How to Make a Damage or Loss Claim After Shipping Your Vehicle

What must I do before the vehicle leaves the port or warehouse?

This is the step that makes or breaks a claim. Inspect the vehicle, inside and out, at collection, in daylight if you can, and compare it with the photos you took when you handed it over.

• Report any damage or missing items to the port or warehouse staff there and then
• Get a written damage or theft report from the port or warehouse before you drive away
• Photograph the damage, with the port or warehouse in the background, before the vehicle moves
• Tell the carrier in writing straight away, quoting the bill of lading number
• For a container, check the seal number and photograph the vehicle as the container is opened and unloaded

Without a port report there is no independent record of the vehicle's condition when it was handed to you. Under the Hague-Visby Rules, which apply to bills of lading for shipments from UK ports, removing the goods without written notice is taken as evidence that they were delivered as described, unless the damage was not visible and you give notice within three days. Court action against the carrier must start within one year of delivery.

What are the two ways to claim?

Through your marine insurance

If you took marine cargo insurance, report the claim to the insurer's claims contact on your Certificate of Insurance. The insurer may arrange a survey and settles under the policy terms. It is only worth claiming if the cost is more than the excess on your certificate.

Directly with the shipping line

If you are not insured, or the loss is the carrier's liability, send a statement of claim with the documents to the carrier's claims department. Carrier liability is limited by the bill of lading terms and the Hague-Visby Rules.

In both cases you make and pursue the claim yourself. We give you the right contact, the list of documents and a notice-of-claim letter you can send to the carrier to protect your rights. Even if you claim on insurance, put the carrier on notice in writing straight away: not doing so can harm the insurance claim.

Which documents will I need?

• Dated photos of the damage or of where the missing items were
• The port or warehouse damage or theft report
• Your photos and condition record from when you handed the vehicle over
• Delivery receipts from drop-off and from collection
• The bill of lading and the arrival notice
• The freight invoice
• The Certificate of Insurance, if insured
• Repair estimates, or purchase and replacement invoices
• A statement of claim: an itemised list of the damage or loss with the repair or replacement cost
• Any survey report, and your written notice to the carrier with their reply

How does a claim work, step by step?

1. Report at collection Tell the port or warehouse staff and get their written report before the vehicle leaves.
2. Put the carrier on notice Write to the carrier at once with the bill of lading number and a description of the damage or loss. Ask us for the notice-of-claim letter.
3. Gather the evidence Collect the documents listed above and get repair estimates.
4. Submit the claim Send the statement of claim and documents to the insurer's claims contact or the carrier's claims department.
5. Survey and settlement The insurer or carrier may ask for a survey before the vehicle is repaired. Keep the damaged parts until they agree.

Who do I contact?

Marine insurance arranged through IVSS

The claims contact on your Certificate of Insurance: ivss@fidarsi.de

Wallenius Wilhelmsen (WWL)

Claims through WWL's claims page (link below); we can give you their claims email

Atlantic Container Line (ACL)

lplclaims@aclcargo.com

Grimaldi

Claims Department, claimsdeepsea@grimaldi.napoli.it, +39 081 496111. Send a signed subrogation form with the bill of lading, survey report and schedule of claim

Other shipping lines

Ask us: we confirm the current claims contact for your bill of lading

WWL: how to file a claim without cargo insurance →

Hague-Visby Rules (Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1971, Schedule) →

How do I make a claim easier to prove?

• Photograph the vehicle from every side, the interior, the odometer and any existing marks when you hand it over, and email the photos to us
• Take marine cargo insurance: it is not included in shipping prices unless stated
• Leave nothing loose inside: personal effects in a RORO vehicle travel at your own risk and are not insured
• Remove or secure parts that can be taken easily, such as aerials, wipers and number-plate screws
• Collect promptly and inspect at the port: the longer a vehicle sits, the harder it is to show when damage happened