Moving from one place to another can be a traumatic experience. There is seemingly no end to the problems that could come up. The moving company could arrive late, or not at all. When they arrive, the workers could be incompetent–valuable items could be damaged. After the packing is done, and your possessions are on their way to a new location, the truck could break down or encounter severe weather and be delayed. While most problems aren’t insurmountable, even minor delays can create financial pressure. That’s where having insurance can come in handy. Like other forms of insurance, moving insurance can alleviate stress. Here are few moving insurance tips.
Doing It Yourself If you’re moving your possessions yourself, you can get moving insurance from most insurance companies. You should approach your present provider first, because you’ll have the best chance of getting a preferred customer rate. Most insurance companies will write a policy to cover any potential damage from your move. Problems could develop in any number of areas. If you have a valid policy in effect, any financial loses you incur during your move would be reimbursed, minus the deductible you’re carrying.
Hiring Professionals
If you decide that it would be easier all around to hire professionals to move your belongings, you will more than likely be able to purchase moving insurance through the moving company. Most moving companies offer this service because want you to trust them. By offering moving insurance, the company will be perceived as reliable. Even if you decide not to buy the insurance coverage from the moving company, it would be a good idea to make sure you’re covered under your homeowner’s or renter’s policies. If the amount of coverage seems insufficient, you can increase the coverage to prevent taking a financial hit if something happens during the move. In most cases you’ll need to purchase a separate policy, because most renter’s or homeowner’s policies won’t cover your possessions during transit, only while they’re under your own roof.
Full Value Protection
If you purchase a policy through your moving company, you’ll have a number of choices in coverage. One of the best ways is to buy full value protection. Also known as valuation coverage, this type of coverage requires the moving company to either repair or replace anything that is damaged during the move. If the item can’t be repaired, or replaced with a comparable item, the insurance policy will reimburse you for the actual value of the item.
Released Value Protection
This type of coverage is in effect in most instances, regardless of whether or not you purchase additional coverage. However, released value protection doesn’t pay very much. It is usually determined according to weight. If something rather heavy, such as a television set, is broken during the move, released value protection will only reimburse you for a very small amount. This compensation usually won’t come anywhere near what the item was actually worth. That’s why many people opt for additional moving insurance.
Lump Sum Value
Another form of moving insurance is based on the actual value of the items, rather than on their weight. Called lump sum value coverage, this type of moving insurance will provide financial reimbursement based on your declared value of any particular item. With an actual value policy in effect, you’ll receive compensation, but it will most likely not be anywhere near enough to buy a new item.
Prepare a List of Items
Before the move begins, you should make out a list of everything that is to be moved as well as its value. You should also weigh each item, because some forms of compensation are based solely on weight. In most cases, it would be advisable to take out an insurance policy that exceeds the actual or replacement value of your items specified by the moving company. This is necessary if you hope to be completely reimbursed, because you’ll have a deductible to pay off the top of any claim you need to file. If you have any antiques or other items that are extremely valuable, you would be well advised to take out extra protection for those items. Items such as fine china, valuable artwork, or one-of-a-kind collectibles are examples of the type of possessions that require extra protection.
Read the Fine Print
Before you sign any papers, read the fine print of your policy to make you understand all its nuances. This is good advice no matter what type of insurance policy you’re buying. It can be especially valuable when it comes to moving insurance, because there are so many choices available. Your possessions are no doubt important to you, and making sure your policy will adequately cover them is vital.
Guest post from Adrian Wade. Adrian writes for InsuranceCompanies.org.