What the Transporter's Insurance Does and Does Not Do
Cars arrive in and leave San Diego on trucks constantly — orders, jobs, students, a car bought out of state. Shipping one is routine and usually uneventful. The part people get wrong is assuming the transporter's coverage stands in for their own.
Do not cancel your own policy
This is the mistake that costs the most. A vehicle in transit is still your vehicle, and canceling coverage on it creates a gap in your insurance history for the sake of a few days. If the car will not be driven at the other end for a while, that is a conversation about what coverage to carry — not a reason to have none.
Ask for the certificate, and read the cargo line
Interstate transporters carry insurance, but "insured" is not one thing. Ask for the certificate of insurance before you book and look for two specifics: the cargo coverage limit and the deductible. Both vary between operators, and a low limit spread across a full trailer of vehicles is a different proposition from what people picture. Ask directly what happens if your car is damaged and what the deductible is.
Photograph the car before it goes
Date-stamped photographs from every angle, plus close-ups of any existing damage, plus the odometer. Do it in good light, and keep them somewhere that is not the car. This takes five minutes and it is the difference between a claim and an argument.
The document that decides everything: the bill of lading
At pickup, the driver records the vehicle's condition. At delivery, you are asked to sign that it arrived in the noted condition. Inspect it before you sign, in daylight, walking the whole car, and note anything new on the document itself before signing. Signing a clean delivery receipt and finding damage the next morning is the hardest version of this to resolve.
Personal items
Most transporters restrict or prohibit personal belongings in the vehicle, and their cargo coverage is generally for the vehicle rather than its contents. Assume anything you leave inside is uninsured, and take it out.
If something does go wrong
Raise it with the transporter first, in writing, with the photographs and the annotated delivery document. Tell your own insurer too and ask how they want it handled — whether your own comprehensive or collision coverage responds while a vehicle is in someone else's care is a policy-specific question, and the answer is in your document rather than in a general rule.
When it arrives
If the car is being registered in California for the first time, the arrival day starts a different process — smog, a vehicle verification, the out-of-state title and proof of California insurance. Line the insurance up before the car lands rather than after. We can have coverage in force the day it arrives, which is usually the day you need it.
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Should I cancel my insurance while the car is being shipped?
No. Canceling creates a gap in your coverage history over a handful of days, and the car is still yours the whole time. If it will sit unused at the other end, ask about the right coverage for that instead of about having none.
Does the transporter's insurance cover everything?
It covers what its certificate says, up to a limit and subject to a deductible, and generally for the vehicle rather than its contents. Ask for the certificate before you book and read those two numbers rather than accepting the word insured.
What do I do if I find damage after delivery?
Raise it with the transporter in writing with your before-and-after photographs, and tell your own insurer. Your position is much stronger if you noted the damage on the delivery document before signing it, which is why the inspection at the curb matters.