Moving Insurance
Protecting your possessions with moving insurance, but do you know which kind is best for you?
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There's different kinds that you can buy so it's up to you to learn about them and make sure you protect yourself adequately.
The process of moving is perilous to your furniture and other belongings and there is bound to be some sort of accident or mishap that damages something. I've been through several moves and no matter how careful you are, there is always something that gets broken. Getting enough moving insurance to enable you to replace those things is important whether you are moving yourself or hiring movers.
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Moving insurance that you purchase from the mover may be limiting and only cover part of the damage. Some items may be excluded so it pays to look over the policy carefully and find out if you can buy supplemental insurance to cover what is not included. Your homeowners policy probably only covers a very small percentage of your personal property so don't depend on that to complete coverage. You may want to look in to getting transit insurance either through the mover or your insurance agent to pick up where other insurance leaves you uncovered.
You can usually get 3 kinds of moving insurance from your mover:
Declared Value - this type of policy comes up with a total value based on the weight of your household items. Say, for example that they estimate a value of $1.00 per pound and your entire lot weighs 7000 pounds - your total value is $7000. Of course, this is for the whole lot - claims for damage on individual items would be settled by figuring a depreciated value from the total sum. If you have a lot of valuable antiques, you probably do not want to use this type of moving insurance - if the most costly piece is broken you will not get the real value.
Lump Sum Value - this type of policy lets you declare how much your stuff is worth. You pay per $1000 insured so the cost is higher if your stuff is more valuable. Probably worth it if you have expensive antiques. You must declare the cost on the policy and it doesn't hurt to have an itemized list of what you are shipping and the value - consider making a video recording or taking digital pictures in case you have to prove something was broken in transit.
Full Value Protection - this type of moving insurance will pay replacement value and also for repairing broken, lost or destroyed property. Deductables may apply. Again, it is a good idea to have an itemized list of what you are shipping and it's value
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