Moving Woes: Protecting Your Home, Wherever it Goes

Moving is stressful.

This is true whether you are moving your college student into their dorm room, or moving your whole family to a new home. Don’t increase your stress by leaving the care of your possession to chance.

Here are some things you should know about your belongings during the moving process, and your home insurance policy.

Generally speaking, when your belongings are in the possession of a moving company, it is not covered by your home insurance. That is why it is very important to confirm that the moving company you choose has insurance and that it is enough to cover all of your belongings.

Be sure to:

• Check the moving company’s policy on damage to your premises, both the home that you are leaving and the one you are moving to. You don’t want to have to worry about the movers damaging walls, floors or anything else while packing and unpacking your boxes.
• Read the contract and compare their estimated value of your belongings to you own personal inventory to make sure the coverage is adequate to cover everything in a worst case scenario.
• Research the moving company’s insurance policy claim-filing period. Make sure you are aware of the dates and that they are reasonable to when you will be able to unpack.
• If you decide to move yourself there are a couple key things to confirm on your insurance policy:

• Replacement coverage is the best coverage to ensure that if something is damaged, your policy will allow you to fully replace the item, not just give you a depreciated value.
• If you are renting a truck, consider purchasing the optional collision damage waiver coverage from the rental company. The Collision and Comprehensive from your personal auto policy generally doesn’t transfer to a non-owned moving van.