subject: Declared Value On Shipping Forms [print this page] When shipping goods with a courier, your property is covered by the insurance that they carry to protect their client's property. Most of the times when you ship with a Chicago courier service, you're going to have to fill out some documentation in order to make that insurance valid for your shipment. Most of the information that you are requested to provide is fairly straightforward, but one item deserves more explanation. This is the declared value.
The declared value appears at first glance to be an easy figure to fill out. Ostensibly, it is simply the value that you place on the goods that you are shipping with the courier company. It is important that you get this accurate for several reasons, and is also more complicated than it first appears. The complications arise from the actual insurance coverage that may be in place with the courier company.
It is very important that you get a figure that is as accurate as possible when you're stating the declared value of anything that you're shipping. If you happen to aim low on your figure and your package is damaged or destroyed, you will not be able to receive any additional insurance compensation beyond that based on the figure you initially provided. If your figure is higher than the actual value of your goods and you need to make a claim, the insurance provider could easily suspect you of trying to commit insurance fraud.
The reason that this can get complicated at times is because most courier services are going to be limited by something known as the maximum declared value. This is the most that anyone can claim as the value of their products. So, if your products are worth more than this predetermined amount, you can have a small problem concerning your insurance.
When you see a difference between the value of your goods and declared value, you need to assess how great this difference is. If the difference is small, the differential may not be enough to warrant you having to look into any options for supplemental insurance. There may be cases though where the maximum declared value is much less than what your shipment is worth. If this happens to you, you will probably want to buy your own insurance to place on the shipment. The courier company may have options for getting additional coverage, or you may end up having to be responsible for it yourself.
by: Zachary Malone
welcome to Insurances.net (https://www.insurances.net)
