Car Insurance Question: Would a policy cover this damage?

If the other driver is insured, his/her liability insurance would cover some of it up to his coverage limits. If they’re uninsured it would come back to your insurance. In that case you’d have to see if contents were included or excluded from the policy and what are the dollar limits. You could be covered or screwed, depending on what’s covered.

It depends on your policy (or in this case the policy of the other driver). A fully comprehensive policy will usually cover contents up to a certain value.

has this damage already happened? or are you worried it might? if you’re worried it might and the plates are that valuable you may take out a separate insurance policy on them.

I would call your insurance if you are worried about it, especially if you are in a no fault state (I don’t think you are).

Depends a lot on your insurance coverage and what State you’re in.
In a no-fault state like mine (MN) usually they’d expect property being transported in your car to be covered by your personal liability and/or homeowners insurance even though it was damaged in transport.

We had a similar (not identical) situation recently. Unless we had a specific Personal Article policy on the expensive item (and we do for a few things in our house – like my wedding rings) it wasn’t covered. Typically the contents of the car (other than injured people) are not covered under the car policy unless you specifically add them (like modifications to the car like in-car entertainment or special/expensive wheels).

If you’re going to move them and have them covered by insurance, at the very minimum, take detailed photos of each piece, front and back with a camera that dates it as the picture was taken. Then take photos of how the plates were packed, so it will be impossible for the insurance company to deny the claim if they are damaged.

It’s one thing to buy insurance; it’s quite another to collect if damage is done. Insurance companies typically deny expensive claims up to seven (!) times before they pay out. When they deny the claims, they’ll try to say the plates were already chipped, broken, etc. before the damage occurred. I’m sorry to say I’ve been there done it with those creepos.

If you really want to cover your butt, have your plates appraised before you haul them anywhere. An appraiser will come to your house, but you can save a lot of money by sending photos, and if your pictures are good, the appraiser should be able to do a good job for you. PM me if you need to find an appraiser.

You could avoid an appraiser if you recently bought the plates (save the receipt for the insurance company), or had them appraised within the last few years.

Most auto insurance comes in three flavors:
1. Liability – This is the “mandatory insurance” required in states that have such laws mandating coverage. It covers your own responsibility to pay for damages that you cause. This liability coverage includes “direct” damage caused to another vehicle and to passengers and drivers in the other vehicle. It may extend to passengers in your own vehicle, too. People who own “minimum coverage” generally won’t have the kind of coverage that will cover your loss of contents such as you have described.

2. Collision – This covers damage done to your car in a collision with another vehicle or with a stationary object. Most people drop collision insurance on older cars, because less and less damage becomes a “total loss”, and the insurance coverage itself (with the deductibles that people normally carry to make it affordable) is pretty pricey.

3. Comprehensive – This covers “non-collision” damage such as theft, vandalism, theft of contents, etc. I think this would be the coverage that might pay for the “indirect” damage done to the contents of your vehicle. In order to save costs, and since it’s not mandatory, a lot of people drop this coverage, too.

To be certain, I would check with your insurance agent/s (including your homeowner’s insurance), because the rules vary so much from state to state, intrastate (when you travel outside of your own state with your state-mandated coverage, for example, and the state where an incident / accident occurs has different rules), and also varies with the value of the contents of the vehicle. It may well be that your homeowner’s policy would cover the loss, but you may require a separate “rider” which specifically states the items being covered, confirms the value (which may require a visit from an agent to verify that you do indeed own the goods, and that they are properly stored for transportation, etc. – “loss prevention specialists” can really be helpful; this isn’t a government program!) and protects the insurance company against fraudulent claims. (The additional rider may cost you a nominal fee. You might be surprised how much certain coverage you can get for not a lot of money.)

There is no way to be certain that even the most well-meaning jellies could give you “the right answer”.

It’s not a big thing. I’m not carrying the package anymore. I was just travelling across town with it and thought “OMG I hope nobody hits me or else the family is screwed!” Thanks for all of the answers.

There was no damage. Everything turned out OK. I just randomly think of stuff like this.

Oh and just in case anyone was wondering—Indiana IS a No-Fault State.

At one time I regularly carried expensive items for my company in my private vehicle.
Iwould get a “rider” written with the transfer slip referenced for the transport of 50 or 60 miles by the company shipping department. Sometimes carried up to 2 million dollars worth of product in my SUV. You can contact your insurance company and do the same thing, for one day a transport from one place to another.

> There is no way to be certain that even the most well-meaning jellies could give you “the right answer”.

@CWOTUS, I wish this reminder were posted on every question in General.