VALUATION OF PROPERTY CONSIGNED FOR INTERSTATE TRANSPORT

Posted on Feb 23, 2012

When you hire a commercial van to transport your possessions across state lines you
should carefully review the Bill of Lading. Bills of Lading are the written contracts that
van companies use when hauling your property.

Whether it be a horse or your furniture, when you hire someone to transport your
property across a state line, the contract is interpreted using federal as opposed to state
law. Therefore certain types of recovery, for instance, negligence, may not be an option
for you to recover your loss in the event your property is lost or destroyed.

When you review the contract you may notice that the value of your property is pre-
printed on the Bill of Lading. Generally the preprinted consignment contracts have a
stated value next to each space where the property will be described prior to shipment.

If you do not object to that value, and the property is destroyed in transit, you will
probably be entitled to recover only that amount specified in the Bill of Lading.

However you do have options. If you want your property to have a different value, in
the event it is lost or destroyed in transit, the van company must give you the option
to specify its value. You should understand that, by asking for a higher value, the van
company is entitled to adjust its tariff to offset their potential for greater liability.

It is one thing if you are sending your Ikea desk in the van. It is quite a different issue if
you are sending your Chippendale. Therefore you should negotiate the appropriate value
of your possession when you consign it to a commercial hauler to be hauled across state
lines.