Every time you hook up to a trailer you don't own, whether it's a container on a chassis at a rail yard or a shipper's trailer on a power-only load, you're usually agreeing to pay for it if something happens to it in your care. Your auto liability doesn't cover that, and physical damage on your own equipment doesn't either. That's the job of trailer interchange insurance.

What trailer interchange covers

Trailer interchange pays for physical damage to a trailer you don't own, and its equipment, while it's in your possession under a written trailer interchange agreement in which you've accepted responsibility for it. It usually covers the same kinds of loss as physical damage on your own truck: collision, fire, theft and other comprehensive losses. It has a dollar limit, so the limit has to match the value of the equipment you pull.

The written agreement is the trigger

Trailer interchange applies when there's a written interchange agreement, such as the UIIA for intermodal equipment or a trailer interchange agreement with another carrier. Pulling a trailer without one, for example a shipper's trailer on a power-only load with no signed agreement, can fall outside it. For that, insurers offer non-owned trailer physical damage coverage, which doesn't depend on a written agreement. If you run power only, ask your agent which one your policy has, and read the agreement before you sign it.

Who needs it

Intermodal and drayage carriers pulling containers on chassis from rail yards and ports. The UIIA requires it.
Power-only carriers pulling trailers owned by shippers, brokers or other carriers.
Carriers that swap trailers with other carriers under interchange agreements.
Owner-operators leased to a carrier: check whether the carrier's policy covers the trailers you pull, or whether your lease expects you to carry the coverage yourself.

UIIA requirements for intermodal

The Uniform Intermodal Interchange and Facilities Access Agreement (UIIA) governs most container and chassis interchange in the U.S., and Chicago, the biggest rail hub in North America, runs on it. To participate, a motor carrier needs $1,000,000 of auto liability written to cover hired autos as well as owned ones, with the UIIA endorsement attached; $1,000,000 of general liability; and trailer interchange that includes comprehensive, collision, fire and theft. Trailer interchange and cargo limits vary by equipment provider, and the railroads, ocean carriers and leasing companies each set their own. Your insurance agent files your coverage with the UIIA, and a lapse can get you suspended from the yards until it's fixed.

What it doesn't cover

The freight inside the trailer. That's cargo coverage.
Trailers you own. Those go under physical damage on your own policy.
Wear and tear, mechanical breakdown and tire damage on its own, which physical damage coverage generally excludes.
Per diem and detention charges for keeping the equipment too long.
Trailers pulled without the kind of agreement your policy requires.

How to set the limit

Set the limit at the value of the most expensive trailer, or container and chassis, you'll realistically pull, not the average one, and check each equipment provider's required minimum. A dry van, a refrigerated trailer and a loaded container on a chassis carry very different values. If you're not sure, send us the agreements you've been asked to sign and we'll match the limit to them.