As a freight forwarder, you are exposed to various kinds of liabilities, concerning the services you provide. Therefore, having a freight forwarder insurance policy is imperative to safeguard you and your business from loss or damage to cargo, fines, penalties, and legal costs among others which may arise while doing services and activities by you and your subcontractors.
While a freight forwarder insurance company offers extensive coverage, here are some of the scenarios when the insurer can refuse to settle the claim. Let’s have a look at scenarios when your freight forwarder insurance company doesn’t pay the claim
1. Non-disclosure of Important Information
The freight forwarder insurance depends on the principle of trust. Therefore, if at the time of buying the policy, you hide important information just to get low premium rates, you should be better ready to face a situation when the insurer will reject your claim due to this.
Those claims which arise from an issue that was known before the insurance was purchased, are usually rejected by the insurer. Further, it can also make freight forwarder insurance policies null and void.
How to avoid: Disclose all the information about your business at the time of filling out the freight forwarder insurance policy application form.
2. Policy Lapse
To get coverage under a freight forwarder insurance policy, it is essential to keep your policy in its active state. However, if the claim arises when the policy lapses, the insurer has all rights to refuse to settle the claim. In those situations, where there is a break in the renewal of the freight forwarder insurance policy, the retroactive date is reset to the start date of the new insurance policy.
How to avoid: Make sure that you timely renew your insurance policy.
3. Improper Packaging
A freight forwarder insurance company can refuse to settle the claim if there was improper packaging at the time of loss. If the packaging material was of poor quality, the insurer could reject the claim.
How to avoid: It is necessary to properly pack your goods to avoid loss.
4. Delay in informing the insurer
Though it is understandable, that you have occurred a financial loss, it is essential to inform the insurer about it as soon as possible. In case, there is a delay in informing, it could make the insurer suspicious and later can refuse to settle the claim.
How to avoid: Make sure to inform the insurer as soon as possible after the loss. Someone on your behalf can also inform the insurer. For instance, if you have purchased the policy through SecureNow, a leading corporate insurance advisor, you would only need to inform the insurance advisor, who would later file a claim with the insurance company on your behalf.
5. Loss due to negligence
Just because someone has a freight forwarder insurance policy, it doesn’t mean, he/she can act negligently. If the loss or damage, including third-party liability, arises, because of your fault, the insurance company can reject the claim with respect to that.
How to avoid: Take all steps to avoid or mitigate the loss or damages.
Conclusion
The purpose of freight forwarder insurance is to give you complete protection against various perils, and therefore, make sure that you have a complete understanding of it in order to avoid the situation where your claim gets rejected.
The more knowledge you have about the ins and outs of the claim process, the better you would be able to resolve the matter. Sometimes, having an expert in the background who can give you handy tips or handle your insurance claims, can be a great way to have peace of mind and save your time. So, take the help of SecureNow, which is a reputable corporate insurance advisor and can help you not only at the time of buying the policy and also at the time of claim. Reach out to the experts of SecureNow, to get clarity with respect to your insurance query.
