Motor Truck Cargo for Movers: How Limits and Exclusions Work
Motor truck cargo is the coverage most movers think they understand and most often misjudge. It sounds simple — it pays for the customer's stuff if something goes wrong on the truck. But the payout depends on fine print that many movers never read until a claim is denied. This article explains how the limits actually work and, more importantly, the exclusions that decide close cases.
What motor truck cargo actually covers
Motor truck cargo (sometimes called "goods in transit") responds to direct physical loss or damage to the property you are transporting for a customer — furniture, boxes, appliances — caused by covered perils like collision, overturn, fire, theft, and similar events while the goods are on the truck or being loaded and unloaded.
For interstate household goods movers, this coverage isn't optional. FMCSA requires cargo insurance and proof of it filed on a BMC-34 form tied to your authority. You can review the current filing requirements on the FMCSA insurance filing page.
How the limit structure works
This is where movers get surprised. A cargo policy usually has more than one limit, and the lowest applicable one controls:
- Per-occurrence limit — the maximum the policy pays for a single loss event, such as a truck fire that destroys an entire load. This is the headline number, often $100,000 or more.
- Per-shipment / per-load sub-limit — some policies cap what they'll pay for any one shipment or one customer's goods, which can be lower than the per-occurrence limit.
- Per-item or high-value sub-limits — many policies quietly cap the amount paid for any single article (say, $2,000 or $5,000) unless that item is specifically declared and scheduled.
- Deductible — the amount you absorb before coverage responds, often per occurrence.
A mover carrying a $100,000 per-occurrence limit can still be badly underinsured if a single high-value piece is capped at $2,000, or if a full-truckload interstate shipment is worth more than the per-shipment sub-limit. Always read all three limit layers, not just the top line.
| Limit type | What it caps | Why it bites |
|---|---|---|
| Per-occurrence | Total per loss event | A full-load fire can exceed a low limit |
| Per-shipment | One customer's goods | High-value households outrun the sub-limit |
| Per-item / high-value | Any single article | Art, jewelry, electronics get capped hard |
The exclusions that cause denied claims
Coverage is defined as much by what it excludes as what it insures. These are the exclusions we see trip up movers most often:
High-value articles
Jewelry, furs, fine art, antiques, currency, precious metals, and collectibles are typically excluded or severely sub-limited unless the customer declares them and the mover schedules them. If a customer's $15,000 painting is damaged and was never declared, the policy may pay pennies. Best practice: require customers to list high-value articles in writing, and either schedule them or decline to transport them.
Mechanical and electronic derangement
"Derangement" means an item stops working with no visible external damage — a TV that won't power on, a refrigerator compressor that fails, a computer that won't boot after the move. Cargo policies almost always exclude mechanical or electronic derangement unless there is evidence of external physical damage (a cracked screen, a crushed housing). This is one of the most common claim disputes in moving, because customers assume "it worked before the move" is enough. It usually isn't.
Other common exclusions
- Mold, mildew, and moisture — often excluded, especially in storage-in-transit situations.
- Items packed by the owner (PBO) — damage to goods you didn't pack yourself may be limited or excluded, since you can't verify how they were prepared.
- Ordinary wear, marring, and scratching versus a defined covered peril.
- Goods not on your inventory/bill of lading — if it wasn't documented as loaded, proving the loss is difficult.
- Employee dishonesty / theft by your own crew — often needs a separate endorsement.
Cargo insurance is not the same as the customer's valuation choice
Movers frequently confuse two different things. Your motor truck cargo policy is your insurance, protecting you against loss. The customer's valuation option — released value (60 cents per pound) versus full value protection — is a federally defined choice about your legal liability to the customer, and you're required to offer it on interstate moves. They interact, but they are not interchangeable. The federal consumer resource is protectyourmove.gov, and we explain the customer side in our guide to released value vs. full value protection.
How to close the gaps
- Read all limit layers — per-occurrence, per-shipment, and per-item — and match them to the value you actually haul.
- Schedule high-value articles or require declaration and a signed acknowledgment.
- Document everything — condition reports, photos, and a complete inventory on the bill of lading make legitimate claims payable.
- Add endorsements where your operation needs them: employee dishonesty, storage-in-transit, higher per-item caps.
- Align cargo limits with your valuation exposure so a full-value-protection claim doesn't outrun your policy.
Moving Insurance Pros is a division of Thrive Risk Management. We help movers structure motor truck cargo limits and endorsements that actually match their loads and their customer valuation exposure.