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Marine transit insurance is written against a value you supply. Understate it and a settlement is reduced in proportion, so a household that declared half what its contents were worth recovers half of any loss. Nobody explains this at the point it matters, and Sherborne has more houses than most where the gap between assumed and actual is substantial.
The town sits in north Dorset around its abbey, built in golden stone. Period housing, a great deal of inherited furniture, and international movers who need to know what any of it is worth before they load it. So valuation is the thing to get right in Sherborne.
International movers record what you declare. They do not value your possessions, they do not check your figure, and they will not argue you upwards when you understate a piece.
That responsibility sits with you alone, which is why a written valuation obtained beforehand is worth its fee on anything genuinely old or genuinely good.
The basis is almost always what it would cost to replace an item where you are going, not what it cost you here and not what it would fetch second hand. Furniture bought fifteen years ago for a modest sum can be expensive to replace abroad, and a household valuing on purchase price ends up badly underinsured without realising.
Work room by room and total it. Most people arrive at a figure well above their instinct, and that figure is the correct one. Insurers set a threshold above which individual items must be listed separately, so ask what yours is before you begin, not once you have finished.
Pairs and sets deserve a specific question. If one chair from six is destroyed, does the policy pay for the chair or for the set becoming worthless? The answer varies and it matters enormously on inherited furniture.
Photograph condition, not appearance. Existing marks and wear included. A dated photograph taken in your own hallway is the strongest evidence you will ever have if condition is disputed at the far end, and it takes an afternoon.
Value is a matter of opinion and opinions differ by a wide margin. A written assessment from someone qualified removes the argument entirely, and around this part of Dorset it is money well spent more often than not.
Almost always above the individual listing threshold, and almost always the items a household most regrets losing. Several policies exclude jewellery from a household shipment altogether, so check before you pack, never afterwards.
A simple test that works. If losing it would send you out to buy another the same week, it needs valuing properly. If it would not, an ordinary room total covers it.
Where it is going, an estimate of the load, and your month. A single accredited firm sets out the insurance basis, the excess and the listing threshold in writing. No fee is charged and nothing is binding.
All risks covers loss and damage unless specifically excluded. Named perils covers only the events listed, which is a considerably narrower thing and usually cheaper for exactly that reason. Ask which you are being offered. Assuming is how people find out late.
Then ask about the packing condition. Most policies want professional export wrapping on fragile items before they will pay, which is where movers and packers earn their fee, which means an owner packed carton of china may not be covered whatever you declared it at.
Per item or once per shipment. On a claim involving several damaged pieces the difference is substantial, and it is rarely mentioned unprompted.
Ask also what happens if the firm and you disagree. BAR Overseas members sit under the Furniture Ombudsman, whose decisions bind the company and who can award up to twenty five thousand pounds on a proven loss. Our moving insurance guide sets that out. Finally, the notification window. Policies carry a deadline measured in days from delivery, not from when you finish unpacking. Find that number before the container arrives, because missing it ends a claim regardless of merit.
The inventory serves your insurer and a customs officer abroad, and they want different things from it. The insurer wants values. Customs wants descriptions specific enough to identify what is in each carton without opening it.
Write for both. Kitchen china, valued as a room total. Dining chairs, six, listed individually above the threshold. Neither audience is served by household goods as a description.
Relief on used effects turns on ownership and a genuine transfer of home. Value does not come into it, so a high declared figure does not increase duty where relief applies. Items containing ivory or restricted timbers are a separate matter again and need naming openly, which around a town with this much period furniture is worth a specific check.
Period pieces are where declared value goes wrong. A Georgian chest valued at what it cost in 1985 is badly underinsured, and transit cover pays against the figure you gave, not what the piece is worth.
Sets need a specific question. Six dining chairs damaged down to five is a different loss from one chair, and policies differ on whether they pay for the chair or for the set losing its value.
Antiques are often better crated than dismantled. Joints on older furniture were not made to come apart repeatedly, and a purpose built case around an assembled piece is safer than forcing a mortice.
Ones that hand you the policy wording itself. A summary is not the same thing. Looking up international removal companies near me from a DT9 postcode returns firms who all mention insurance. An international removals company willing to show you the exclusions before you book is the useful one, and international moving companies word them very differently.
Almost certainly not. Standard cover generally ends when goods leave the property, and most policies exclude commercial storage and international transit entirely. Treat marine cover as its own purchase. It is not an extension of anything.
Yes, along with Charlton Horethorne, Thornford, Longburton and the villages towards the Somerset line. Blandford Forum and Shaftesbury are written up on their own pages, and settlements between attach to whichever town is nearer.
Generally no. Carry it yourself, with the documents and anything small you could not replace. Overseas movers would rather you did. Many policies exclude it from a household consignment, and the items are light enough that shipping them saves nothing worth the risk.
Sherborne lies in north Dorset inside the Dorset Council area, and overseas removals from here carry more valuable contents than most. Insurance bases, listing thresholds, excess structures, pairs and sets treatment, packing conditions and notification windows are set by individual insurers and differ substantially between policies, so get hold of your own wording and read it, instead of trusting any summary. Restricted material rules are set by destination countries. No premiums or values appear on this page. Checked September 2026; we look again each autumn. Read our Google reviews.
Ask an international removal company to name its underwriter before you accept the cover. Destination country, an estimate of the load, and your timing. An accredited international moving company sets out how the cover is written before you commit.
Send your move detailsInternational Removals Companies matches you with one accredited moving company from the AGM Group network that will show you the policy wording. We charge nothing and we underwrite nothing.
Nearby: Blandford Forum, Shaftesbury, Dorchester, Dorset.