As of October 13, 2025, a new round of industry research is shining an uncomfortable light on how cargo crime is counted — and how much of it isn’t. Reporting by FreightWaves on October 10 highlights a core tension: facing steep deductibles and the risk of higher renewals, many motor carriers don’t file claims for smaller thefts, effectively keeping a large slice of losses off the books. That practice masks the true scope of the problem and blunts the data law enforcement and insurers need to target hot spots and tactics that keep evolving.
ATRI’s findings, as described in that report, suggest a sizable share of theft events fall below common deductible thresholds — the kind of “death by a thousand cuts” that rarely reaches a claims file. The short-term logic is clear: avoid a mark on the loss run, keep renewal discussions from spiraling, and protect margins in a soft freight market. But the longer-term cost is systemic. Underreporting distorts risk signals for the whole supply chain, from site security investments to underwriting models and the deployment of dedicated theft task forces.
Why it matters for trucking: when thefts aren’t formally recorded, patterns disappear. Routes that should carry additional controls look benign on paper; facility gaps don’t receive funding; and premiums for well-managed fleets are less likely to reflect the benefit of disciplined protocols. Shippers and 3PLs, meanwhile, may be pricing tenders with blind spots — only to discover, after a major loss, that the “rare event” was part of a regular drip of sub‑deductible hits in the same lane or commodity.
There’s also a liability and customer-trust angle. Quietly absorbing losses can keep a renewal discussion calmer, but it can also complicate recovery and subrogation later — and it deprives law enforcement networks of timely intelligence. Fewer signals in means fewer targeted stings and fewer recoveries, especially with fraud-driven “strategic theft” that relies on spoofed identities and rapid resale windows. Even when the dollar amount is modest, a non-reported theft today can be the missed breadcrumb that would have tied a crew to a larger job tomorrow.
What carriers can do now without waiting for policy changes:
- Right-size deductibles to your exposure. If repeated sub‑$50,000 losses are your pain point, consider lower deductibles or a layered approach (e.g., lower retentions for specified high-risk commodities/lanes) paired with stricter operating controls. The premium trade-off is real — but so is the hidden P&L drag of self-insured thefts.
- Make “reporting” part of the SOP. Even when you don’t file an insurance claim, feed credible incident details to recognized intelligence networks and local cargo-theft units. Timely data helps others avoid the same crew or tactic and improves recovery odds on the next hit.
- Tighten the first mile of vetting and the last mile of handoff. Identity fraud and fictitious pickups thrive on weak verification — particularly after-hours and before holidays. Require independent callback verification to points of contact already on file, verify equipment VINs and plate data against policy schedules, and lock down change-of-delivery procedures so no one outside the cargo owner can redirect freight.
- Instrument the shipment, not just the tractor. Low-cost covert trackers inside pallets or cartons, combined with geo-fenced alerts and driver SOPs (no first 200‑mile stops, pre-approved parking), can turn a loss into a recovery — and give you hard proof when disputing liability or negotiating terms.
- Align contracts to reality. Where shippers expect high-value or hot commodity moves, build in heightened security specs (escorts, seal protocols, dual authentication at pickup), clearer notice requirements after suspicious events, and an agreed incident‑reporting pathway that doesn’t default to “silence” to protect rates.
The policy conversation will continue — ATRI’s recommendations include stronger state penalties, better public-private coordination, and a centralized reporting mechanism — but fleets don’t need to wait for legislation to fix the incentives in their own operations. The market is rewarding verifiable controls. If your data shows fewer incidents, faster recoveries, and disciplined response, you have a better case at renewal. If it doesn’t exist on paper, it rarely exists in underwriting.
Bottom line: not reporting may feel like the safest insurance strategy in the moment. In a peak-season quarter when organized crews bet on long weekends and staffing gaps, it’s the opposite. The industry gets the risk profile it documents — and pays for the one it doesn’t.
Sources: FreightWaves, Muck Rack
This article was prepared exclusively for TruckStopInsider.com. Republishing is permitted only with proper credit and a link back to the original source.
