subject: What Is The Declared Value? [print this page] Declared value is something that you're going to see notated on most of the insurance forms that are provided to you by your Chicago courier service. This is because this is the number that you are essentially claiming as your maximum amount that you have the right to claim if something should happen to your package. When you "declare the value" of a package, you are saying that is how much the package is worth.
If something should happen to your package while in transit, whether it becomes lost or is damaged somehow, the first thing that you're probably going to have to do is put in an insurance claim with the courier insurance provider used by your courier. The maximum amount that you're going to be able to claim in terms of damages to your goods is going to be determined by what you placed in the declared value spot when you were initially filling out the paperwork for your shipment.
You don't just get to put whatever number you want in this spot though. First, if you make an insurance claim that seems far higher than what the actual value of the shipment is (as you will have described the items as well) then you may be asked to produce proof of that value. Second, courier companies are all going to have a maximum amount that you can claim as your declared value, regardless of the actual value of your shipment. This is going to be determined by the insurance company based on whatever level of coverage your courier company is paying for.
This can cause a problem in certain very specific situations. Usually, this coverage is ample to cover the value of the goods that most people are shipping. There are exceptions though, where people are shipping something which is worth much more than the maximum amount that they can claim as their declared value. In these situations a customer of a courier company may need to look into ways of purchasing additional insurance.
Usually there are two options that may present themselves if you need to purchase additional insurance. If you're working with a courier company that has a certain kind of agreement with their insurance provider, there may be a chance that you can simply buy additional insurance directly from them. In other situations you might have to contact your own insurance company to insure your courier shipment.
