What is Goods in Transit Insurance for Couriers?
Goods in transit (GIT) insurance covers the parcels and packages you carry as a courier against theft, loss, and damage while they’re in your possession – from the moment you load them to the moment you hand them over. It is not a legal requirement in the UK, but most courier platforms, delivery networks, and commercial clients require proof of it before they’ll give you work. Without it, you’re personally liable for the full replacement value of anything that goes missing or gets damaged while it’s in your van. A standard courier GIT policy runs from around £100 to £250 per year for a £10,000 to £25,000 cover limit, though premiums vary with the value of goods, vehicle security, and your claims history. The policy conditions that most commonly void courier GIT claims are leaving goods in an unlocked or unsecured vehicle, inadequate packaging, and carrying excluded goods – particularly electronics, cash, precious metals, and hazardous materials – without specific extensions in place.
Key Takeaways
- →GIT insurance and courier (hire and reward) insurance are not the same thing. Your hire and reward motor policy makes it legal for you to carry goods for payment and covers your vehicle and third-party liability on the road. It does not cover the contents of your van. GIT covers the cargo. You need both, and most couriers who think they’re fully covered by their vehicle policy find out they’re not when something goes missing
- →The RHA Conditions of Carriage (updated 2026) are standard contractual terms widely used in UK road haulage that cap a carrier’s liability at £1,300 per tonne of goods lost, damaged, or wrongly delivered. That’s not a lot. A 500g parcel containing a £600 laptop falls well below the weight threshold that would generate meaningful compensation under RHA conditions without a proper GIT policy behind it
- →Per-parcel limits catch couriers out constantly. Most standard GIT policies have a maximum payout per individual item – commonly £100 to £500 for a basic policy, rising to £1,000 or more on better policies. If you’re carrying 80 parcels and your van is broken into, the policy pays up to the per-item limit on each stolen parcel, not the replacement value. If that limit is £150 and the parcel contained a £400 item, the insurer pays £150
- →Theft from an unattended, unlocked, or unsecured vehicle is typically excluded from GIT cover. This matters enormously for couriers who make multiple drops and leave their van running or unlocked between deliveries. The vehicle must generally be locked with all windows closed and keys removed. Some policies also restrict cover for goods left in vehicles overnight unless parked in a locked garage or secure compound
- →Most major courier platforms and networks have minimum GIT requirements. Amazon requires couriers to hold at least £25,000 GIT cover. Courier Exchange requires a minimum of £5,000. DPD, Evri, Yodel and others have their own minimums. Check the specific requirement before buying – getting the wrong limit means either failing to qualify for work or being underinsured for what you’re actually carrying
- →Making a GIT claim requires documentation you need to collect at the time – not afterwards. Photos of damage taken at the point of discovery, the delivery manifest or proof of shipment, consignment notes, the value of the goods (supplier invoices, not the recipient’s claim of what it was worth), and evidence of forced entry where theft is involved. Miss any of these and the claim process gets difficult
💬 From the MMC Commercial Team | FCA Reg. 916241
“The conversation we have more than any other with couriers is this: ‘I’ve got insurance, why isn’t the claim covered?’ And nine times out of ten it’s because they have hire and reward but not GIT, or they have GIT but the per-parcel limit is £150 and the stolen item was worth £400. The platforms don’t always make this distinction obvious at onboarding. Amazon says you need £25,000 of cover – that’s the total load value limit, but your per-item limit might still be £250 unless you specifically asked for more. If you’re carrying tech, fashion, or anything premium, read the per-item limit carefully. It’s usually in the small print of the schedule, not the headline figure on the certificate. And photograph everything. The number of claims that fail or get part-paid because there’s no photographic evidence of the damage or the packaging condition at the point of discovery is depressingly high.”
There’s a moment that most couriers dread. You come back to your van to find the side door open, parcels gone, and the sinking feeling that you’re about to have a very expensive conversation with your client. Or you arrive at a delivery address, open the back doors, and the item that was fine when you loaded it is now in pieces.
What happens next depends almost entirely on whether you have the right goods in transit cover in place – and specifically, whether the policy conditions were met. GIT insurance is one of the most straightforward commercial insurance products available, but the gap between what drivers think it covers and what it actually covers is surprisingly wide. This guide explains how it works, what voids claims, how the RHA conditions affect your liability, and what platform requirements you need to hit before you start delivering.
GIT insurance versus hire and reward – why you need both
Courier insurance and goods in transit insurance are frequently confused – sometimes bundled together, sometimes sold separately, almost always misunderstood. They cover completely different things. One covers you. The other covers what you’re carrying.
Your hire and reward (H&R) motor insurance – sometimes just called courier insurance – is the legal requirement. The moment you accept payment to move goods from A to B, you need H&R cover on your vehicle policy. Standard social, domestic and pleasure use doesn’t cut it. If you’re running deliveries on a domestic policy and have an accident, your insurer will void the claim entirely. That’s not a reduced payout – it’s a full refusal, and the police can treat you as an uninsured driver.
What H&R cover does not do is protect the cargo in your vehicle. Your van insurance doesn’t care whether the parcels in the back arrived intact or got broken into while you were at the door delivering. That’s goods in transit insurance’s job – and the two policies sit alongside each other, not in place of each other.
RHA Conditions of Carriage – what they mean for your liability
The Road Haulage Association Conditions of Carriage are standard contractual terms widely used across UK road transport. They matter to couriers because they define what you’re liable for when goods are lost or damaged – and the default limit is far lower than most couriers realise.
The RHA Conditions of Carriage, last updated in January 2024 with further revisions in 2026, cap a carrier’s liability at £1,300 per tonne of gross weight for goods that are lost, damaged, or wrongly delivered. This is what you’re legally on the hook for if you’re operating under RHA conditions – which many courier subcontract agreements incorporate by default.
Here’s where the number causes problems in practice. That £1,300 per tonne limit means that a 500g parcel containing electronics gives the sender the right to claim approximately 65 pence under strict RHA conditions before anything else kicks in. The RHA conditions are written for heavy freight, not parcel delivery. They exist to limit liability, not reflect the value of what’s in the box. The only way to bridge the gap between what RHA conditions allow a sender to claim and what the goods were actually worth is a proper GIT policy with sufficient cover limits.
RHA conditions regulate liability. They don’t provide insurance.
This is a distinction that catches operators out. The RHA Conditions of Carriage are a contractual framework – they govern what you’re legally responsible for in the event of loss or damage. They are not an insurance product. They do not pay claims. A courier operating under RHA conditions who loses a parcel is still personally liable for the RHA-calculated amount, and has to fund that payment themselves unless they have a GIT policy in place to cover it.
The 2026 updates to RHA conditions made some notable changes. Carrier liability for fire was narrowed – you’re now only excluded from liability for fire if it was caused by the customer or consignee. Carriers are now also explicitly liable for loss or damage following a road incident. If you’re subcontracting and your contract incorporates RHA conditions, it’s worth having your broker confirm your GIT policy aligns with the updated terms. If you’re operating under your own conditions of carriage rather than RHA, “full responsibility” cover on your GIT policy – which pays on the actual value of goods rather than a weight-based calculation – is the appropriate product.
Per-parcel limits: the small print that catches couriers most
Your GIT policy will have two key numbers: the total load value (the maximum payout for everything stolen from a single incident) and the per-item or per-parcel limit (the maximum payout for any single piece of cargo). Both numbers matter, but the per-item limit is the one that causes most dissatisfaction when claims are settled.
How per-parcel limits work in practice
Scenario: Van break-in, 5 parcels stolen
Contents: a £350 laptop, two £80 clothing items, a £120 kitchen appliance, a £60 book. Total actual value: £690. Your GIT policy has a £5,000 load limit but a £150 per-parcel limit. Payout: £150 x 5 = £750 – actually slightly more than total value here, but only because the items were below £150 each, except the laptop. The laptop gets £150, not £350. Net loss to you: £200.
Same scenario, higher per-parcel limit
Same van break-in, same five parcels. But your policy has a £500 per-parcel limit instead. Payout: actual replacement value of each item up to £500. The laptop gets £350, everything else gets its full value. Total payout: £690. Net loss to you: £0. The difference in premium for a higher per-parcel limit is often less than £30 a year.
High-value consignment, standard policy
You’re delivering a single parcel containing a £2,000 professional camera. Your policy per-item limit is £500. The parcel is damaged beyond repair. Payout: £500. Shortfall: £1,500. For high-value single consignments, you need either a declared value extension or a specialist policy with per-item limits that reflect what you’re actually carrying.
The platform minimum trap
Amazon requires £25,000 GIT cover. You arrange a policy with a £25,000 load limit and a £250 per-parcel limit. You have technically met Amazon’s requirement. But if you’re regularly carrying tech parcels worth £400-800 each, your per-item limit is still seriously short. Meeting the platform minimum and being adequately insured are two different things.
What goods in transit insurance actually covers – and what it doesn’t
Standard GIT policies are broader than most couriers assume for covered events, and narrower than most assume for exclusions. The policy covers more scenarios than just “van got broken into” – but the exclusions, especially around vehicle security and cargo type, need reading carefully.
| Typically covered | Typically excluded (read your policy) |
|---|---|
| Theft from a locked, secured vehicle (evidence of forced entry usually required) | Theft from an unlocked, unsecured, or unattended vehicle without forced entry |
| Accidental damage during transit – bumps, drops, impact damage | Damage caused by inadequate or improper packaging |
| Loss or non-delivery – a parcel that goes missing and cannot be recovered | Cash, bank cards, precious metals, precious stones, jewellery (without specific extension) |
| Damage during loading and unloading | Hazardous, dangerous, or regulated goods (without specialist policy) |
| Fire damage to goods caused by road incident or vehicle fire | Electronics and high-value tech (may require specific extension or declared value) |
| Flood, storm, or weather damage to goods in transit | Consequential losses (late delivery penalties, lost contracts) |
| Overnight in-vehicle storage if locked in a secure garage or compound (policy specific) | Goods left in vehicle overnight on a public road or unsecured driveway (most policies) |
Fragile goods and special categories
Fragile items – glassware, ceramics, screens, artwork – are a specific area of tension on courier GIT policies. Many policies cover accidental damage to fragile goods only if they were appropriately packaged and protected for transit. “Appropriately packaged” means professionally packed with internal padding, void fill, and outer packaging rated for the item’s weight and fragility – not wrapped in a carrier bag in a flat-pack box. If a screen arrives cracked and the packaging showed no external damage, insurers will want evidence that the packaging was adequate and that the damage was caused by an impact event rather than insufficient packing.
Electronics – laptops, phones, tablets, cameras, drones – are treated as higher-risk goods by underwriters due to the theft appeal they carry. Some standard GIT policies exclude them entirely; others cover them up to a reduced per-item limit unless you declare them and pay a small uplift. If you regularly carry tech deliveries, check the policy wording explicitly. Discovering that the laptops in your van are excluded under a “high-value electronics” clause after the van’s been broken into is an expensive lesson.
Platform and network GIT requirements
Most courier platforms and delivery networks specify a minimum GIT cover level as a condition of subcontract work. These minimums exist to protect both the platform and the sender – they’re not the same as being adequately insured for your specific work, but they’re the threshold you need to clear to get on the platform in the first place.
Common platform minimum GIT requirements
- →Amazon Flex: Minimum £25,000 GIT cover. Amazon’s courier documentation requires this as a condition of engagement. Some specialist courier insurers provide this automatically for Amazon Flex drivers working as part of the fleet scheme
- →Courier Exchange: Minimum £5,000 UK GIT cover to submit loads and accept work through the network. Higher limits required for specific consignment types. Your certificate needs to show the Courier Exchange reference to qualify for the network discount some insurers offer
- →DPD, Evri, Yodel, DHL (subcontractors): Requirements vary by network and contract. Most require between £10,000 and £50,000 load cover. Check your specific subcontract agreement – the required limit will be stated in the terms, and failing to hold it can be grounds for contract termination as well as leaving you uninsured for claims
- →Independent commercial clients: Large retailers and businesses commissioning courier services directly often specify GIT requirements in their courier contracts. £25,000 to £50,000 load cover with per-item limits matching their typical consignment values is common. Always ask before you start the job – finding out the requirement after you’ve accepted work and the goods are already in your van is a poor position to be in
How to make a GIT claim – and why the evidence you collect matters
GIT claims that fail or get reduced almost always fail because of documentation problems, not because the event wasn’t covered. The evidence needs to be gathered at the time – not reconstructed later. A claim for damaged goods filed three days after delivery with no photos of the damage, no evidence of the packaging condition, and a customer’s verbal description of what the item was worth will struggle.
At the point you discover damage, theft, or loss, take photographs immediately. This means the damage itself, the packaging, the vehicle if theft was involved (showing the point of forced entry), and the surrounding context. These photos are timestamped and serve as contemporaneous evidence that the damage occurred during the transit you’re claiming for rather than being pre-existing or caused afterwards.
For a theft, report it to the police immediately and obtain a crime reference number. This is almost always required by insurers for theft claims, both to establish that the theft occurred and to rule out fraudulent claims. Notify your insurer or broker as promptly as possible – most policies require notification within a defined timescale, often within 24 to 48 hours of discovering a loss.
Documents you’ll need for a GIT claim
- →Photographs: Damage to goods, damage to packaging, the vehicle (if theft with forced entry), and the scene. Take these before anything is moved, cleaned, or repaired. Once the packaging has been disposed of or the vehicle repaired, that evidence is gone permanently
- →Proof of shipment: The delivery manifest, consignment note, or delivery note showing the goods were in your possession and their declared contents. The insurer needs to establish what was being carried and under what conditions of carriage
- →Proof of value: The supplier invoice or purchase receipt for the damaged or lost goods – not the customer’s estimate of what it cost them, not the RRP from a website, but documentary evidence of the actual commercial value. This is what the insurer uses to calculate the claim. If the sender can’t provide an invoice, the claim calculation will be disputed
- →Crime reference number: For theft claims, the police report reference. File the report as soon as possible – waiting until you’ve been chased by the client for a week before contacting the police creates a timeline gap that insurers notice
- →Completed claim form: Your insurer’s or broker’s standard claim documentation. Fill it in accurately and completely – inconsistencies between the claim form and other evidence are one of the most common causes of claims being investigated rather than just paid
What does courier GIT insurance cost and how do you buy it?
GIT cover for couriers is genuinely affordable relative to the exposure it covers. Starting from around £100 per year for basic £10,000 load cover, with £25,000 cover (Amazon’s requirement) typically available from around £150 to £200 per year for a standard courier profile. A £50,000 cover limit from a specialist insurer runs closer to £250 to £450 annually, depending on the type of goods, vehicle security, and claims history.
GIT is most commonly bought in one of three ways: as an add-on to an existing courier van insurance policy, as a standalone product from a specialist courier insurance broker, or as part of a packaged courier insurance suite that bundles H&R, GIT, and public liability together. The bundled route is usually the most cost-effective for full-time couriers and ensures the covers dovetail properly – when GIT and H&R cover are with different insurers, disputes about which policy responds to a given incident can complicate claims. Premium costs have risen modestly since 2021 in line with higher goods replacement values, but GIT remains one of the better-value commercial covers available for the size of the exposure it protects against.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or insurance advice. Policy conditions, cover limits, and exclusions vary significantly between insurers. Always read the full policy wording before purchasing and seek advice from an FCA-regulated broker for guidance specific to your circumstances. MyMoneyComparison.com Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), registration number 916241.
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