What ‘Zero Deductible’ Actually Means

In freight, every detail matters, but some carry more weight than others. One of the most overlooked details in any cargo insurance policy is the deductible. It’s small, easy to skim over, and often tucked deep in the terms. But when something goes wrong, it’s the first number that gets noticed. And for many policyholders, it’s the part that makes the difference between getting paid or getting frustrated.

At Breeze, we believe insurance should feel like protection, not paperwork. That’s why we built our general cargo policies to carry no deductible by default. To understand why this matters, you need to look at how deductibles work, why they exist, and what happens when they’re taken out of the equation.

What is a Deductible?

A deductible (or excess) is the amount the policyholder has to cover before the insurer steps in. It’s used in all kinds of insurance, from automotive to health to marine. In cargo, it usually means the first few thousand pounds of any loss won’t be covered by the insurer, even if the policy is “all-risk.”

Imagine this:

• Cargo value: £9,000
• Damage: £3,000
• Deductible: £2,500
• Claim payout: £500

That’s the kind of maths that turns a policyholder into a critic. And in most cases, they didn’t see it coming.

Why Deductibles Exist, and Why They’re Overused

Originally, deductibles were introduced to stop people from filing small or frequent claims. The thinking was that if policyholders had to carry some of the cost themselves, they’d only use insurance when they really needed to. That made sense in a high-volume, low-tech world.

But the modern freight landscape doesn’t work that way. Most claims today aren’t frivolous. They’re real losses that deserve real protection. And when insurers hide behind deductibles to avoid paying out, the value of the product erodes. The customer feels let down, and the forwarder or platform gets the blame.

Our Approach: Default to Zero

At Breeze, we decided that if we wanted to build an insurance product people actually use (and trust) we had to eliminate the friction points. So we made our general cargo policies deductible-free by default.

That means:

• No thresholds that quietly exclude coverage
• No clawbacks that reduce the payout after the fact
• No legalese that muddies the water

When a claim is filed, it gets handled. The amount stated is the amount covered. No hidden surprises, no second-guessing whether it was worth insuring in the first place.

What Zero Deductible Unlocks

Removing the deductible has effects beyond the claim itself. It changes the way people view the entire product.

For the shipper, it creates clarity and trust. They know what’s covered, they know how it works, and they know they’ll get support when it counts.

For the forwarder, it’s a relationship builder. There are fewer complaints, fewer escalations, and far less confusion. That makes insurance a value-add, not a liability.

And for our partners - platforms, SaaS tools, digital forwarders - it means offering insurance that customers are actually willing to use. Which drives up uptake, retention, and revenue per transaction.

Not Every Policy Can Be Deductible-Free

We’re not in the business of blanket rules. There are still cases where a deductible makes sense. High-risk routes, sensitive cargo, or certain commodities may warrant one, but if that happens, we make it clear at the point of quoting.

No policyholder should have to wait until claim time to find out how much they’re not getting paid. If a deductible applies, we say so. And we make sure it’s reasonable, proportionate, and justified.

The Broader Problem With Fine Print

The problem with most cargo insurance isn’t that it’s expensive or slow, it’s that it’s vague. And that vagueness shows up most clearly in deductibles. They’re often the reason a claim doesn’t get paid fully, and just as often, the reason a customer never buys insurance again.

When a forwarder tells their customer that a shipment is covered, they’re making a promise. We want that promise to hold up under scrutiny. So we wrote the policies to reflect that.

Final Word: No Deductible, No Doubt

Cargo insurance only works if people believe in it. If they trust it to protect them when something goes wrong. And that means the product has to do what it says, clearly and without caveats.

Zero deductible isn’t a gimmick: it’s a commitment to transparency. It removes one of the biggest sources of friction in freight protection and replaces it with confidence. For our customers, for our partners, and for the people whose shipments are at risk every day, that’s a trade worth making.