How to check a Compensa carrier liability policy

On the first page find the title “Umowa ubezpieczenia odpowiedzialności cywilnej przewoźnika drogowego” (road carrier liability insurance contract). That is the Compensa product. The title does not say OCP. OCP is the everyday Polish name for this cover.

Above the title sits “Product_CODE: 140012001, 140012002”. Those are product codes, not the contract number. The German cabotage annex has its own code 140012003.

Under the Compensa block find the other party labelled “zwanym dalej Ubezpieczonym” (hereinafter the insured). Compare the full legal name, legal form, REGON, NIP, address and “NR LICENCJI ZAWODOWEJ” (professional licence number) with the booking and the current company record.

Write down the number in the title after “przewoźnika drogowego nr” (road carrier contract no.). Then open “§ 13. Obowiązywanie umowy” (term of the contract). Read “Umowa ubezpieczenia zawarta zostaje na okres od dn.” (the insurance contract is concluded for the period from) with the start at 00:00 and the end at 24:00.

The dates must cover loading, transit and the planned unloading. Compensa adds a condition: “pod warunkiem, że rozpoczęcie przewozu wstąpiło w okresie ubezpieczenia” (provided that the haul started during the period of cover). A haul that started before the period stays out, even if unloading is still inside the dates.

In “§ 4. Suma ubezpieczenia” (sum insured) Compensa prints one figure “z tytułu każdego wypadku ubezpieczeniowego” (for each insured event). There are no three blocks as on other forms. Do not copy that sum onto German cabotage.

Territory sits in § 13(2): “Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, Europy, z wyłączeniem Ukrainy oraz krajów Wspólnoty Niepodległych Państw” (Poland and Europe, excluding Ukraine and the CIS). In § 4 also read “Franszyza redukcyjna” (deductible). On the contract it is often split: a higher figure “w każdym przewożonym pojeździe” (for each vehicle carried) and a lower figure “w każdej pozostałej szkodzie” (for every other loss).

The standard Compensa contract does not list registration plates. Do not look for a plate annex on the first page.

The vehicle limit appears in the annex “Kabotaż Niemcy” (German cabotage): cover applies to “pojazdów silnikowych o dopuszczalnej masie całkowitej (DMC) pow. 3,5 t.” (motor vehicles with GVW over 3.5 t). A booked tractor or combination below that threshold is outside this annex.

Open “§ 2. Wyłączenia odpowiedzialności Compensa TU S.A.” (exclusions of Compensa’s liability), paragraph 4. The sentence starts “Z zakresu ubezpieczenia wyłączona jest odpowiedzialność cywilna Ubezpieczonego związana z przewozem” (liability connected with the carriage of the following is excluded). This is an exclusion list, not a stamp that every cargo is in.

The list includes live animals, cash, works of art, ADR classes I and VII, weapons, oversized loads that need a special permit, courier consignments and “przesyłek wymagających kontrolowanej temperatury przewozu” (shipments that require a controlled temperature). A high sum in § 4 does not cover an item on that list unless a separate line was bought in § 1.

Compensa publishes a form “Potwierdzenie zawarcia umowy OC przewoźnika” (confirmation of a carrier liability contract) on zgloszenie.compensa.pl. Open that page yourself. Enter the data Compensa uses to recognise the policy. If the data match, the confirmation appears at once and is sent by email. Otherwise a reply comes within 3 working days.

Do not confuse that form with “Potwierdzenie zawarcia umowy OC” for vehicle MTPL. Do not use a phone number that appears only in the carrier’s email. A German “Versicherungsnachweis” confirms cabotage under § 7a GüKG, but it omits the exclusion list and the haul-start condition.

Look for an “Aneks” (annex) headed “Kabotaż Niemcy” (German cabotage) with “Product_CODE: 140012003”. The annex cites § 7a Güterkraftverkehrsgesetz and the HGB, with a limit of 40 SDR per kilogram. The annex sum is “niezależna w stosunku do sumy ubezpieczenia wskazanej w umowie” (independent of the sum insured in the main contract).

No annex means no German cabotage. The sum in § 4 of the main contract does not buy that scope. The annex limits vehicles to DMC above 3.5 t.

§ 2(4)(h) excludes “przesyłek wymagających kontrolowanej temperatury przewozu” (shipments that require a controlled temperature). Cover for that cargo exists only as a separate sublimit in “§ 1. Zakres przedmiotowy ubezpieczenia” (subject-matter of the insurance), usually with an ATP certificate and a working thermograph. No such line ends the check for chilled food.

§ 13(2) covers “Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, Europy, z wyłączeniem Ukrainy oraz krajów Wspólnoty Niepodległych Państw (m.in. Białorusi, Mołdawii, Federacji Rosyjskiej)” (Poland and Europe, excluding Ukraine and the CIS, including Belarus, Moldova and the Russian Federation). A haul through those countries does not sit under the heading Europe. Compare the loading and unloading points with that sentence, not with an EU map.

§ 13(1) covers an event in the period only if “rozpoczęcie przewozu wstąpiło w okresie ubezpieczenia” (the haul started during the period of cover). A policy still valid on the delivery day is not enough if loading was before 00:00 in § 13. Check both booking dates.

“Suma ubezpieczenia” (sum insured) in § 4 is the cap for each event. In § 1 Compensa adds sublimits, for example for a value declaration under CMR article 24, delay or legal assistance. Those figures sit inside the main sum. A PDF from the start of the period does not show how much of that limit remains.

In § 4 “Franszyza redukcyjna” (deductible) often has a separate line “w każdym przewożonym pojeździe” (for each vehicle carried) and another “w każdej pozostałej szkodzie” (for every other loss). On a car-transporter booking read the higher threshold. One figure on the BAG certificate does not show that split.