Your physical damage cover follows equipment you own. An interchanged trailer is not it.
Trailer interchange covers damage to a trailer you are pulling but do not own, while it is in your possession under a written interchange agreement.
Tell us the situation.
A licensed human replies the same business day — not an auto-responder, and not five producers calling at once. We shop it across our carriers and tell you if the policy you already have is the right one.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
What trailer interchange businesses actually need.
Damage in your possession
Collision, fire, theft and vandalism to the interchanged trailer while you have it.
Without it — The trailer’s owner bills you for the repair, and your own physical damage policy is not written to respond for equipment you do not own.
The interchange agreement
Cover triggered by a written agreement between carriers to swap trailers, which is what the form requires to exist.
Without it — Pulling someone’s trailer on a handshake can leave the loss outside both policies, because the agreement the form asks for was never written.
Non-owned trailer physical damage
The broader alternative, which does not require an interchange agreement — for a rented or borrowed trailer.
Without it — A trailer rented for a single job falls outside a strict trailer interchange form.
Where trailer interchange shows up.
- Trucking
A trailer you pulled under an interchange agreement is not your equipment, so your own physical damage cover does not follow it.
- Refrigerated Freight
Pulling somebody else’s reefer under an interchange agreement puts a trailer you do not own behind your truck.
- Auto Transport
Equipment pulled under an interchange agreement is not covered by your own physical damage.
- Long Haul Trucking
Interchanged trailers behind your tractor are not your equipment and not on your physical damage.
What trailer interchange operators ask us.
Do I need a written interchange agreement?
For trailer interchange cover as such, yes — the coverage is defined around it, and a claim on a trailer swapped informally can be denied on that basis alone. If you regularly pull trailers you do not own without a formal interchange agreement, non-owned trailer physical damage is the form you want instead. Tell us which situation you are actually in and we will match the form to it rather than the other way round.
Is this the same as motor truck cargo?
No, and they are commonly confused because both involve something that is not yours. Cargo covers the freight inside the trailer. Trailer interchange covers the trailer itself. A load destroyed in a fire that also burned the borrowed trailer is two claims on two different coverages.