Do Your Moving Insurance Homework

Packing up all of your worldly possessions can be a daunting task. Hours of packing, taping, moving and storing can leave you drained and dreading the trip across the country or across the city to your new home. After all of the expended energy, seeing damage to your goods along the way could have the real ability to push you over the edge. As a way to protect yourself, moving insurance can be a great way to take some of the sting out of potential troubles along the way.

Some estimates have stated that 20 percent of all consumers have some kind of issue during a move resulting in damage to their possessions. While large-scale moving companies are federally required by law to offer at least some insurance, it is done by the pound and anyone with an iPod knows that your possessions are often worth more than their weight indicates.

Often, homeowners insurance may offer some kind of moving protection, so before any move, it would certainly behoove you to look through your policy to see if that is the case. Research her is necessary as policies vary in what they cover. Some may offer fire protection but not transportation damage issues while others will. Investigate your plan to get a solid idea of what is covered before ever moving on to looking into purchasing additional coverage.

Of course, anytime insurance is involved, taking down an exact inventory of what you’re packing and what it’s worth will give you the basis for any future claim and the ability to accurately shop for the level of insurance that fits your belongings. If you have some free coverage as a part of your homeowners insurance, you only need to purchase extra coverage to bridge the level of your free coverage and the level of your belongings. Obviously that number cannot be known until you sit down and calculate what your belongings are worth and what portion of that amount you want insured.

That coverage is often available directly through your full-service moving company and is again based on the weight of your belongings. That can of base coverage can come in handy if you do not have the time to fully go through your belongings, but doing so will give you an idea whether the amount a moving company will pay in the event of a catastrophe will sufficiently cover the value of your belongings.

For more exact coverage, some insurance companies will offer moving insurance and if you have an insurance agent that you use for other services, inquiring into moving insurance with them would be a good idea. As with other types of insurance, pooling all of your policies with one company can sometimes give you discounts based on volume.

If your insurance company does not offer moving insurance, there are a number that do and it is a matter of research and homework to determine who will give you the best coverage at the lowest cost for the amount you need. Online resources can also play a role here and doing some searches on moving insurance can give you some quick price levels for particular amounts of coverage.

Of course, as with any type of insurance, the more quotes you get, the better off you will be. Policy details and deductible amounts will vary from company to company and the more quotes you solicit, the better your results will be. Keep in mind that with all of your possessions in one truck, a disaster could be just that, disastrous.

Even if you have faith in your moving company to get your goods to where they need to be, take a lesson from those that have seen trouble and at least investigate the prospect of insuring your goods. There are plenty of resources out there and all will help you feel better about watching that moving truck roll out of the driveway.

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