy shouldn't be a guess. We match coverage to your freight type, your routes, and your contract requirements. Not a template. Not a generic limit.
What Does Motor Truck Cargo Insurance Cover?
Motor truck cargo insurance covers the goods and freight you're hauling while they're on your truck. If the load is damaged, stolen, or destroyed during transit (or during loading and unloading), this is the policy that pays the claim. Every trucking company hauling freight for hire needs it. Most broker-shipper contracts require it. And the difference between a cargo policy that works and one that doesn't usually comes down to whether the coverage was written for what you're actually carrying.
That distinction matters more than most people realize. A standard cargo policy with a flat limit and no endorsements might cover a dry van load of boxed goods. But if you're hauling temperature-controlled freight in a reefer, that same policy won't cover spoilage from a mechanical breakdown unless reefer breakdown coverage is specifically written in. If you're running flatbed with oversized loads, securement failures might not be covered under a policy designed for enclosed trailers. The freight dictates the coverage. Not the other way around.
Why Owner-Operators Need It
If you're an owner-operator hauling freight for hire, your cargo is your liability from the moment it's loaded to the moment it's delivered. A rejected reefer load can cost $40,000 to $80,000 depending on what you're hauling. Cargo theft at a truck stop or rest area can wipe out a month of revenue overnight. And the shipper's own insurance almost never extends to the trucking company doing the hauling. If something happens to that freight on your truck, you're the one on the hook. A cargo policy built for your operation is what stands between a bad day and a business-ending one.
How Pullsure Structures It
We don't write a flat cargo policy and hope it fits. We start with what you haul: commodity type, temperature requirements, load value, route patterns, contract specifications. Then we match that to the right coverage from our network of 20+ insurance carriers that specialize in trucking risk. If you're running reefer, you get reefer breakdown coverage written in. If you're hauling high-value or oversized freight, your limits reflect that. And if something goes wrong, you call a person. Not a portal. Not a 1-800 number. Someone who already knows your account.
What's Typically Included in a Motor Truck Cargo Policy:
- Collision and overturning damage to freight
- Reefer breakdown and mechanical refrigeration failure
- Theft and pilferage
- Loading and unloading coverage
- Debris removal
- Earned freight charges
- Fire and weather-related cargo damage
Real claim. Real coverage.
A Pullsure client was hauling temperature-sensitive freight when a load was rejected for going out of temp. The freight broker told him insurance would never cover it. Said he'd never seen a claim like that paid in 30 years. We'd written the policy specifically for reefer and temp-sensitive cargo. The claim was covered. The client paid his deductible and kept running. The freight broker started referring all his trucking companies to Pullsure after that.
(This is a real claim scenario from Pullsure's book of business. No client information is disclosed.)
001
Reefer Failure
A mechanical breakdown on a refrigeration unit can spoil an entire load of temperature-sensitive freight in hours. If your cargo policy doesn't specifically include reefer breakdown coverage, that loss comes out of your pocket. We've seen single claims north of $60,000 for one rejected reefer load.
002
Cargo Theft
It happens at truck stops, rest areas, drop yards, and staging lots. A load disappears overnight and the shipper's insurance doesn't cover the trucking company. Your cargo policy does, but only if the limits and coverage terms match the value of what you're hauling.
003
The Contract Gap
Most broker-shipper contracts require the trucking company to carry cargo insurance. But the minimum limits in the contract don't always match the actual value of the freight. If a $200,000 load is damaged and your policy covers $100,000, you're personally liable for the difference. We review your contracts before we write the policy.
Ready to see what your coverage is actually worth?
What Our Clients Say
"I can’t thank you enough for the effort, skill and patience you have shown in dealing with a very trying situation, Other people should be as lucky as me to have an insurance agent with as high a degree of competency as you."
Francisco Moreno
Moreno Trucking LLC
"I'm not sure if Ryan Young works for a Trucking Insurance Agency or if he works for our company!! He got us a new policy in two days with coverage that actually fits our needs."
Fuad Omar
Delivery Unlimited LLC
"Brian and the team are ROCKSTARS. I acquired a new customer that had some very specific insurance requirements and Brian made it happen."
Tracy Harris
AG Carriers