Courier insurance
Your motor policy covers the van. Public liability answers the other risk on a round: someone hurt, or something of a client's damaged, between the collection and the handover.
Cover built for collections, drop-offs and multi-drop rounds, on your own contracts or subcontracted work.
Public Liability from €7.55 per month, with cover limits up to €6.5 million.
Business insurance, done differently.
Fully online business insurance in Ireland.
A few questions and you're covered.
No lock-in, no long contracts.
Excess from €0, up to €6.5 million of cover.
Why take out business insurance as a courier?
Courier work happens on other people's property: shop floors, office receptions, warehouse bays, doorsteps. Most drops go fine. The ones that do not can cost more than a year of deliveries.
Injury to a member of the public: a parcel left across a doorstep in Limerick, a sack truck across a footpath, someone trips and is hurt.
Damage to a client's property: a display cabinet clipped in a Cork pharmacy, a gouged floor in a Dublin office reception.
Goods in your care: the items you carry are in your charge between collection and handover, and damage to them is a liability you carry.
Contract conditions: the retailers, platforms and logistics firms you deliver for commonly ask for public liability cover before they will give you work.
Public liability is the cover that answers those situations. It pays the third-party claim and your defence costs, up to the limit you choose.
What is Public Liability insurance?
Public liability insurance protects you and your business when you or your employees accidentally cause harm to a third party, whether that is injury to someone or damage to their property. That way one accident on a round need not become a claim that threatens the business.
How does it work: you tell us your activities and choose your cover amount and excess. If an accident during your work injures someone or damages their property, your policy covers the third-party claim and your defence costs.
What does it cover: injury to a third party, damage to third-party property, and the legal costs of defending the claim.
Cover that fits your work: cover adapts to what you actually do, on the road, on client premises, and handling goods that belong to someone else. You select your activities when you apply, so the policy matches your real day-to-day risks.
Is it mandatory: public liability is not required by law in Ireland. Clients, delivery platforms, landlords and local authorities often make it a condition of working with you, and public tenders routinely specify a minimum cover limit. Public liability cover starts from €7.55 per month with Insify.
Who needs it: any courier working on third-party premises or handling other people's goods, whether you are a sole trader with a single van or running a small delivery team.
What does our insurance cover for couriers?
Your cover is built from the activities you declare when you apply.
Cover limit: choose €1.25 million, €2.5 million or €6.5 million per claim, with twice that amount available per year. €2.5 million is the default.
Excess: depending on your turnover, an excess from €0 up to €2,500. The excess is the amount you pay yourself towards a claim.
Goods in your custody and care: included as standard for courier work, up to €5,000 per claim and €10,000 per year.
Employers' liability: available as an option if you take on staff, with a limit of €13 million per claim.
Who we can cover: turnover up to €10 million and up to 30 people.
What is covered:
Participation in or execution of business trips
Use of land, buildings or premises for the insured activity
Transport by road
Transfer of items/ goods
Moving services
Transport by water, rail and air
Transport of animals and livestock
Private use of a company bicycle and/or storing it at your own place of residence
matters under supervision (such as matters from customers that are processed for repair work)
Damage that would be covered by car insurance. You are required to take out insurance for every motor vehicle; this insurance does not cover damage that falls under, or would fall under, the Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance Act.
Cover and exclusions shown are indicative and non-contractual. Only the terms of your policy apply.
Some examples, for illustration
A customer in Limerick tripped over a parcel left across their doorstep, fractured an ankle and claimed for treatment and lost earnings.
A sack truck clipped a glass display cabinet in a Cork pharmacy during a delivery. The owner claimed for the cabinet and the stock inside it.
A consignment of electronic parts was dropped at handover and written off. The retailer claimed for the value of the goods in the courier's care.
A customer in Limerick tripped over a parcel left across their doorstep, fractured an ankle and claimed for treatment and lost earnings.
A sack truck clipped a glass display cabinet in a Cork pharmacy during a delivery. The owner claimed for the cabinet and the stock inside it.
A consignment of electronic parts was dropped at handover and written off. The retailer claimed for the value of the goods in the courier's care.
Examples are for illustrative purposes only. Compensation depends on the exact circumstances of the claim. No rights can be derived from these examples.
Your business insurance with Insify SmartGuide
Taking out insurance can be quick. Making sure you have the right cover is another matter. With Insify SmartGuide, you don't sign a contract blindly. You ask all your questions, and get clear, immediate and personalised answers, before you take out a policy.
Are you covered if you accidentally damage a client's equipment while working?
What excess should you choose?
Are you protected in the event of a dispute with a client?
Insify SmartGuide guides you step by step to understand what's covered, what isn't, and why. In just a few clicks, you build insurance that's truly tailored to your business, with complete confidence. Try Insify SmartGuide. Understand your insurance before you need it.
How to choose the right insurance as a courier?
Criteria to compare:
The cover offered: check it matches the real shape of your work, including collections and drop-offs on other people's premises, goods belonging to someone else in your care, and any subcontracted rounds. Make sure every service you actually provide is declared.
The price: compare premiums, but an attractive premium can hide exclusions that matter to a courier.
The excess: know what stays at your own expense when a claim happens.
The exclusions: watch for undeclared services, work outside road transport, and anything your vehicle policy is expected to answer instead.
The service: choose an insurer you can reach when something goes wrong on a round. At Insify you manage your cover online.
Mistakes to avoid: a generic off-the-shelf policy tends to assume a business that stays in one place, and it is usually the declared-activities list that lets a courier down at claim time. To secure your business today, discover our Public Liability insurance.
More than 40,000 entrepreneurs trust us
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
The cover itself was sorted quickly, and when I later needed support I got that fast too.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
The cover itself was sorted quickly, and when I later needed support I got that fast too.
Answers to your questions about our insurance for couriers
Public liability cover starts from €7.55 per month with Insify. What you actually pay depends on the activities you declare, your turnover, the cover limit you choose and the excess you accept. A sole trader running a single van on local drops sits at the lower end. A courier with staff, higher turnover and a €6.5 million limit sits higher. You see your own price before you buy, and there is no long-term commitment: you can cancel any day.
No. Public liability is not required by law in Ireland. What makes it effectively necessary is commercial: the retailers, platforms and logistics firms you deliver for usually require it in their contracts, building managers ask for it before you work on site, and public tenders normally specify a minimum cover limit. If you deliver for anyone other than yourself, expect to be asked for evidence of cover.
No. Damage that would fall under motor insurance is excluded, and you are required to hold motor insurance for every vehicle you use. Public liability answers claims arising from your work, such as injury to a member of the public or damage to a client's property. Your motor policy answers claims arising from driving. You need both, and they do not overlap.
Partly, and the distinction matters. Damage to goods in your custody and care is included as standard for courier work, up to €5,000 per claim and €10,000 per year. That is liability cover: it answers a claim from the person whose goods were damaged. It is not goods-in-transit or cargo insurance, which insures the consignment itself for its full value, and Insify does not sell that in Ireland. If you carry high-value consignments, check whether your contract requires a separate goods-in-transit policy.
Yes. Employers' liability is available as an option, with a limit of €13 million per claim. It covers claims from your own staff for injury or illness caused by their work. Employers' liability is not compulsory in Ireland, but it is worth having as soon as anyone other than you is on a round, and larger contracts and public tenders often specify it.
You can choose €1.25 million, €2.5 million or €6.5 million per claim, with twice that amount available per year. €2.5 million is the default. Base the choice on what your contracts demand rather than on instinct: client agreements and public tenders frequently name a minimum, and the higher tiers exist because those requirements exist. If you are unsure, the default tier is a reasonable starting point and you can review it when a contract asks for more.
The excess is the amount you pay yourself towards a claim. Depending on your turnover, it runs from €0 up to €2,500. If a claim settles at €3,000 and your excess is €250, you pay €250 and Insify covers €2,750. A higher excess lowers your premium and raises what you carry when something goes wrong, so match it to what you could absorb without difficulty rather than to the lowest monthly figure.
List every service you actually provide, not just the main one. Road transport, the transfer of items or goods, business trips and the use of premises for the insured activity are covered. Some adjacent work is not: moving services, transport by water, rail or air, and transport of animals or livestock all sit outside this policy. This activity covers non-food courier work, so if part of your round is food delivery or removals, say so at the quote stage rather than have it discovered at claim time.