Does every same day booking include goods-in-transit insurance?
Yes. Every job includes goods-in-transit insurance up to £10,000 per consignment and £1,000,000 public liability as standard, built into the fixed price with nothing extra to arrange for routine consignments.
A clock dealer in Bath called us last spring with a Georgian longcase clock booked onto a same day van to an auction house in London, worth a little over £6,000 on the day. Halfway through the call he asked the question most people only think to ask after something has gone wrong: if the glass cracked or a finial snapped off in transit, what would he actually get back? It’s a fair question, and the honest answer surprises most people, because the legal minimum a courier owes you by default and what most goods are actually worth are two very different numbers.
What Goods-in-Transit Insurance Actually Is
Goods-in-transit (GIT) insurance is cover the courier holds against loss or damage to your goods while they’re on the vehicle, separate from the driver’s motor insurance and separate from public liability cover. Every job we run includes goods-in-transit insurance up to £10,000 per consignment as standard, alongside £1,000,000 public liability, built into the fixed price you’re quoted rather than sold as an add-on afterwards. That’s the starting point for every booking, whatever’s on the van.
The Legal Minimum Most Couriers Fall Back On
Strip away a goods-in-transit policy and UK road haulage still operates under a statutory liability limit set out in the Carriage of Goods by Road Act 1965, which brings the CMR Convention into UK law for the carriage of goods by road. Under that limit, a carrier’s liability for goods lost or damaged in transit is capped at 8.33 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) per kilogram, a specialist accounting unit that has generally traded at a little over one pound in recent years. For a courier relying on the statutory minimum rather than a proper goods-in-transit policy, that cap is the most you’d ever recover, regardless of what the item was actually worth.
Why the Legal Minimum Rarely Matches What You’re Sending
Weight-based liability makes sense for a lorry load of raw materials, where value tracks weight reasonably well. It falls apart for exactly the kind of consignment same day couriers are booked for. A 2kg laptop capped at 8.33 SDR per kilogram works out at a little over 16 SDR of liability, roughly £17 to £18, against a machine that might have cost £2,000. A clock, a piece of jewellery, a prototype part or a box of legal documents can be light, valuable and completely uninsurable under the statutory minimum alone. That gap is exactly why goods-in-transit cover exists as a separate, proper insurance policy rather than a legal backstop.
How Much Freight Is Actually Moving on These Terms
This isn’t a small-print curiosity. GB-registered heavy goods vehicles moved 162 billion tonne-kilometres of domestic freight on Great Britain’s roads in 2025, according to the Department for Transport’s road freight statistics, and vans account for a further, separately counted share of that road freight task. With that much freight in motion every year, the odds of any single parcel being damaged are low, but the consequences of being under-covered on the one that does go wrong are entirely real, which is why we don’t leave it to a statutory cap by default.
When You Should Declare a Higher Value
Our standard £10,000 goods-in-transit cover handles the overwhelming majority of same day jobs without anyone needing to think about it further. For anything worth more than that, whether it’s a single high-value item or a vanload of stock, tell us before you book. Higher declared-value cover is arranged in writing before collection, not negotiated after something happens, and the driver and vehicle are matched to the job accordingly. This comes up most often on fragile and high-value goods runs and on dedicated van bookings, where the whole point of the service is that nothing about the job, including the cover, is left to a default setting.
What Happens If You Ever Need to Claim
Every job is backed by photo or signature proof of delivery, timestamped and emailed the moment it completes, which is the first thing any claim is assessed against. Report a problem the same day it happens wherever possible, with photos of the damage and the packaging as found. Issues are answered the same day you raise them, and claims are formally acknowledged within one working day, rather than sitting in a queue while you chase an answer.
Booking With Confidence
Tell us what’s moving, roughly what it’s worth, and where it’s going, and we’ll confirm the right vehicle, the right cover and a fixed all-inclusive price before the driver sets off. For routine consignments, the £10,000 standard cover is already built in. For anything more valuable, say so at the point of quote and we’ll arrange it properly rather than leaving it to chance. Get a fixed quote online or call our controllers direct, day or night.
At a Glance
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| Does every same day booking include goods-in-transit insurance? | Yes. Every job includes goods-in-transit insurance up to £10,000 per consignment and £1,000,000 public liability as standard, built into the fixed price with nothing extra to… |
| What is the legal minimum a courier has to pay out if goods are damaged? | Without a goods-in-transit policy, UK road haulage liability defaults to 8.33 Special Drawing Rights per kilogram under the Carriage of Goods by Road Act 1965. |
| What if I'm sending something worth more than £10,000? | Tell us before you book. |
| Does the insurance cost extra on top of my quote? | No. Standard goods-in-transit cover up to £10,000 and public liability cover are included in every fixed quote. |
| What evidence do I need if something goes wrong? | Report the issue the same day, with photos of the damage and the packaging as received. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does every same day booking include goods-in-transit insurance?
Yes. Every job includes goods-in-transit insurance up to £10,000 per consignment and £1,000,000 public liability as standard, built into the fixed price with nothing extra to arrange for routine consignments.
What is the legal minimum a courier has to pay out if goods are damaged?
Without a goods-in-transit policy, UK road haulage liability defaults to 8.33 Special Drawing Rights per kilogram under the Carriage of Goods by Road Act 1965. For light, valuable items that figure is usually far below the item’s actual worth, which is why proper goods-in-transit cover matters.
What if I’m sending something worth more than £10,000?
Tell us before you book. Higher declared-value cover is arranged in writing before collection, and we’ll match the vehicle and handling to the value and fragility of the item.
Does the insurance cost extra on top of my quote?
No. Standard goods-in-transit cover up to £10,000 and public liability cover are included in every fixed quote. Only cover above that standard limit, for exceptionally high-value consignments, is arranged and priced separately in advance.
What evidence do I need if something goes wrong?
Report the issue the same day, with photos of the damage and the packaging as received. Every delivery already has timestamped photo or signature proof of delivery on file, which forms the starting point for any claim.
Not sure what cover your job needs? Call our controllers on 020 4525 2039 and describe what’s moving, or get a fixed quote online and we’ll tell you honestly what’s included and what, if anything, you should add.
Official guidance
The rules described above come from the official sources below. Regulations change, so check the current position before you rely on them.