Why an acts of God exclusion matters when you ship a car
An acts of God exclusion matters on your shipment because it decides whether storm damage gets paid by the hauling carrier's cargo insurance or lands on you. Federal law sets the liability the clause carves an exception from: 49 U.S.C. 14706(a)(1) makes the receiving and delivering carrier liable, under the receipt or bill of lading, for the actual loss or injury to the property (Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, 49 U.S.C. 14706). Read the full section, though, and you won't find an exceptions list. The words act of God don't appear in it, and neither do public enemy, act of the shipper, or inherent vice.
Look for the exclusion in the carrier's cargo policy and in your signed transport agreement. The wording lives there, not in the statute.
Where an acts of God exclusion comes from
An acts of God exclusion is borrowed language from insurance policies and freight contracts, and federal motor carrier regulation defines none of it for a car hauled on its own. The closest federal wording is 49 CFR 375.103, in the household goods definitions, which defines force majeure as "a defense protecting the parties in the event that a part of the contract cannot be performed due to causes which are outside the control of the parties and could not be avoided by exercise of due care" (Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, 49 CFR 375.103; identical wording confirmed at govinfo.gov). That definition's two conditions (outside the parties' control, unavoidable with due care) work as a model for reading a clause, even though part 375 was written for household goods motor carriers moving a household, not a carrier hauling a single vehicle.
Acts of God exclusion vs comprehensive coverage on a personal auto policy
An acts of God exclusion and comprehensive coverage sit on two different contracts, and a clause written into one settles nothing about the other. The Texas Department of Insurance's auto insurance guide, last updated 12/11/2025, describes comprehensive coverage, also called other than collision coverage, as the coverage that pays for fire, flood, vandalism or another non-collision cause of damage or theft, hail included.
| Carrier's cargo policy | Owner's personal auto policy |
|---|
| Who buys it | The motor carrier hauling the vehicle | The vehicle owner |
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| Where the natural-event wording sits | Exclusions in the cargo policy and terms in the transport agreement | Comprehensive coverage, if the owner carries it |
|---|
| Where to read it | The policy itself, not the certificate summary | The policy declarations and coverage forms |
|---|
Keeping your comprehensive coverage in force through a shipment gives you a second policy to check if a storm hits the truck. Whether that policy responds to a particular loss depends on its own terms and the facts, so call your insurer before dropping or reducing coverage for the weeks your car is in transit.
What to ask about an acts of God exclusion before pickup
Ask for the page of the cargo policy that lists exclusions. An acts of God exclusion is a policy term, and a certificate of insurance summarizes limits without printing it. A useful second question: does the clause name specific events, or use one general phrase? Naming hail doesn't automatically reach flood, and a broad phrase can be read more widely than a list.
Moving from open transport to an enclosed trailer changes what your vehicle is exposed to, not the wording of the carrier's policy. Weather damage found at delivery belongs on the bill of lading, written down with the driver present, because the claims process is argued from what got recorded that day.
