Haulage and commercial motor
HGV Insurance
for owner drivers, hauliers and fleets
HGV insurance is commercial motor cover for a goods vehicle over 3.5 tonnes, normally written alongside the liability cover a haulage business needs. The part that decides claims is not the motor section but the goods cover, because what you can recover for a lost load is fixed by your trading conditions.
- Owner drivers through to fleets
- Artics, rigids and specialist bodies
- Domestic and international haulage
Quick answerHGV insurance covers the lorry, the liability that comes with operating it, and the goods it carries. Tell MyMoneyComparison.com about the vehicle and the work once, and specialist UK brokers can come back with quotes to compare. Free to use, with no obligation to buy.
The basics
What Is HGV Insurance?
HGV insurance is commercial motor cover for a goods vehicle over 3.5 tonnes. At a minimum it covers the third party liability the law requires. In practice a haulage policy also has to deal with the trailer, the load, the liability that comes with carrying other people’s goods, and the cost of the vehicle standing idle.
Three and a half tonnes is the number that does most of the work in this market. It is the point at which a goods vehicle needs an operator licence for business use, comes into the drivers’ hours rules, needs a tachograph, and moves from an ordinary MOT to the DVSA annual test. One threshold, four separate regimes.
Why haulage is not just bigger van insurance
- The load is usually worth more than the lorry
- Carrying for other people creates a liability a motor policy does not touch
- What you can recover for that load is capped by your trading conditions, not your policy
- Trailers are insured, tested and often owned separately from the unit
- A prohibition or a licence problem stops the revenue, not just the vehicle
- International work changes the liability regime completely
One policy, several parts
What sits inside an HGV policy
- The vehicleUnit, trailer, body and equipment
- Third party liabilityRequired by law before it moves
- The goods carriedTransit or carrier’s liability cover
- Public and employers’ liabilityYard, staff and premises
- Downtime and recoveryGetting the vehicle and load moving
The sections
What Does HGV Insurance Cover?
An HGV policy covers the vehicle and trailer, third party liability, and normally the goods carried. Employers’ and public liability, breakdown and recovery, downtime, legal expenses, European use, ancillary plant and load security can all be added depending on the work the vehicle does.
The vehicle and trailer
Accidental damage, fire and theft of the unit, the trailer and the body. Trailers are often listed and rated separately from the tractor unit.
Third party liability
Injury to other people and damage to their property. This is the part the law requires before a lorry can be used on a road.
Goods in transit or carrier’s liability
Cover for the load. These are two different things and the difference decides what you get paid. The next two sections are about exactly that.
Employers’ liability
Compulsory from the moment you employ anyone, including yard staff, a workshop fitter or a second driver.
Public liability
Injury or damage caused away from the driving, such as during loading, tipping or delivery on a customer’s site.
Breakdown and recovery
Roadside assistance that can recover a laden 44 tonne vehicle, which is a different service from car breakdown and priced accordingly.
Downtime and replacement vehicle
A parked lorry earns nothing. Some policies contribute to hire or to lost revenue while the vehicle is off the road.
Legal expenses and uninsured loss
Defence of prosecutions, representation at a public inquiry, and recovering your excess and losses from an at-fault third party.
European and international use
Cover for use abroad, usually for a stated number of days. International carriage also brings a different liability regime, covered below.
Plant, equipment and ancillary risks
Cranes, grabs, tail lifts and tipping gear, and the liability that comes with operating them rather than driving.
Theft of the load and overnight security
Cover for the load away from the vehicle and while parked, usually conditional on where the vehicle is left and what is fitted to it.
Fleet and any driver
Once there is more than a handful of vehicles, a fleet policy is usually cheaper and far less administration than separate covers.
The motor section of an HGV policy is the part everyone compares and the part that varies least. The goods section is where two quotes that look identical can be worth very different amounts after a loss.
Exclusions
What Is Not Covered?
An HGV claim can be reduced or declined where the vehicle was overloaded, driven by someone without the right entitlement, or used outside the purpose declared. Mechanical breakdown, consequential loss, fines and penalties, and losses where security or transit conditions were not met are normally excluded too.
Overloading the plated weight
Exceeding the plate is an offence and can put you in breach of policy conditions at the same time. It is the most common avoidable cause of a declined haulage claim.
Drivers without the right entitlement
A driver without the correct category, without a valid Driver CPC, or outside the age and experience terms on the schedule.
Use outside what was declared
Carrying for hire or reward on a policy rated for own goods is the classic example, and it has licensing consequences as well as insurance ones.
Wear, tear and mechanical breakdown
Insurance responds to sudden accidental events. A failed gearbox or a worn clutch is a maintenance cost.
Goods outside the transit conditions
Loads left unattended, parked overnight in the wrong place, or carried without the security the policy requires.
Consequential and indirect loss
Lost profit, lost contracts and the customer’s own downtime. The RHA conditions exclude these expressly and most policies follow suit.
Security conditions not met
Immobiliser or tracker not fitted or not set, keys left in the cab, curtains left unlocked. A theft claim usually fails on the condition rather than the peril.
Fines, penalties and prohibitions
Fixed penalties, court fines and the cost of a prohibition are operating consequences, not insured losses.
Two covers, one word
Goods in Transit or Carrier’s Liability?
They are not the same thing. Cover written on a transit basis responds to physical loss of or damage to the goods. Cover written on a liability basis responds only to what you are legally liable to pay, and what you are legally liable to pay is fixed by your contract of carriage, not by the sum insured.
Transit basis
What happened to the goods?
Responds to the event. If the load is damaged or stolen, the policy looks at the loss and pays up to the sum insured, whether or not you were at fault. This is the shape most people picture when they hear “goods in transit”.
- Measured against the value of the goods
- Fault is not the trigger
- Common for own goods and courier work
Liability basis
Are you legally responsible?
Responds to the obligation. It indemnifies you against sums you are legally liable to pay for goods carried for others. If your trading conditions cap that liability, the policy pays the capped figure, not the value of the load.
- Measured against your legal liability
- The contract of carriage sets the ceiling
- Standard for hire and reward haulage
The labels are not standardised, so do not shop on the name. No statute, regulator or market body defines “goods in transit” for road haulage, and there is no standard wording of the kind marine cargo has. Two insurers can use the same three words for materially different cover. Ask which basis the section is written on and what limit applies to a single load, and compare those answers rather than the product names.
The number that decides a load claim
The £1,300 Per Tonne Problem
Under the Road Haulage Association’s Conditions of Carriage a haulier’s liability for goods is the lesser of their actual value, their replacement cost, or £1,300 per tonne of the gross weight lost or damaged. The limit is set by weight. The risk is set by value. For light, high-value freight those two numbers are nowhere near each other.
| The load | What it is worth | What you recover | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| One tonne of consumer electronics | £80,000 | £1,300 | The cap bites hard. You recover about one and a half pence in the pound |
| Twenty tonnes of structural steel | £15,000 | £15,000 | The cap would be £26,000, so it never engages and the value is paid |
Illustrations only, on the current edition of the conditions. The cap applies to the gross weight of the goods actually lost, mis-delivered or damaged, not to the whole consignment.
This is the asymmetry nobody explains. For dense, low-value freight such as aggregates or steel the cap is generous and rarely engages at all. For light, high-value freight such as electronics, pharmaceuticals or cosmetics it is catastrophic. A haulier moving pallets of consumer goods can be carrying tens of thousands of pounds of value per tonne against a limit of £1,300. Nothing about the vehicle, the driver or the motor policy changes that arithmetic.
Four things in the conditions that catch operators out
Printing them on the invoice is too late
Trading conditions have to be brought to the customer’s attention before or when the contract is made. Stating that they apply on an invoice sent after the job will not usually incorporate them, which means nothing has been capped.
The clock runs from when transit started
Written notice of loss or damage is due within seven days of the end of transit, and since the 2024 edition the evidence has to come with it. Proceedings must be issued within one year of the date transit commenced, not from the loss, the discovery or the refusal.
Consequential loss is excluded
Loss of profits, loss of sales and loss of business are expressly outside the conditions. A customer who loses a contract because a load did not arrive cannot recover that from the carrier under this regime.
Valuables are not simply excluded
Living creatures, bullion, money, securities, stamps, precious metals and precious stones are carried only where the carrier agreed in writing beforehand, the customer agreed to meet the extra cost, and negligence is proved. The burden of proof flips.
A higher limit can be bought
The customer can ask for a limit above the per-tonne cap, on at least seven days’ written notice before transit and subject to a surcharge. Few do, because few know it is there.
Editions change, and recently
There have been three editions in six years, the current one effective from January 2026. Brokers advise operators to tell their insurer which edition they trade on, because it is an underwriting fact rather than a detail.
The mismatch that costs money, in both directions
Paying for cover you cannot use
Full value cover, capped liability
If you trade on the standard conditions, your liability is capped. Buying goods cover on a full load value basis means the capacity above the cap can only respond in the narrow cases where the conditions never applied, where the customer bought a higher limit, or where the goods sit outside the regime.
The dangerous direction
Uncapped liability, capped cover
Sign a large customer’s own terms accepting full liability and you have stepped outside the standard regime entirely. Your liability is now whatever that contract says, potentially full invoice value and, if the contract allows it, consequential loss as well. If the policy was underwritten on the assumption you trade on standard conditions, the difference is uninsured.
This drifts apart by default rather than by accident. Insurance is bought once a year; contracts are signed continuously, and the commercial incentive is always to sign. It is worth one annual check that the terms you are actually trading on and the terms your cover assumes are the same terms.
Across a border
CMR: a Different Regime Entirely
International carriage by road is governed by the CMR Convention, which has force of law in the UK. It applies automatically whenever the place of collection and the place of delivery are in two different countries and at least one is a contracting state. Its liability limit is 8.33 special drawing rights per kilogram of the weight lost.
You do not opt in
CMR applies by operation of law once the criteria are met, and the parties cannot contract out of it in the carrier’s favour. Only one of the two countries needs to be a contracting state, so a run from the UK to a non-contracting country still engages it.
The limit is in SDR, not pounds
A special drawing right is an International Monetary Fund unit of account valued daily against a basket of currencies. At mid-September 2026 8.33 SDR per kilogram worked out at roughly £8.50 per kilogram. That sterling figure moves every day; the SDR figure does not.
Several times the domestic cap
Expressed per tonne, the international limit at that date was several times the domestic per-tonne cap. An operator running both domestic and European work is trading under two liability regimes of very different sizes, and the cover has to reflect the higher one.
Different time limits again
Non-apparent damage must be notified in writing within seven days of delivery, Sundays and public holidays excepted. Delay claims must be made within twenty-one days. The limitation period for proceedings is one year, or three where there has been wilful misconduct.
The limits are not absolute
Under the Convention the carrier loses the protection of the limits where the damage was caused by wilful misconduct, or by default treated as equivalent to it. The same principle runs through the domestic conditions.
Declaring a special interest
The sender can declare a special interest in delivery in the consignment note, against a surcharge, which is the mechanism for recovering above the limit. Like the domestic equivalent, it is rarely used because it is rarely known about.
If the business runs even occasional European work, say so at quote stage. The liability regime, the paperwork and the exposure are all different, and a policy arranged for domestic haulage will not necessarily follow the vehicle across the Channel.
The licence behind the business
Operator Licensing and Financial Standing
A goods vehicle over 3.5 tonnes used for business needs an operator licence. There are three types, and a traffic commissioner must be satisfied on four things: an effective and stable establishment in Great Britain, good repute, appropriate financial standing, and professional competence. Insurance is not one of them.
| Licence | What it permits | First vehicle | Each additional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restricted | Your own goods only, in the UK and the EU | £3,100 | £1,700 |
| Standard national | Your own goods in the UK or abroad; other people’s goods for hire or reward within the UK only | £8,000 | £4,500 |
| Standard international | Your own goods and other people’s goods for hire or reward, in the UK and internationally | £8,000 | £4,500 |
These figures are set in legislation and have been unchanged since 1 January 2021. They are not reviewed annually, which is a common misunderstanding left over from the pre-2021 currency conversion. A lower figure applies to light goods vehicles between 2.5 and 3.5 tonnes used internationally, at £1,600 for the first vehicle and £800 for each additional one.
The transport manager
A standard licence needs a professionally competent transport manager holding a Certificate of Professional Competence in road haulage, resident in the UK, exercising continuous and effective management of the transport operations. Named on paper is not the test.
Losing a limb is not discretionary
Where a standard licence holder stops meeting repute, financial standing or professional competence, the traffic commissioner is required to revoke, subject to a period of grace in which the operator can put it right. It is a duty, not a choice.
What a commissioner can do
Refuse, curtail, suspend or revoke a licence, and disqualify an individual or a company from holding one. Curtailment removes vehicles or operating centres; suspension leaves the licence in place but authorises no vehicles at all.
The 2.5 tonne international threshold
Since the UK left the EU, international hire or reward work with vehicle and trailer combinations over 2.5 tonnes needs a licence. This catches large vans doing European work that would need nothing domestically.
Insurance is evidence, not a condition
Insurance appears nowhere in the statutory requirements for a licence. But the kind of policy you hold is used as evidence of whether you are carrying for hire or reward, which decides which licence class you need. Hold the wrong cover and you may be advertising the wrong licence.
Compliance follows you to renewal
Convictions, fixed penalties and prohibitions in the previous five years are grounds for action on the licence, and the same record is in front of an underwriter at renewal. One maintenance problem reaches both.
Motor insurance itself is compulsory under separate road traffic law: using a vehicle on a road without at least third party cover is a criminal offence. That obligation is quite separate from the licensing regime and applies whether or not an operator licence is needed.
Weights, licences and testing
What the 3.5 Tonne Line Actually Changes
A category C1 licence covers 3,500kg to 7,500kg and category C covers anything above 7,500kg, with C1E and CE adding trailers over 750kg. The same 3,500kg line moves the vehicle into operator licensing, the drivers’ hours rules, the tachograph requirement and the DVSA annual test.
| Weight | Driving entitlement | Testing | Operator licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 3,500kg | Category B | Ordinary MOT | No operator licence for own goods domestically |
| 3,500kg to 7,500kg | Category C1 | DVSA annual test | Operator licence for business use |
| Over 7,500kg | Category C | DVSA annual test | Operator licence for business use |
| With a trailer over 750kg | C1E or CE as applicable | Trailer tested separately | Trailer counts in the combination weight |
When the first test falls
An HGV is first tested twelve months after it was first registered with the DVLA, then annually. A trailer is usually tested one year after it was first sold or supplied, because trailers are not registered the same way. Two different triggers on the same combination.
What the annual test costs
At an authorised testing facility the DVSA fee runs from £91 for a two axle vehicle to £137 for four or more, with trailers charged separately. The facility adds its own service charge on top, capped at £70 for a vehicle.
C1 and the 1997 line
Drivers who passed a car test before 1 January 1997 generally hold C1 entitlement without a further test; anyone who passed afterwards has to take one. Changing this has been consulted on and not decided.
Driver CPC
Anyone driving professionally needs a Driver Certificate of Professional Competence and thirty-five hours of periodic training every five years. Driving professionally without it carries a fine of up to £1,000.
National and international CPC
The qualification now splits. A driver whose periodic training includes national courses gets a National Driver CPC and cannot drive professionally in Europe. If the business does any European work, check which one its drivers hold.
A note on the letters
In the driving licence world LGV means large goods vehicle. In operator licensing it means light goods vehicle, the 2.5 to 3.5 tonne band. The same three letters mean opposite things, which is why this page says HGV throughout.
At the weighbridge
Why Overloading Reaches the Insurance
Overloading brings a graduated fixed penalty and, commonly, an immediate prohibition that stops the vehicle where it stands. It can also put the operator in breach of policy conditions and is grounds for action on the operator licence, so one axle weight can reach the fine, the load, the claim and the licence at once.
| How far over | Penalty |
|---|---|
| Less than 10% over | £100 fixed penalty |
| 10% up to but not including 15% | £200 fixed penalty |
| 15% and over | £300 fixed penalty |
| Serious overloads | Dealt with by prosecution rather than a fixed penalty |
DVSA examiners allow a 5% leeway before issuing a fixed penalty or a prohibition, but that leeway does not apply where the relevant weight is exceeded by one tonne or more. Each examiner can issue up to five fixed penalties per encounter, so a single stop involving a traffic examiner and a vehicle examiner can produce up to ten.
The prohibition is the expensive part
The fine is rarely the real cost. An immediate prohibition stops the vehicle until the load is reduced, which means a second vehicle, a missed delivery and a driver standing still. None of that is insured.
Plated weight is not payload
The plate states the most the whole vehicle may weigh on the road. Payload is that figure less the weight of the empty vehicle with fuel. Axle weights matter as much as the gross figure: a correctly loaded vehicle can still be over on a single axle.
It follows you to renewal and to the licence
Prohibitions and convictions sit on the operator’s record. A traffic commissioner can act on them, and an underwriter will see the same pattern when the policy comes up for renewal.
Hours, tachographs and records
Drivers’ Hours and the Tachograph Rules
The assimilated drivers’ hours rules apply to most goods vehicles where the maximum permissible mass of the vehicle and any trailer exceeds 3.5 tonnes. Since 1 July 2026 they also reach light goods vehicles over 2.5 tonnes on international work. The limits are daily and weekly driving, breaks, and daily and weekly rest.
| Limit | What it is |
|---|---|
| Daily driving | 9 hours, extendable to 10 hours twice a week |
| Break | At least 45 minutes after no more than 4.5 hours driving, splittable into 15 then 30 |
| Daily rest | At least 11 continuous hours, reducible to 9 up to three times between weekly rests |
| Weekly driving | A maximum of 56 hours in a fixed week |
| Fortnightly driving | A maximum of 90 hours over any two consecutive weeks |
| Weekly rest | At least 45 continuous hours, or a reduced 24 hours with compensation |
These are the assimilated and AETR rules. Separate GB domestic rules apply to some vehicles and journeys, so check which regime a particular operation falls under rather than assuming.
The smart tachograph deadlines have all passed, and most competitor pages still write them in the future tense. Vehicles on international journeys with an analogue or early digital tachograph had to be retrofitted by the end of 2024; those with a first-generation smart tachograph by August 2025; and from 1 July 2026 the requirement reached vehicles over 2,500kg but not over 3,500kg carrying goods for hire or reward internationally, with an exemption where the journey is for the operator’s own account and driving is not the driver’s main activity. If the fleet does European work, this is now a compliance fact rather than a forthcoming change.
Hours records are an underwriting fact as well as a compliance one. An operator with clean tachograph analysis, a working infringement process and a transport manager who acts on it presents very differently from one who cannot produce the records.
Pricing
What Affects the Cost of HGV Insurance?
HGV insurance has no standard price. Insurers weigh the weight and configuration of the vehicle, the body and equipment on it, the radius and type of work, what is carried, the age, entitlement and claims history of every driver, the compliance record of the operation, and the cover and excess chosen.
The vehicle
- Weight and configurationAn artic at 44 tonnes is a different risk from a 7.5 tonne rigid.
- Body and equipmentTail lifts, cranes, grabs and tipping gear add operating risk as well as value.
- Value and ageReplacement cost of the unit, the trailer and the body.
- Where it is keptOvernight security at the operating centre.
The work
- Radius of operationLocal multi-drop and long-haul trunking are different exposures.
- Domestic or internationalEuropean work changes the liability regime as well as the mileage.
- What you carryThe value-to-weight ratio of the load matters more than the weight alone.
- Hire and reward or own goodsThis decides the licence class and the goods cover basis.
The drivers
- Age and experienceMost schemes set a minimum age and a minimum period holding the entitlement.
- Licence and CPCEntitlement held, and whether the CPC is national or international.
- Claims and convictionsRecent motor claims and endorsements both count.
- Named or any driverAny driver terms cost more and are worth it on a busy fleet.
The operation
- Compliance recordProhibitions, OCRS and tachograph analysis all reach the underwriter.
- Trading conditionsWhether you trade on standard conditions or sign customers terms.
- Cover and excessComprehensive against third party fire and theft, and the excess chosen.
- Fleet sizePast a handful of vehicles a fleet policy usually prices better.
We do not publish example premiums on this page, and we will not rank these factors either. Nobody publishes HGV premium data in the UK: the Association of British Insurers’ motor figures cover privately owned cars only, and no regulator or trade body reports on commercial vehicle pricing. Any number or ranking you see elsewhere is an assertion. A quote costs nothing and reflects your actual operation.
Before you buy or renew
What You Need for an HGV Quote
To get an HGV insurance quote you need the vehicle registrations, plated weights and body types, the drivers’ entitlements and claims history, the type and radius of work, the operator licence details, and the trading conditions you contract on.
The vehicles
- Registration, make, model and body type
- Gross plated weight and axle configuration
- Trailers owned, hired or subcontracted
- Value of unit, trailer and equipment
- Where each vehicle is kept overnight
The drivers
- Dates of birth and licence entitlement
- Years holding the entitlement
- Driver CPC, national or international
- Points, convictions and claims
- Whether agency drivers are used
The work
- Hire and reward or own goods
- Radius of operation and annual mileage
- Domestic, European or both
- What is carried and its value per tonne
- Which trading conditions you contract on
The operation
- Operator licence type and number
- Transport manager details
- Prohibitions and convictions in five years
- Current insurer and renewal date
- Claims history and any refusal or cancellation
The one question that separates two quotes. Ask each broker what the goods section pays on a single load, and on what basis. If the answer is a liability basis, ask which trading conditions the cover assumes. Two quotes a few hundred pounds apart can differ by tens of thousands on a load claim, and the difference never appears on a price comparison.
Why MyMoneyComparison.com
Comparing Specialist HGV Cover
MyMoneyComparison.com is an FCA-authorised UK comparison service that introduces hauliers and operators to specialist brokers. We do not sell insurance and do not give advice: the broker you choose arranges the policy. Comparing is free and there is no obligation.
Form for the whole operation
Describe the vehicles, the drivers and the work once instead of repeating yourself to each broker.
Truck types compared
From 7.5 tonne rigids to 44 tonne artics, tippers, tankers, transporters and specialist bodies.
Authorised and regulated
MyMoneyComparison.com Ltd appears on the FCA register under FRN 916241.
Comparing since
A UK company since 2013, working with specialist brokers across the country.
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HGV Insurance FAQs
Direct answers on goods cover, the per tonne limit, operator licensing and where claims fail.
What is HGV insurance?
HGV insurance is commercial motor cover for a goods vehicle over 3.5 tonnes. At a minimum it covers the third party liability the law requires. A haulage policy normally also covers the vehicle and trailer, the goods carried, employers’ and public liability, and the recovery of a laden vehicle after a breakdown or accident.
Do I need an operator licence as well as insurance?
Almost certainly, if the vehicle is over 3.5 tonnes and used for business. They are separate requirements. Insurance is not one of the four things a traffic commissioner must be satisfied about, but the type of policy you hold is used as evidence of whether you carry for hire or reward, which decides which licence class you need.
What is the difference between goods in transit and carrier’s liability?
Cover on a transit basis responds to physical loss or damage to the goods, whether or not you were at fault. Cover on a liability basis responds only to what you are legally liable to pay, and your trading conditions usually cap that. The labels are not standardised, so ask which basis the section is written on.
How much can I recover if I lose a load?
Under the Road Haulage Association’s Conditions of Carriage, the lesser of the actual value of the goods, their replacement cost, or a per tonne figure applied to the gross weight lost. Because the cap is by weight and the risk is by value, light high-value freight is far more exposed than heavy low-value freight.
What is the RHA limit per tonne?
The current conditions cap liability at one thousand three hundred pounds per tonne on the gross weight of the goods lost, mis-delivered or damaged, as one limb of a lesser-of test. It is a ceiling, not an entitlement: if the goods are worth less than the cap, you recover their value.
Can I agree a higher limit than the standard cap?
Yes. The conditions allow the customer to request a higher limit on at least seven days’ written notice before transit, subject to an agreed surcharge. Very few customers do, largely because very few know the option exists. If you regularly move high-value freight it is worth raising.
Do the conditions apply if I print them on my invoice?
Usually not. Trading conditions have to be brought to the other party’s attention before or at the time the contract is made. Stating that they apply on an invoice sent after the job is generally too late to incorporate them, which means your liability has not been capped at all.
How long do I have to notify a claim for goods?
Under the current conditions, written notice of loss, mis-delivery, non-delivery or damage is due within seven days of the end of transit, with evidence supplied in the same period, and twenty-eight days for other losses. Proceedings must be issued within one year of the date transit commenced, not from the loss.
Are bullion and livestock excluded from the conditions?
Not excluded, but heavily restricted. Living creatures, bullion, money, securities, stamps, precious metals and precious stones are carried only where the carrier agreed in writing beforehand, the customer agreed to meet the extra cost, and negligence is proved. The burden of proof shifts to the customer.
What happens on international journeys?
The CMR Convention applies automatically where the place of collection and the place of delivery are in two different countries and at least one is a contracting state. Its liability limit is expressed as special drawing rights per kilogram of the weight lost, and it is substantially higher than the domestic cap.
What is a special drawing right?
It is an International Monetary Fund unit of account, valued daily against a basket of currencies including sterling. The CMR limit is fixed in those units rather than in pounds, so the sterling equivalent moves every day while the underlying limit stays the same.
How much financial standing does an operator licence need?
It depends on the licence type, and the figures are set in legislation rather than reviewed annually. A restricted licence needs less than a standard one, and every additional vehicle needs a further amount. A reduced figure applies to light goods vehicles between 2.5 and 3.5 tonnes used internationally.
What happens if I lose good repute or financial standing?
For a standard licence the traffic commissioner is required to revoke it, subject to a period of grace in which the operator can put the position right. It is a statutory duty rather than a discretion, which is why financial standing and compliance are worth monitoring rather than checking once a year.
What are the penalties for overloading an HGV?
Graduated fixed penalties apply depending on how far over the weight is, with serious overloads dealt with by prosecution instead. Examiners allow a small percentage of leeway, but that leeway does not apply where the weight is exceeded by one tonne or more. An immediate prohibition usually follows.
When does an HGV need its first annual test?
Twelve months after it was first registered with the DVLA, and annually after that. A trailer is usually tested one year after it was first sold or supplied, because trailers are not registered in the same way. Both the vehicle and each trailer need their own test.
Do my drivers need a Driver CPC?
Anyone driving professionally does, with thirty-five hours of periodic training every five years. Driving professionally without it carries a fine. The qualification now splits into national and international versions, and a driver holding only the national one cannot drive professionally in Europe.
What are the drivers’ hours limits?
Under the assimilated rules, nine hours daily driving extendable to ten twice a week, a forty-five minute break after no more than four and a half hours driving, at least eleven hours daily rest, fifty-six hours in a fixed week and ninety hours across two consecutive weeks.
How much does HGV insurance cost?
There is no standard price and we do not publish example premiums. Nobody publishes HGV premium data in the UK, so any figure quoted elsewhere is an assertion. The premium is built from the vehicle, the work, the drivers, the compliance record and the cover chosen, and a quote reflects your actual operation.
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About this page
We publish this page to help hauliers and operators understand what an HGV policy covers, how the goods section actually works, and which rules reach the insurance. It is general information rather than advice. Cover, exclusions and trading conditions vary, so read the policy documents and your own conditions of carriage before relying on either.
How we researched this page
- The current Road Haulage Association conditions of carriage and the CMR Convention
- The Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995 and Senior Traffic Commissioner guidance
- GOV.UK and DVSA guidance on licensing, testing, enforcement and drivers’ hours
- Driver CPC and tachograph requirements as they stand after the July 2026 changes
Where no reliable source exists we say so rather than filling the gap. Nobody publishes UK HGV premium data, so this page carries no example prices and no ranking of rating factors. The trade press figures circulating for overload prosecution thresholds are not on this page either, because we could not verify them against the enforcement policy itself.
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