Does commercial auto cover the cargo my Georgia business is hauling?

Commercial auto insurance does not cover the cargo a Georgia business is hauling. Goods and materials being transported in a covered vehicle, such as tools, inventory, equipment, or products being delivered to a customer, are excluded from a standard commercial auto policy. The policy covers the vehicle itself and the business's liability to other people if the vehicle causes an accident; it does not cover the value of what is inside or attached to the vehicle if that cargo is lost, damaged, or stolen.

Coverage for cargo comes from a separate policy, most commonly inland marine insurance or motor truck cargo coverage. Inland marine insurance is a category of coverage for property that moves, or that is stored somewhere other than a fixed business location, a name that dates back to when marine policies were extended to cover goods in transit over land. Motor truck cargo coverage is a more specific version built for businesses that haul freight for a fee. Either one is written alongside the commercial auto policy, not as part of it.

Example: A Georgia contractor loads a company truck with $8,000 of tools and building materials for a job site. On the way, the truck is involved in an accident and the cargo area is damaged, destroying several tools and a portion of the materials. The commercial auto policy pays for the damage to the truck itself and for any liability to the other driver involved in the accident. It does not pay for the destroyed tools or materials. Without a separate inland marine or cargo policy in place, that loss falls on the business's own funds.

Commercial auto insurance explains what the base policy covers and what it leaves out, and Georgia commercial auto insurance covers Georgia-specific requirements for business vehicles. A business that regularly hauls tools, inventory, or materials and wants to check whether cargo coverage is already in place, or missing, can start with a coverage review, which looks at the vehicle policy and any related coverage side by side. Carriers available through Olive Cover vary in how they structure inland marine and cargo add-ons, which is part of what a review compares.

This question pairs with whether a personal auto policy can be used for business driving in Georgia, since a personal policy would not cover business cargo either, and with the deadline a Georgia insurer has to pay a commercial auto claim, since a cargo claim and a vehicle-damage claim can run on different timelines under separate policies.