What is Ad Valorem insurance?
When you take out insurance for the shipment of your goods, you may have seen the words "Ad Valorem", this term translated from Latin means "at value of". This means that when you make a shipment, and you take out an Ad Valorem insurance, your goods are insured up to the value declared at the time of the transport order in case of loss or damage of the goods.
Why subscribe to AD Valorem insurance for the transport of goods?
Parcels are very often handled in an automated and/or industrial manner, which means that there may be breakage for your most fragile shipments.
In case of damage to the goods, you will be reimbursed up to the actual declared value (usually up to the selling price of the goods) when you take out the insurance (provided that the packaging was sufficient).
Good to know :
- If the carrier is not responsible for the cause of the loss, no compensation will be paid.
- The amount of compensation is limited by international conventions and specific regulations :
- For Land transport - CMR Convention: 8.33 SDR per kilo, i.e. approximately 11.72€ per kilo in January 2012
- For air transport - Warsaw Convention: 16.5837 SDR per kilo, i.e. approximately 23.33€ per kilo in January 2012
- In the case where the package arrives empty or badly damaged and for the insurance to take charge, it is imperative that the recipient has issued "reservations" in writing to the deliverer.
Goods excluded from the Ad Valorem guarantee
The goods that cannot benefit from the Ad Valorem guarantee are the products that are prohibited in our transport network. This concerns :
- fresh, frozen, deep-frozen and/or perishable products
- explosive, dangerous, toxic, flammable, corrosive or radioactive products
- compressed-air products
- weapons
- money
- counterfeit goods
- etc.
You can find the list of prohibited goods in our transport network, subject to the exclusions of the Ad Valorem insurance.
Damaged parcel on delivery: how to proceed ?
Unfortunately, when transporting goods, there can be losses or damage to the shipment (which can be caused by the way the parcel is transported, or by packaging that is not strong enough), which is why we always recommend covering the goods being transported.
The good reflex to adopt at the time of the delivery is to check the integrity of the goods with the delivery person as soon as the parcel is received, and this even if the box does not show any particular signs of damage.
In case of damage, reservations must be indicated on the delivery note or the carrier's delivery tool. The reservations must be precise on the extent of the damage (not just under reserve of unpacking). If the carrier does not let you write the reservations yourself, it is possible to ask him to do it for you and to check the conformity of these reservations.
Warning: if reservations have not been made upon delivery on the delivery note, the package can be considered as being in good condition.
If you have subscribed to Ad Valorem insurance when ordering transport on our platform.
How to subscribe to an insurance contract for the transport of goods?
If you use our platform to ship your parcels, subscribing to an Ad Valorem insurance is very easy, when choosing your carrier offer you just have to select the "With Insurance" rate:
The amount of parcel insurance is 2€ per parcel for goods with a maximum value of 200€ for individuals, for professionals the maximum amount is fixed at 300€.
Beyond 200€ on the value of a parcel, a supplement of insurance up to 1% of the value of the transported goods will be added to the insurance fees, for the private individuals.
For the professionals, beyond 300€ on the value of a parcel, the supplement of insurance is up to 0,6% of the value of the goods.