Insurance certificates: can payment be held?

Darlene

Darlene

Member
Jun 9, 2009
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broker is holding a cheque for a shipment we had moved on their behalf. they are not going to release this until an updated insurance is sent to them..If I do not fax insurance they say they do not have to pay..??? Is this true? Then, do i ask brokers if they have my current insurance certificate on file, before we take their shipment, or is this brokers responsibility to have it on file.
 
Darlene, as a broker, I do not send any carrier a load confirmation unless I have a current copy of their certificate of their insurance at hand. As far as it being necessary for release of a payment due, perhaps the broker is conducting their due diligence to ensure that if any unseen damages arise with this shipment, then there is coverage available to minimize any potential loss. It begs to be asked - is there any reason for your seeming reluctance to send a certificate of insurance to the broker?
 
insurance

Thank you for your response..Activet..

And no, there is no reason why, and yes, it has been sent.. But it really irks me when they tell me they do not have to pay. And telling me it is my responsibility to make sure they have current information on file...that I think is wrong..
 
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That is wrong that they say it is your responsibility that they have it on file. But it is normal for them to ask for one - but it should have been before you received the load confirmation.
 
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It is called "creative cash flow management".....just another means to delay payment of your invoice.

Let's review - you have the assets and working with a non asset based identity that the Carrier has to check with them before they book an order to see if the incumbent Carrier's insurance certificate is on file....

What a joke.......I can assure you with this Company....today was an issue with insurance certificate....there will always be something with this Company..

Beware......
 
insurance

thankyou for all the input.. certificate has been sent to them..and payment will be released..(crossing fingers)
 
Not yet.,,,

TRPM said:
It is called "creative cash flow management".....just another means to delay payment of your invoice.

Let's review - you have the assets and working with a non asset based identity that the Carrier has to check with them before they book an order to see if the incumbent Carrier's insurance certificate is on file....

What a joke.......I can assure you with this Company....today was an issue with insurance certificate....there will always be something with this Company..

Beware......
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TRPM...I think you are jumping to conclusions a little bit here. Let's focus on the issue at hand....expired or no insurance on file. They are just doing their due diligence. If they pay the invoice (per the terms agreed mind you!) then all is good. If they don't...you may very well be correct. But too early to tell just because they are asking for current insurance. My cent and a half.;)
 
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TRPM said:
It is called "creative cash flow management".....just another means to delay payment of your invoice.
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I have to agree with TRPM on this.

We all know about Keena - this is a HUGE payment delay tactic they constantly use. I have told them numerous times to request our insurance/WSIB information at the time of BOOKING the load. Not when I am looking for an already overdue receivable. Then you send the certificate over and they take another 30 days to pay. They are horrible for this....

KRG Logistics does this also. Your payment shows up in the mail - less a percentage due to "no insurance on file". When you call to question - their response is "we requested it from your dispatch" - although no one ever recalls them calling or asking. I caught onto this right away and the first time we were shorted I demanded the balance be paid or their customer would be informed. The balance showed up shortly after.
 
I agree that there are carriers/brokers that will use this as a delay tactic and agree with all the points listed above. Since a company was not named in the original thread we don't know if it is an "MO" for stalling or legitimate request. Maybe if we know who the company is we can see if that tactic has been used repeatedly. Again...not condoning it by any means and do see as valid the points listed above.
 
Well ... this is not that simple.

Brokers are subject to audits to make sure they are managing their carrier base to ensure they are in compliance, and if they aren't, they are INDEED fined for it. Most brokers have built into their IT a measure for making sure that they can't dispatch loads to carrier's whose credentials (ie insurance, WSIB) expire. So it's actually a red flag when a broker can't do that -- it means they haven't invested in the business, which is BAD news.

But there can be cases where a carrier does a load, and shortly after, they default on their insurance or something, and the broker has to protect themselves from claims and fines because of it. It's not good business practice to do this, but they may have had a bad experience that has led them to do this recently.

Are there guys out there who will use this to stall payment? I'm sure yes ... but without knowing who the broker is it's kinda hard to say.
 
Question

As a broker I hate having to collect all this crap! I'm obligated to do so. I request it over and over again. I've got a system to manage it and automatically send out a fax or email to the carrier requesting a new copy the month their insurance expires.

As a request... carriers.... in this day and age, you know all your brokers and customers want this stuff. As a courtesy to your customers wouldn't it make sense to just fax it out to all your customers automatcally when you get a copy of the renewal in? It would save everyone alot a grief. You've got a database of all your customer's fax numbers, couldn't you just blast fax it out? There's lots of web services that will do this for you if you don't have software in house.

At the end of the day it would save everyone alot of time, including yourself!
 
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Really?

If I do not fax insurance they say they do not have to pay..???
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I agree with others who have commented, any broker that gives a load to a carrier without getting insurance confirmation FIRST is taking a BIG chance.

As far as not paying without an insurance certificate, I see that all the time and I think it's ridiculous.

If the load has been delivered to all parties satisfaction the carrier has done their job, period.
PAY THEM, and fire the person that didn't get insurance confirmation before the load was dispatched! Really, what good is an insurance certificate for a load that was done in the past?

Just my 2 cents from a guy that sends out about 20 certificates a day... ;)
 
Pablo said:
As a request... carriers.... in this day and age, you know all your brokers and customers want this stuff. As a courtesy to your customers wouldn't it make sense to just fax it out to all your customers automatcally when you get a copy of the renewal in? It would save everyone alot a grief. You've got a database of all your customer's fax numbers, couldn't you just blast fax it out? There's lots of web services that will do this for you if you don't have software in house.

At the end of the day it would save everyone alot of time, including yourself!
Click to expand...

I've tried that in previous years and found out that the fax just ended up in the garbage or not entered in their system. They just ask for it again when they book a load.

In my experience, it doesn't pay to get all fax numbers or email addresses only to find that some have changed and others just threw it out because we were not under a load at the current time.

We now just fax it to our main customers and let the rest request it if necessary.
 
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