Household Goods Moving: Valuation
When looking for household goods moving, there are a few things that you should be aware of before booking with a specific household goods moving company. For starters, all household goods movers are required to provide what is known as “valuation” on all vehicles that they ship.
They are also required to provide additional insurance for all items in their custody during transport, though this second insurance is typically optional and often overrides the valuation of your items. Simply put, valuation puts a price per pound on all your items – right now, as of this writing, household goods moving companies are required to offer valuation at $.60/pound, meaning that if something breaks, it will be valued at sixty cents per pound.
So if your TV breaks and it weighs fifty pounds, your compensation from your household goods moving company will only be $30, even though it was a nice plasma TV that’s actually worth about $200.
Household Goods Moving: Cargo Insurance
As you can see, the valuation type of “insurance” is pretty much a cop-out for household goods moving companies. It allows them to provide “insurance” while still not having to pony up a ton of cash for expensive items.
That’s why we recommend that when you’re in need of household goods moving you either find a company that offers additional insurance for your stuff or else don’t ship anything that you can’t replace (if you can help it). Jewelry, small antiques and photographs, etc. should not be shipped with any household goods moving company if it can be helped, and you should always purchase as much insurance as you can from your shipper.
Insurance above and beyond the valuation of the items is a good way to make sure that you’re fairly compensated should something go awry during transport. It’s also a good idea to see which companies provide the best insurance policies, as you can never protect your stuff enough when you’re entrusting it to someone else.
Household Goods Moving: Household Insurance
Some insurance companies will provide clauses in their policies that insure your goods if you’re moving. These type of household goods moving policies are not always available, but they can be a good way of making sure you don’t lose anything you can’t afford to lose in case something happens during transport.
Someone people don’t have homeowner’s insurance, but for those of you who do, it might be a good idea to call your insurance company and figure out if you have moving insurance and how much is actually covered. As we said, not all insurance companies offer moving insurance on their policies, and it’s not something that you should really consider if you don’t plan on moving a lot.
Also, most third-party moving insurance companies will provide insurance for moves and the like and roll it into your total household moving quotes, and even if you don’t opt for additional insurance your stuff is covered by the mandatory valuation that movers offer, though probably not to its full extent.
Since 2007 Dave has written all the content and blogs for American Auto Shipping and during this time added the duties of customer support and transport logistics.
He currently resides in Washington with his three kids and their mom and cat. A fan of Marvel movies and good stories, when not shipping cars Dave can be found working on his novel, enjoying a good book or playing some tournament HALO.
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