When you are moving, there are a lot of things in your mind. The cost of moving, the stress, whether to hire professional movers or not and most importantly are my things safe? If you are moving, you don’t know if you will see your things again in one piece. Although all professional movers don’t just throw you things in the truck like a rag doll, you can’t be too sure with that. There can be accidents along the way like a bumpy ride or someone hit the truck carrying your items. It is still important to get an insurance and get your items protected during moving. Moving insurance is like health insurance. It will cover any accidents and loss to your property in case people from the moving company gets reckless. Companies also have insurances from a 3rd player insurance company. These insurance companies will cover any loss by the moving company like damage or lost items from a client. If you search the internet, you can find movers like truckplease.com that offers premium coverage for all your items during the drip.
Basic insurance coverage
The federal government requires moving companies to offer their clients two types of insurance coverage, especially when moving out of state. Released value protection is a type of insurance policy where companies will reimburse everything that was destroyed or lost from paper clips, appliance, furniture, clothes and personal valuables like pieces of jewelry and heirlooms. According to https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov the items are insured for $0.60 per pound. Companies include this in their quote. So why do professional movers charge too much when in fact the items are only insured 60 cents per pound? I’m pretty sure your items are worth much higher than 60 cents per pound. That’s why moving companies also offer full-value protection insurance. The insurance will pay one percent of whatever the value of your items being moved. So if your item is worth $100 based on the valuation, they will pay you $10 if damaged or lost. The client has two options if ever their valuables are damaged or lost. Either they ask the company to pay or they can ask for a replacement. In cases where appliances or furniture are damaged, the company can pay for the repair. There’s also the caveat. Movers can have the option to not reimburse any items that are damaged or lost, if the market value of the said item is more than $100 unless it was stated in your contract that they are liable to pay the said items. Clients required to put the market value of their belongings or else the company can avoid paying if that item is damaged or lost. So make sure to put in the shipping document the real value of your valuables and read the contracts. Some companies don’t reimburse the damage or lost items because the clients forget to put the value or totally forgot to put in the shipping document what is inside the box. So in cases like this, moving companies are not liable for any damage that happened in the cargo whether it is their fault or not. It is always safer to double check any document before you sign it.
To know more about Basic Insurance Policy, Visit: https://www.progressivecommercial.com/coverages/liability/
Expanded insurance coverage
For people who are very paranoid regarding professional movers, you can always expand your insurance coverage. Ask the company if they offer expanded coverage. This might be a little expensive since they will either pay the exact amount of the item or replace it with a brand new item regardless of the status of that item prior to the transportation. Ask the moving company if they have valuation options. There is a difference between covering your items and insurance. These companies are not allowed to sell their client’s insurance. You are paying for the company’s liability not insurance for your items. This means that clients are setting how much liability the company has in case their valuables are damaged or lost or worse, destroyed. Some companies (not all) will offer you expanded insurance coverage. Your item’s valuation will be insured up to 1% of its total value. If damaged or lost, they either pay you with cash or give you a replacement, but not brand new. If your item is 3 years old, they will give you a same 3-year-old item as a replacement. Another option is lump sum coverage. The client will set the value of their item, but not like the usual insurance policy that uses weight, the lump sum will use the exact value of that item as the base price. This is good for small items, but has the larger value like jewelry and heirlooms. There are items that companies don’t include in their insurance policy. Items that they did not pack, but got damaged in the process. Damaged goods due to natural disasters like typhoon, earthquakes, tornado, hail or snow storm are also not included in most insurance coverage. If the package is damaged under the storage facility not under the moving company, most probably they will not cover it.
To know more about insurance and insurance policies click this link: https://www.movinginsurance.com/faq.asp#A1
There are other options you can do like insurance coverage from a homeowner’s policy. They don’t pay much, but it’s better than not covered at all. And this kind of coverage will only cover items damaged in the house not while the item is being transported. Usually, a homeowner’s policy will cover 10% of the valued item damaged outside your home. Ask if they will offer other insurance policy or how much they cover. Another option is to get relocation policy. This is similar to the lump sum that professional moving companies offer. You can get this kind of policy from a 3rd party insurance company. This kind of policy is sometimes not offered by moving companies. Total-loss coverage can also be an option if you can’t get policies mentioned above. This policy enables you to get a replacement for your damaged or lost goods in cases of fire break out, theft or accidents by the moving company. This will cover items in the box, but not individual belongings. Small items like jewelry are also not covered in this policy.