Are My Personal Items Insured During Car Shipping?

Personal items left inside your vehicle during shipping are not covered by the carrier's cargo insurance or TransitShield. Here is what is and is not insured, and what to do about it.

Short Answer: No

Why Personal Items Are Not Covered

The carrier's cargo insurance is a commercial policy covering the vehicle itself as cargo. Its purpose is to pay for physical damage to your car that occurs during loading, transit, or unloading. It is not a contents insurance policy and was never designed to be one.

This exclusion exists for two practical reasons.

First, the carrier has no visibility into what is inside the vehicle. At pickup, the driver inspects the exterior condition of the car and documents it on the Bill of Lading. The contents of the trunk, the back seat, or the glove compartment are unknown to the carrier and are not inventoried. An insurance policy cannot cover what has not been declared and assessed.

Second, personal items shift during transit and can actually cause damage to the vehicle interior. A heavy item that slides during a sudden stop can crack a rear seat, break a console, or dent a door panel from the inside. For this reason, most carriers limit or prohibit personal items, and the insurance exclusion reflects that the carrier has not agreed to be responsible for the contents.

TransitShield follows the same exclusion. The Tint policy explicitly excludes: personal property, loose goods, or unsecured items located inside of or not otherwise permanently affixed to the vehicle, including but not limited to items stored in the trunk, glove compartment, or any other compartment.

A Real-Life Example: Lisa's Laptop

Lisa was moving from Chicago to Phoenix. She packed her work laptop, two handbags, and a small box of kitchen items into the trunk of her Honda CR-V before pickup. The combined weight was under 100 pounds, within the allowed limit.

Somewhere during transit, the box of kitchen items shifted and a glass item inside it broke. The broken glass scratched the laptop screen.

Lisa contacted Web Auto Transport hoping to file a claim. The answer was the same that any reputable broker or carrier would give her: personal items inside the vehicle are excluded from coverage. The carrier's insurance would not pay. TransitShield, which she had not added, would not have paid either.

The vehicle itself arrived in perfect condition. The laptop damage was Lisa's loss.

The lesson is not that Lisa did something wrong by packing items. The lesson is that she should have known in advance that those items were traveling at her own risk, and she could have made different choices: shipping the laptop separately, carrying it on the plane, or purchasing a contents rider on her renters insurance.

What Is Actually Covered

To be clear about what the insurance does and does not apply to:

Covered by carrier cargo insurance and TransitShield:

• Physical damage to the exterior of the vehicle
• Damage to windows, mirrors, lights, and body panels
• Damage to the vehicle caused by loading, transit, or unloading incidents
• Theft of the vehicle itself

Not covered by any transport insurance:

• Personal belongings inside the vehicle
• Electronics stored in the car
• Clothing, luggage, or personal effects
• Tools or equipment stored in the trunk or cargo area
• Cash, jewelry, or valuables
• Items stored in the glove compartment or console

What Coverage Options Exist for Personal Items?

If you need to transport personal items and want them covered, there are two practical options:

Homeowners or renters insurance. Many homeowners and renters insurance policies provide off-premises personal property coverage, which can extend to belongings in transit. Contact your insurer before shipping to ask specifically whether personal items in a vehicle being transported by a third-party carrier would be covered under your policy. Coverage varies significantly by provider and policy.

Ship items separately. For high-value items, laptops, electronics, or irreplaceable belongings, the safest approach is to ship them through a carrier that specializes in contents, such as FedEx, UPS, or a moving company, where appropriate contents insurance is available. This also eliminates the risk of those items damaging your vehicle interior during transit.

The 100-Pound Policy and What It Means for Insurance

Web Auto Transport allows customers to pack up to 100 pounds of personal belongings in the trunk or cargo area of the vehicle, below the window line, subject to carrier acceptance. This policy governs what you are permitted to ship, not what is insured.

Allowing 100 pounds of personal items does not mean those items are covered. They travel at your own risk regardless of whether they are within the permitted weight limit. The weight allowance and the insurance exclusion are completely separate matters.

If you choose to use the personal items allowance, pack items that are low in value, well-secured, and unlikely to shift during transit. Do not use the trunk as a place to transport anything irreplaceable, fragile, or high in value.

Q&A

Q: What if my personal items are stolen from the car during shipping?

Personal items are excluded from coverage even in the event of theft. If the vehicle itself is stolen, the carrier's cargo insurance and TransitShield both respond to the vehicle loss. The contents of a stolen vehicle are not covered. This is another reason high-value personal items should travel with you or be shipped through a contents insurance provider.

Q: My car has built-in items like a factory navigation system or a built-in dashcam. Are those covered?

Items that are permanently affixed to and part of the vehicle are covered as part of the vehicle. A factory navigation system, a permanently mounted dashcam, or custom installed audio equipment that is integrated into the car would generally be treated as part of the vehicle rather than personal property. Aftermarket equipment that is bolted in but removable may fall into a grey area. When in doubt, remove it and take it with you.

Q: I left a small amount of cash in my glove compartment. Is that insured?

No. Cash is not covered under any circumstance. Remove it before pickup.

Q: What if personal items in my car damage the vehicle interior? Who pays for that?

Damage caused by personal items shifting during transit is typically not covered, since the carrier can argue the cause was the customer's own items rather than a transit incident. This is one of the reasons carriers limit personal items. If damage occurs that is clearly from an external transit event, the claim is evaluated on its own facts. But damage attributable to items inside the car is difficult to claim.

Q: I packed medication that I need. Is it covered?

Medication is personal property and is not covered by transport insurance. More importantly, do not leave essential medication in a car being shipped. Transit times are estimates, not guarantees, and you could be without access to your medication for longer than expected. Take essential medications with you.

Q: Does any auto transport insurance cover personal items?

Not in standard transport insurance products. The exclusion of personal property from cargo and transit insurance is industry-wide, not specific to Web Auto Transport.

The Practical Takeaway

Ship your car. Carry your stuff. For anything inside the vehicle that matters to you, take it with you on the plane, ship it through a contents-insured carrier, or confirm coverage with your homeowners or renters insurer before the pickup date. The vehicle insurance covers the car. It covers nothing else.

Coverage questions? call (760) 932-2886 / (760) WEB-AUTO, or use LiveChat. USDOT# 4574725 | FMCSA Licensed and Bonded. Email: info@webautotransport.com.