Which insurance do you need when moving house?
When you hire a professional removals company to help you move house, you expect that every care will be taken to ensure your personal belongings arrive safe and sound in their new home. However, accidents can happen during even the most well-planned of moves. To make sure your goods are protected from the unexpected, it is important to understand how moving insurance works.
It is a common misconception that removalists are responsible for all and any loss or damage of goods that occurs during the moving process. However, this isn’t always the case – there are circumstances where the removalists are not considered liable, and their insurance will not pay out.
Here’s the low-down on moving insurance, explaining what is and isn’t covered under various policy types, to help you decide whether you need to take out additional removals insurance.
Is moving insurance needed if you have home contents insurance?
You may be wondering whether your home contents insurance will cover your goods during transit or storage. The answer is … it depends.
Contents Insurance varies across the board. Some policies cover contents while in both the old and new home, in transit and in storage, but others do not. Some policies may require you to choose optional extras to cover the transit period.
It is important that you check the details of your particular policy. You should also note the value to which your goods are insured, whether they will be replaced old for new, and under what circumstances you can make a claim.
How about the removalist’s own moving insurance? Will that cover damage?
A professional removalist should carry several types of insurance, including Public liability, Carriers Liability, and Motor Vehicles Third Party Liability insurance. Under their own insurance, removalists will cover damage incurred in circumstances such as:
- Damage during loading or unloading, such as an item being dropped, where this was the fault of the removalist.
- Damage or loss of goods due to fire, theft or overturning of the removalists’ vehicle.
- Damage to your property caused by the removalists truck accidentally backing into your house.
However, there are a range of circumstances where removalists may not be considered liable and their insurance will not cover damage.
If an item is found to be broken within a packing box, the removalist’s insurance will not cover the damage, because it could be due to the way the boxes were packed by the client or a pre-packing service.
Scratches and dents can only be covered if they are the direct result of the removalist dropping or hitting the item. This needs to be witnessed, as scratches could have been pre-existing.
Electronic components on items such as computers, fridges, washing machines, dryers etc are not covered during movement unless they have been dropped. Insurance companies cannot establish whether those items were in working order or not before the removalists handled them.
The removalist’s transit insurance does not cover breakages while driving in the truck. If, for example, a leg breaks on a table during transit, this is not covered because the leg could have already been loose or damaged in some way.
Because of these limitations to the insurance carried by removalists, it is extremely important to ensure all items are safely packed with good quality packing boxes and plenty of padding. This is especially important for fragile items such as glasses and plates.
You should also choose your removalist with care, and make sure they take time to securely wrap furniture items with blankets and tie them safely to the truck to avoid movement.
Should I take out special removals insurance?
Specialist providers such as CARTS offer a removals insurance product, which provides extra protection for your belongings during your move or while it is in storage.
Removals insurance can provide more comprehensive coverage in case of accidental damage, theft, adverse weather events, fire or vehicle collision.
If you are not happy with the level of coverage your own home contents insurance provides during moving, or if you have highly valuable items such as antiques, expensive musical instruments or bespoke furniture, it may be worth considering the extra cover.
The best thing to do is to start by reviewing your home contents cover, chatting to your removalist about any valuable items you are particularly concerned about, and looking into quotes and coverage from a removals insurance provider. You can then make an educated choice on what the best approach to moving insurance is for you.
Choose your removalist wisely! For moves across Melbourne and interstate, Pinder Tower Movers offer peace of mind, with 40 years of removals experience and the highest level of care for your treasured possessions. Contact Pinder for your no-obligation home removals quote.