cover is calculated from the value you declare. Declare low and you are insured low, and the shortfall only becomes visible at the point where something has already gone wrong.
Most people spend an hour choosing a mover and five minutes on the insurance. It is the wrong way round, because the insurance is the part that matters only when the move has already failed.
We connect your enquiry with a vetted international moving company from our network, and the cover terms come to you in writing alongside the quote.
Two numbers do most of the work: the value you declare for the shipment, and the excess you carry on a claim. Everything else in the policy is detail around those two.
Value the shipment at what replacement costs in the United States, not at what you paid in Britain years ago. Those are different figures and the second one leaves you short.
The premium follows the declared value, so under declaring reduces the cost of cover and reduces what you can recover. People do it to save a modest sum and discover the consequence at the worst possible time.
The excess is the part you carry on any claim, and it commonly rises for cartons packed by the customer, because the contents and the packing method cannot be verified once a box is sealed.
Between them those two figures decide whether a claim is worth making at all. A low declared value combined with a high excess can leave a realistic claim uneconomic, which is worth knowing in advance rather than afterwards.
A single figure for the whole house is a guess. Room by room takes an evening and gives you a number you can defend.
Evidence gathered before the move is worth far more than a description written after something has been damaged.
The premium is the least interesting part of the document. What is not covered decides whether the policy does anything for you.
On the value you declare for the shipment. Declaring less reduces the premium and reduces what you can recover, which is rarely the trade people intend to make.
Replacement cost in the United States, worked out room by room. What an item cost in Britain some years ago is not what it costs to replace in America.
Usually, through a higher excess or narrower terms, because nobody can verify the contents or the packing method once a carton is sealed.
Not always. Ask specifically, because a damaged chair from a set of six is a very different claim depending on the wording.
Mechanical or electrical failure without visible external damage is a frequent exclusion, along with items whose value was inaccurately declared.
Either can work. What matters is that the cover is all risks where possible, and that you have read the excess and the exclusions before agreeing.
Photograph valuable items and keep receipts where you have them. Evidence gathered afterwards is much weaker.
Sometimes, and sometimes only in transit. If storage is part of your plan at either end, ask whether the policy follows the goods into it.
It varies by policy and it is usually shorter than people expect. Check the window before you sign rather than after something arrives damaged.
Anything valuable, before it is packed. Evidence gathered afterwards is much weaker than evidence gathered beforehand.
Send your collection address, your US destination, the move date and a room by room idea of value. A moving company from our network quotes the move and the cover together.
Send your move detailsA Working Member of AGM Group. Enquiries are connected with vetted FIDI FAIM certified and BAR Overseas accredited international moving companies from the network.
We are an enquiry service and not an insurer or broker. Cover is arranged by the moving company you are introduced to.
Written by Darren Benjamin, Founder.