Total Loss Only (TLO) Insurance

Definition of "Total Loss Only (TLO) insurance"

Life is unpredictable so to compensate this, people have invented insurance. Insurance deals with unforeseen events. Sometimes insurance companies cover only a part of your losses and a few named perils, while sometimes it covers every damage imaginable and every mishap. If you are a driver, you might mistake the definition of total loss only insurance for total loss in a car accident, when the insurance company declares your car “totaled” - not worthy of any repairments.

A Total Loss Only insurance covers your goods only in the event they are completely destroyed and irrecuperable. It’s a low-cost insurance policy if you compare it with All Risk insurance.

Shipping companies rely a lot on Total Loss Only (TLO) insurance because this limits a lot the amount of damage they are responsible for so they don’t lose money unless the merchandise was stolen, completely destroyed by fire or the ship sank.

Total Loss Only insurance is also available for people who have to move their belongings to their new house. By federal law, most moving companies have to offer at least two kinds of insurance for shipments, but TLO is not included. This kind of moving insurance covers the goods only in the event of a catastrophe. Check with your agent to understand better what catastrophe means for your insurance company. This kind of insurance can be purchased any time before you start packing, in comparison to All Risk insurance, which cannot be purchased later than two days before packing.

For those who do not work with a moving company, TLO insurance might be the only alternative left. This type of policy will cover your goods only if you lose everything or your goods are damaged beyond repair.

For marine cargo, Total Loss Only insurance is the only insurance available for self-packed parcels or boxes. It doesn’t provide coverage for partial loss or damage.

In case of damage or loss, make sure you file a claim as soon as possible. Do not postpone that or you may find your claim was not timely enough to qualify for any reimbursement or compensation.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Insurance Terms

Background information used in life and health insurance underwriting to ascertain the probability of hereditary disease. The purpose is to determine if the disease is of such a nature that ...

Theory developed in 1931 by H. W. Heinrich; states that an accident is only one of a series of factors, each of which depends on a previous factor in the following manner: accident causes ...

Option to an insurance company to replace, reconstruct (repair), or reproduce (rebuild) damaged or destroyed property covered by property insurance rather than indemnify an insured in cash. ...

Written form which has precisely the same terms as the other property insurance policies covering a particular property. ...

Total limit on the amount of coverage an insurer will underwrite on an individual risk. The amount underwritten includes the amount to be ceded through a reinsurance agreement. ...

Same as term Debit Insurance: life insurance on which a premium is collected on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis, usually at the home of a policyholder. The face value of the policy is ...

Same as term Contract Holder: in insurance, individual with rightful possession of an insurance policy, usually the policyowner. ...

Death caused by a person without legal justification. Wrongful death may be the result of negligence, such as when a drunken driver hits and kills someone; or it may be intentional, as when ...

Pension plan format. After deciding how much to contribute, the employer can suspend, reduce, or discontinue contributions during the first 10 years only for reasons of business necessity; ...

Popular Insurance Questions