Vehicle and refrigeration unit
Damage to the truck and to the refrigeration plant, which is often a scheduled item in its own right.
Refrigerated Truck Insurance
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Refrigerated Truck Insurance
Cover for fridge trucks and reefer trailers carrying temperature-controlled freight.
Refrigerated transport adds a failure mode ordinary freight does not have: the truck can be undamaged and the load still worthless. Cover for the vehicle, the refrigeration unit and the goods inside are three different things and are worth separating early.
What is it?
Refrigerated trucks and reefer trailers carry chilled and frozen freight under controlled temperature, using diesel or electric refrigeration units from makers such as Thermo King and Carrier. Operators run everything from small rigid fridge vans on metropolitan delivery to multi-temperature semi-trailers moving produce and meat interstate.
What does refrigerated truck insurance cover?
Goods in transit
The freight itself, generally under carriers liability or goods-in-transit cover rather than the motor section.
Spoilage after breakdown
Loss of temperature-controlled stock following a refrigeration failure, subject to the conditions in the wording.
What affects the cost?
- Commodity carried and its value
- Chilled versus frozen and multi-temperature operation
- Route length and whether work is interstate
- Age and service history of the refrigeration unit
- Monitoring and alarm systems fitted
Worth raising on the call
- Spoilage cover is usually conditional on the refrigeration unit being serviced and monitored.
- Check whether the goods limit matches a full load of your highest-value product.
- Breakdown of the reefer unit is treated differently from accident damage.
Claims we are commonly asked about
Reefer shuts down overnight
The refrigeration unit faults on an overnight interstate leg and the frozen load arrives out of specification, with the data logger showing the temperature excursion. Whether the claim is treated as breakdown or accident damage often decides how it is handled, and service records are usually requested.
Chilled pallet warms at a dock
The unit is switched off at a delivery dock, or a door seal fails, and part of a chilled load moves out of range before it is unloaded. Partial load losses like this are common and the receiver typically rejects only the affected pallets.
Load tainted by an earlier freight
A produce load picks up an odour from a previous consignment or from a leaking pallet and is condemned on arrival even though it is physically undamaged and at temperature. Taint and contamination claims often turn on cleaning and wash-out records.
Worth confirming in the wording
- Worth confirming whether spoilage cover is conditional on documented servicing of the refrigeration unit and continuous temperature monitoring, and what service interval the insurer expects.
- Worth confirming whether a load rejected by the receiver on a temperature breach, when the goods appear physically undamaged, is treated as a loss under the wording.
- Worth confirming whether the spoilage limit applies per pallet, per event or per load, and how it sits alongside the carriers liability limit.
Common questions
Does the policy cover the stock if the fridge unit fails?
Loss of temperature-controlled goods following a refrigeration failure is generally addressed by a specific spoilage or breakdown extension rather than by the motor section. These extensions typically carry conditions about servicing, monitoring and how quickly the failure is reported, and are subject to the policy terms and PDS. It is worth reading those conditions before you rely on the cover.
What is the difference between goods in transit and carriers liability?
Goods in transit cover generally responds to physical loss or damage to the goods being carried, while carriers liability responds to your legal liability for that loss under your conditions of carriage. Which one suits depends on what your customers and contracts expect of you. Many refrigerated operators end up needing the goods cover because customers will not accept a limited liability position.
Do I need this for a small rigid fridge van on local delivery?
The exposure is smaller in dollar terms but the same in kind, because a metro van can still carry a full load of high value chilled product. The usual approach is to size the goods and spoilage limits to a full load of your highest value product rather than to the vehicle. Local work often prices more favourably than interstate.
What affects the premium on a refrigerated truck?
No figure can be given up front. Insurers commonly weigh the commodity and its value, chilled versus frozen versus multi-temperature operation, route length and whether work is interstate, the age and service history of the refrigeration unit, monitoring and alarm systems, driver experience, the excess and claims history.
General information only. Cover, limits and exclusions depend on the PDS, TMD, eligibility, underwriting and the policy terms. See truck insurance for the wider picture.
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