What insurance should a freight carrier have?
Quick answer
A properly insured freight carrier carries commercial automobile liability insurance on its vehicles, cargo insurance covering the freight it hauls, and commercial general liability for everything that happens off the road — plus workplace injury coverage such as WSIB registration in Ontario. What limits are appropriate varies by freight and contract, so the practical check is a current certificate of insurance (COI) issued directly by the carrier's insurance broker.
When a shipper asks whether a carrier is “insured,” they’re really asking about three or four different policies that do different jobs. A carrier can hold one and lack another, and the gap only becomes visible after something goes wrong. Here are the categories that belong on a freight carrier’s insurance profile, what each one actually covers, and how to confirm they exist without taking anyone’s word for it.
The four coverages that make up a carrier’s insurance profile
| Coverage | What it protects | Why it matters to you |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial automobile liability | Injury and property damage caused by the carrier’s vehicles | Legally required to operate; the baseline of any legitimate operation |
| Cargo insurance | The freight on the truck | The policy that responds when your goods are damaged or lost in transit |
| Commercial general liability (CGL) | Damage or injury off the road — at your dock, in your warehouse | Covers the forklift-through-the-wall scenarios that auto policies don’t |
| Workplace injury coverage (WSIB in Ontario) | The carrier’s workers | Protects you from exposure when their driver is hurt on your premises |
No single document proves all four at once, but a certificate of insurance comes close for the first three, and a WSIB clearance covers the fourth. We’ll take them in turn.
Commercial automobile liability
This is the non-negotiable one. Every vehicle a carrier operates must carry commercial automobile liability insurance, which responds when the vehicle injures someone or damages property. It’s the commercial equivalent of the auto insurance every driver knows, priced and written for vehicles that work for a living.
Two details matter for shippers. First, the policy must actually be commercial — a courier running on personal auto insurance is a genuine red flag, because personal policies commonly exclude commercial use. Second, this coverage protects the public, not your freight. A carrier can be perfectly insured for the road and carry nothing for the goods in the box, which is why the next category exists.
Cargo insurance
Cargo insurance — often written as motor truck cargo coverage — is the policy that responds to damage or loss of the freight itself while in the carrier’s care. It’s the coverage most directly connected to the question every shipper actually cares about: if my goods are damaged, is there money behind the apology?
The interplay between this policy and the carrier’s legal liability is worth understanding, because they aren’t the same thing. The carrier’s liability for freight is defined by the contract of carriage and is often limited by its terms; cargo insurance is how the carrier funds that liability. Our answer on whether freight is insured in transit untangles the relationship — the short version is that shippers with valuable goods should know both the carrier’s coverage and the liability terms before booking, not after a claim.
What limit is “enough” depends entirely on what you ship. A carrier moving general commercial freight carries coverage sized for that book of business; a shipper whose single skid is worth an unusual amount should say so and confirm the coverage fits.
Commercial general liability
CGL covers the incidents that happen off the road: damage to your building during a delivery, injury to a bystander at a dock, the scenarios that belong to neither the auto policy nor the cargo policy. Facilities commonly require proof of CGL before letting outside carriers operate on site — if your receiving locations have vendor requirements, this is usually the policy they name.
For routine deliveries you may never interact with this coverage, but its presence signals a properly built insurance program rather than a bare-minimum one.
Workplace coverage: the WSIB piece
In Ontario, the fourth pillar isn’t a private policy at all. Workplace injury coverage runs through the WSIB (Workplace Safety and Insurance Board), and businesses that hire carriers can request a WSIB clearance certificate confirming the carrier is registered and in good standing. The point is protection on your side: it confirms the carrier’s workers are covered if hurt while working, including on your premises, and that you aren’t exposed to the carrier’s unpaid premiums.
How to actually check: the COI
The verification tool for the insurance categories is the certificate of insurance — a broker-issued summary showing the policies in force, their limits and their expiry dates. Two habits make the check meaningful:
- Get it from the broker, directly. Ask the carrier to have its broker email the certificate to you. Broker-issued certificates are routine to produce and hard to fake.
- Check the dates and the named insured. The certificate should be current, and the company name on it should match the company you’re actually hiring — mismatched names are how problems hide.
Our answer on what a certificate of insurance is walks through reading one line by line, and our post on carrier insurance certificates covers the process side — when to re-request, what expiry tracking looks like, and how larger shippers manage it.
None of this is legal or insurance advice, and appropriate coverage varies with the freight, the contract and the lane — for anything unusual, your own broker is the right advisor. But as a screening standard, the four categories above are what a professionally run carrier has in place, documented, before the first skid is loaded.
Sonic Transport handles B2B freight across the GTA and Southern Ontario, from same-day direct runs to multi-skid moves, and we’re used to shippers doing exactly this kind of homework. Ask your compliance questions when you request a quote — you’ll get answers from a person who knows your account, not a queue.
Related questions
Is cargo insurance the same as the carrier being liable for my freight?
No — they're related but distinct. Carrier liability is a legal obligation under the contract of carriage, often limited by its terms; cargo insurance is the policy the carrier buys to fund that liability when something goes wrong. A carrier can be liable but underinsured, which is why shippers check the coverage rather than assuming the obligation is enough.
Why should the COI come from the broker instead of the carrier?
Because a certificate emailed directly by the carrier's insurance broker is much harder to forge or alter than a PDF forwarded by the carrier itself. Brokers issue certificates routinely on request, so a legitimate carrier can arrange it in minutes. It's a small step that removes the most common document-fraud risk.
Do insurance requirements change for high-value freight?
Often, yes. Shippers moving unusually valuable goods commonly require higher cargo limits, name themselves as a certificate holder, or arrange additional coverage on their own side. If your freight's value is out of the ordinary, raise it with the carrier before booking rather than after a loss.