Car Shipping Damage Claim
If your car shows up damaged, what you do in the next ten minutes decides your claim: write every new mark on the bill of lading before you sign it, photograph it, then send the carrier a written claim stating a specific dollar amount. From there, federal rules take over: the carrier has 30 days to acknowledge your claim and 120 days to pay it, decline it, or make you an offer.
What decides a damage claim: the walkaround at pickup and delivery
Your claim comes down to two walkarounds: one at pickup, which sets your car's starting condition, and one at delivery, which gets compared against it. Both are recorded on the same document, the bill of lading.
At pickup, you or someone you authorize inspect the vehicle with the driver and mark every scratch, dent and flaw on the bill of lading before it's loaded. That's your baseline. At delivery, you walk the vehicle again, and anything new goes on the bill of lading before anyone signs. That paperwork is the entire case your claim is built from. The U.S. Supreme Court laid out exactly what you have to show in Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. v. Elmore & Stahl: good condition at pickup, damaged condition at delivery, and a dollar amount. Your pickup mark proves the first part.
What to do in the first hour after finding damage
Don't sign a clean delivery receipt if your car has new damage. Write it on the bill of lading first, photograph it, and get the driver's signature before the truck leaves.
- Walk the car with the driver before you sign anything, comparing it against the pickup marks already on the bill of lading.
- Point out every new mark, however small, and get it written on the delivery copy of the bill of lading, not just acknowledged out loud.
- Photograph the damage from multiple angles, including one wide shot of the whole vehicle and its surroundings, before the truck leaves.
- Get the driver's signature on the noted damage, and keep a legible copy of the signed bill of lading for yourself.
- Confirm the name of the carrier that actually hauled your vehicle. The company on the driver's paperwork is the party liable under federal law, and it may not be the name you remember booking with.
- Contact us. We arranged your shipment and can get you the assigned carrier's contact information and certificate of insurance if you don't already have it.
- Put your claim in writing to the carrier as soon as you can, stating what shipment it concerns, that you're holding the carrier liable, and a specific dollar amount. A written claim under 49 CFR 370.3(b) needs all three elements to count.
What you give up by signing a clean bill of lading and driving away
Sign a delivery copy with no damage noted, and you've put in writing that your car arrived exactly as recorded, which makes later damage hard to pin on the carrier.
Once the truck is gone and the paperwork is signed clean, your strongest evidence, a delivery-day mark showing the damage was already there, no longer exists. If you notice something wrong only after pulling the car into your garage, or under different light, you're working from a much weaker case than if you'd caught it standing in the driveway. The walkaround matters more than any other single step, so check your car in daylight, check it slowly, and don't sign until every visible mark is written down.
How long does a car shipping damage claim take?
The carrier has 30 days to acknowledge your written claim, and 120 days from receiving it to pay you, decline it, or make you a firm written offer, under 49 CFR Part 370.
49 CFR 370.5 gives the carrier 30 days to acknowledge your claim in writing, unless it's already paid or declined it inside that same window. 49 CFR 370.9 then gives the carrier 120 days from receiving your claim to pay, decline, or make a firm compromise settlement offer in writing. Still open past 120 days? The carrier owes you a written status update explaining the delay at the end of every following 60-day period until it's resolved. These are federal response deadlines. Wave does not track or publish how long its own claims typically take.
How long do you have to file a car shipping damage claim?
Federal law sets a floor, not a ceiling: no carrier can give you less than 9 months to file a claim or less than 2 years to bring a civil action, though a specific carrier's own bill of lading may give you longer.
49 U.S.C. 14706(e) bars a carrier from giving you less than 9 months to file a claim against it, or less than 2 years to bring a civil action if it declines your claim. Those are minimums the carrier can't shrink, so they are no reason to wait. File your written claim the moment your damage is confirmed; your case is strongest while the pickup and delivery marks are freshest.
Do you file a claim against Wave or against the carrier?
You file against the motor carrier that hauled your vehicle. Federal law places liability on the carrier named on your bill of lading, not on us as the broker who arranged the booking.
49 U.S.C. 14706(a)(1) makes the carrier that picked up your vehicle and the carrier that delivered it liable to you for its actual loss or injury. We're a different party from that carrier, and that decides who owes the money, not who did the work. You're not left to chase the carrier alone: send us your evidence and what you know, we file a report, and we handle the dispute between you, the carrier and the carrier's insurance company. We help you get paid, by the carrier or by cargo insurance. We are not the party paying, and we don't promise an outcome or a date. The written claim, and the carrier's 30- and 120-day response deadlines, run against the carrier.
What if the carrier won't pay or ignores the claim?
If a carrier misses its 30-day acknowledgment or 120-day response deadline, or you believe it's acting in bad faith, you can report it to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration through its National Consumer Complaint Database.
FMCSA's National Consumer Complaint Database takes complaints against interstate movers, brokers and carriers online, and your complaint becomes part of that company's record. It can factor into whether FMCSA investigates, but it isn't a mechanism for collecting payment directly and it doesn't replace a civil claim under the carrier's own liability. If you've exhausted the carrier's own claims process, or you're still inside the 2-year civil-action window from 49 U.S.C. 14706(e), small claims court or another civil action is also an option, separate from any FMCSA complaint.
What if the repair is finished but the car is worth less, or the damage looks weather-related?
Your car can be fully repaired and still worth less on resale, which is diminished value, and it isn't automatically covered by anyone's policy. Weather damage on an open trailer comes down entirely to that carrier's own policy wording, which no federal rule standardizes.
You have to prove and demand diminished value inside your claim itself, since 49 CFR 370.3(b) already requires a written claim to state a specific or determinable dollar amount. A repair invoice alone won't establish it. Storm or road-debris damage on an open carrier is a separate question from whether the carrier is liable at all: the federal liability statute names no weather exception, so whether your loss gets paid comes down to the exclusion language in that carrier's own cargo policy.
Frequently asked questions about car shipping damage claims
- What do I do if my car arrives damaged from shipping?
Walk the car with the driver before you sign anything, write every new mark on the bill of lading, photograph the damage, and get the driver's signature. Then follow up with a written claim to the carrier stating a specific dollar amount. Contact us and we'll help you identify the assigned carrier and its insurance information.
- Do I file a damage claim with Wave or with the carrier?
With the carrier that physically hauled your vehicle, since federal law places liability on the carrier named on the bill of lading, not on us as the broker who arranged the shipment. In practice you're not left to deal with the carrier alone: send us your evidence, we file a report, and we handle the dispute between you, the carrier and the carrier's insurance company. We help you get paid, by the carrier or by cargo insurance. We're not the ones paying, and we don't promise an outcome or a date.
- How long does a carrier have to respond to a damage claim?
30 days to acknowledge your written claim, and 120 days from receiving it to pay you, decline it, or make you a firm offer, under 49 CFR 370.5 and 370.9. Still open past 120 days? You get a written status update every 60 days after that.
- How long do I have to file a car shipping damage claim?
Federal law sets a floor: no carrier can give you less than 9 months to file a claim or less than 2 years to bring a civil action, under 49 U.S.C. 14706(e). A specific carrier's own bill of lading may give you longer, but file the moment your damage is confirmed anyway.
- What happens if I already signed the bill of lading and left?
A delivery copy signed with no damage noted is a written statement that your vehicle arrived exactly as recorded, which makes it much harder to pin damage discovered later on the carrier. This is why the walkaround before you sign matters more than any other step in the process.
- What if the carrier ignores my claim or refuses to pay?
A carrier that misses its federal response deadlines can be reported to FMCSA's National Consumer Complaint Database, and if you're still inside the statutory filing window, small claims court or another civil action is also an option, separate from any FMCSA complaint.
- Is diminished value included in a car shipping damage claim?
Not automatically. Diminished value — the resale loss on a fully repaired vehicle — has to be proved and demanded inside your written claim itself, with a specific dollar amount, rather than assumed from the repair invoice.
- diminished value
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