In short. A self-employed carrier answers for the goods it carries, but not for their value: article 57.1 of Law 15/2009 caps compensation at one third of the daily IPREM per kilogram of gross weight, today 6.67 euros per kilo. That limit protects whoever moves heavy, cheap freight and leaves whoever moves light, expensive freight badly exposed. It is lost in cases of wilful misconduct or of conscious and deliberate breach of the duty assumed. And the operator who subcontracts does not shed liability: it retains it in full towards its own client.
More than half of Spain's road haulage undertakings —53.8%— run a single vehicle, out of a total of 58,340 companies operating heavy vehicles, according to the road freight observatory of the Spanish Ministry of Transport, with data as at 1 January 2024. In other words: the link that actually moves the load is usually a self-employed operator with one lorry.
That operator answers for other people's goods with a statutory limit of 6.67 euros per kilogram. The goods loaded may be worth two hundred times that figure per kilo.
The transport operator licence does not require goods-in-transit cover
It is worth starting where nobody starts. Article 43 of Law 16/1987 on Inland Transport lists the requirements for obtaining and holding a public transport operator licence. Its paragraph 1 requires nationality, separate legal personality, an address in Spain, the availability of registered vehicles, an electronic address and signature, and being up to date with tax, employment and social security obligations. Its paragraph 2 adds, where the licence covers goods carried in vehicles above 3.5 tonnes maximum authorised mass, the requirements of establishment, good repute, financial standing and professional competence set by European Union rules.
Neither paragraph contains any mention of liability insurance. Nor does Law 20/2007, the Self-Employed Workers' Statute, which imposes no liability cover as a general rule — we analyse the point in detail in whether liability insurance is compulsory for the self-employed.
The party that does require it is your client. The contract with the shipper, the logistics operator or the load-matching platform almost always includes an obligation to hold a current carrier's liability policy and to evidence it. That is the real source of the obligation: contractual, not statutory. The difference matters, because a contractual requirement is negotiated, sized and verified; a statutory requirement is simply complied with.
Exactly how much: 6.67 euros per kilogram
Article 57.1 of Law 15/2009 on the inland carriage of goods puts it in these terms: "compensation for loss or damage may not exceed one third of the Public Multi-purpose Income Indicator/day for each kilogram of gross weight of goods lost or damaged".
The rule does not give a euro figure, it gives a formula. Work it through:
- Current daily IPREM: 20 euros (Law 31/2022 on the General State Budget for 2023, ninetieth additional provision, letter a, rolled over and in force).
- One third of that figure: 20 ÷ 3 = 6.6666… euros, that is, 6.67 euros per kilogram of gross weight.
- Maximum compensation = kilograms of gross weight lost or damaged × 6.6666… euros.
Two points change the result. First: it is gross weight, not net weight. On loads with packaging, a cage or a heavy pallet, the difference is real money in the claimant's favour. Second: it is a ceiling, not a floor. Compensation is never paid above the actual value of the goods; the limit only cuts from the top.
Applied to real consignments, the outcome is this (amounts calculated on the exact third of the daily IPREM and rounded to the cent):
| Consignment | Gross weight | Actual value | Maximum statutory compensation | Shortfall borne by you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pallet of consumer electronics | 400 kg | 45,000 € | 2,666.67 € | 42,333.33 € |
| Pallet of pharmaceutical product | 250 kg | 80,000 € | 1,666.67 € | 78,333.33 € |
| Textile load | 3,000 kg | 25,000 € | 20,000.00 € | 5,000.00 € |
| Full automotive load | 12,000 kg | 60,000 € | 60,000.00 € (the limit, 80,000 €, exceeds the value) | 0 € |
Read the table in both directions, because the counter-intuitive reading is the relevant one: the statutory limit protects the carrier on heavy, cheap goods and leaves it exposed on light, expensive goods. In the last case the ceiling does not even bite: 12,000 kilos give a limit of 80,000 euros, above the value of the load, so the value is what is paid. In the second, a single pharmaceutical pallet leaves the shipper with 78,333.33 euros uncovered by this route.
Three further rules complete the regime. Article 57.2 caps compensation for loss arising from delay at the carriage price. Article 57.3 provides that, where several heads of loss coincide, the total will not exceed the sum payable on total loss. And article 58 adds that, in addition to the compensation, the carriage price and other charges incurred are refunded —pro rata where the loss is partial— together with reasonable salvage costs, closing with a sentence worth underlining: "no other loss or damage shall be made good".
Do you know what limit per kilogram and what limit per claim your carrier's policy carries? Request a review of your cover.
Does the lorry's policy cover the goods? What gets written elsewhere, and why it is wrong
No. Compulsory motor insurance covers liability arising from road traffic events: the damage the vehicle causes to third parties. It does not cover the goods that same vehicle is carrying, which are not a third party but the subject matter of the carriage contract. The haulier who assumes cover is in place "because the lorry is insured" finds out otherwise on the day of the rollover.
There is a second claim circulating online that needs disabling: that Royal Decree-Law 6/2018 obliges the self-employed haulier to buy liability insurance. It is false. That instrument regulates neither transport nor insurance. Do not use it as grounds with a client, and do not accept it as an argument in a contract negotiation.
And a third point on scope: all of the above concerns domestic carriage. International carriage by road is governed by the CMR Convention, whose limit of liability is 8.33 special drawing rights (SDR) per kilogram, appreciably higher than the domestic figure. They are two distinct regimes and should not be mixed when sizing a policy.
When that limit is lost
The limit of 6.67 euros per kilogram is not unconditional. Article 62 of Law 15/2009 deprives the carrier of the benefit of limitation where the damage has been caused by wilful misconduct or by a conscious and deliberate breach of the legal duty assumed producing damage which, although not directly intended, is a necessary consequence of the act. That closing wording is not rhetoric: it is a requirement, and it is where most of these disputes are decided.
The second route is the one that gets litigated. It does not require proof of intent to cause harm, but of deliberate conduct contrary to a known obligation: exceeding agreed cold-chain temperatures, leaving a loaded vehicle unattended in an unauthorised area, exceeding driving hours or disregarding express handling instructions. Once established, liability ceases to be capped and is measured by the actual value of the goods.
It is precisely the lever the shipper's legal department will use. And it is also why an apparently minor operational breach can multiply the carrier's exposure tenfold in a single file.
Why your client asks for the certificate
This is where the article changes reader. If you are the risk manager of a logistics operator, this section is yours.
Article 5 of Law 15/2009 provides that carriage contracts are presumed to be entered into in the party's own name, and that hauliers, transport cooperatives, logistics operators and intermediaries may only contract in their own name. Article 6 closes the circle: the carrier who subcontracts answers in full to the shipper for the carriage contracted, and in turn takes the position of shipper vis-à-vis the actual carrier.
Translated into exposure: when an operator subcontracts a load to a self-employed haulier, its liability towards the end client does not disappear, it doubles. The client claims the full amount from you; your only route to recovery is against the actual carrier and, in practice, against its policy. If the self-employed haulier has no cover, is insolvent or its wording excludes the circumstances, the loss stays with the operator in full.
That, and not formal compliance, is the real reason the insurance certificate is required. A certificate that must also be validated: what section it evidences, what limit it carries, what it excludes and whether it is in force on the date of carriage. We develop the point in how to validate a liability insurance certificate and in what liability cover to require from a subcontracted self-employed professional. The documentary logic is the same one applied on site and in services, covered in CAE documentation and contractors' insurance.
It is also worth keeping the roles apart: the shipper is whoever contracts in its own name, not necessarily the owner of the goods. In a logistics chain, the operator is shipper towards the self-employed haulier and carrier towards its own client at the same time, carrying the obligations of both positions simultaneously.
The three policies almost nobody tells apart
Most of the misunderstandings in this class of business fit into one table.
| Policy | What it responds for | What it leaves out | Who usually buys it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carrier's liability | Liability for loss, damage and delay to the goods carried in its custody, within the limits of Law 15/2009 | Anything above the statutory limit, unless expressly agreed; the circumstances excluded in the wording | The haulier |
| General or public liability | Damage caused to third parties by the conduct of the activity: people, third-party property, the client's premises | Typically excludes goods carried and property in the insured's custody | The haulier or the operator |
| Goods in transit (cargo) insurance | The actual value of the goods, without regard to the per-kilogram limits and regardless of who is liable | Whatever its own wording sets out (nature of the risk, packaging, declared value) | The shipper or the owner |
The second row is the most expensive "I thought we were covered" in the sector. A general liability policy —the one bought by default for almost any activity, and which we explain on our liability cover page— responds for damage to third parties, not for the load the insured is carrying in the trailer. The exclusion of goods carried or held in custody appears in virtually every wording on the market, although the exact extent is governed by the particular conditions of each policy.
Hence a straightforward operational conclusion: if you move other people's goods, carrier's liability is not an optional extension to your general liability. It is the primary cover.
We analyse your wording and your real exposure by type of load before approaching the market. Talk to us.
The loading bay: reservations and time limits
The file is won or lost on the loading bay, with a pen, before any claim exists.
Article 60 of Law 15/2009 requires reservations to be made in writing at the time of delivery, stating the general nature of the loss or damage. Where the damage is not apparent, the period extends to seven calendar days from delivery. Outside those periods, the claimant's procedural position deteriorates substantially.
Above that sits the limitation period under article 79: one year for actions arising from the carriage contract, two in cases of wilful misconduct.
The practical consequence is twofold. For the haulier: always insist on a signed delivery note and keep a copy with the reservations recorded. For the operator who subcontracts: a delivery note signed clean destroys its own right of recovery, because it prevents any later claim against the actual carrier for what its client is claiming from you. It is a documentary control at zero cost with a direct effect on the profit and loss account.
If you want to see how that exposure translates into premium, we explain it in what sits inside a liability premium. And if your activity falls within logistics, you will find the sector approach in our solutions by sector.
The role of an independent broker
Two carrier's liability policies with the same premium can leave radically different exposures depending on how custody is worded, which types of load are excluded, whether there is a sub-limit for theft or for sensitive goods, and whether the excess over the statutory limit is covered when that limit falls away under article 62. As an independent brokerage registered with the Spanish DGSFP under reference J0140, we act on the client's mandate: we analyse wordings across the whole market, we negotiate the drafting before the price and, when a claim arises, we defend the insured before the insurer.
In transport there is a further layer: aligning the self-employed haulier's policy with what its client's contract requires, and aligning the operator's requirements with the exposure it actually retains when it subcontracts. They are two different conversations and, frequently, the same brokerage holds both, at each end of the chain.
Frequently asked questions
Is liability insurance compulsory for a self-employed haulier? Not as a general rule. Article 43 of Law 16/1987 makes the transport operator licence conditional on the requirements of paragraph 1 —nationality, legal personality, address, registered vehicles and tax, employment and social security compliance— and, for vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, on those of paragraph 2 —establishment, good repute, financial standing and professional competence—, with no mention of liability insurance. The real requirement arises from the contract with the shipper or the logistics operator.
How much is paid per kilo of lost goods? A maximum of one third of the daily IPREM per kilogram of gross weight, under article 57.1 of Law 15/2009. At the current daily IPREM of 20 euros, 6.67 euros per kilogram. It is a ceiling: if the actual value is lower, the value is what is paid.
Does general liability cover the goods carried? Usually not. General or public liability responds for damage to third parties and typically excludes in express terms goods carried or held in the insured's custody. The goods are covered by the carrier's liability section, subject to the terms of each policy.
What happens if I subcontract a load? You continue to answer in full to the shipper, under article 6 of Law 15/2009, and you take the position of shipper vis-à-vis the actual carrier. Liability is not transferred: it is recovered afterwards, if the subcontractor is solvent or holds a policy.
How long is there to bring a claim? One year, or two in cases of wilful misconduct, under article 79 of Law 15/2009. But the reservations under article 60 come first: in writing at the time of delivery and, where the damage is not apparent, within the following seven calendar days.
Sources and legislation
- Law 15/2009 on the contract for the inland carriage of goods: articles 5 and 6 (contracting in one's own name and subcontracting), 57 (limits of compensation), 58 (other charges), 60 (reservations), 62 (loss of the benefit of limitation) and 79 (limitation period).
- Law 16/1987 on Inland Transport, article 43, paragraphs 1 and 2 (requirements for the transport operator licence).
- Law 31/2022 on the General State Budget for 2023, ninetieth additional provision, letter a (daily IPREM of 20 euros; rolled over and in force).
- Law 20/2007, the Self-Employed Workers' Statute.
- CMR Convention on the contract for the international carriage of goods by road (limit of 8.33 special drawing rights per kilogram).
- Ministry of Transport, road freight transport observatory, data as at 1 January 2024.
This information is for guidance only and does not constitute binding advice. Cover, limits and exclusions are governed in all cases by the particular conditions of each policy. New Brokers Correduría de Seguros, S.L., registered with the Spanish DGSFP under reference J0140.
