Insuring your goods

[DazAmy]

Hi everyone - I'm after a bit of advise/your experiences. We have the shippers in next week to pack up the hosusehold goods. I'm really unsure what to do about insuring our goods. The company I am shipping my goods with is, of course, trying to get me to take out insurance with them - I already know it's more expensive than going independently. The problem I have is, they want me to itemise everything and value it all - this may sound like a pathetic excuse, but I just don't have the time or the inclination! I know there are companies who will insure a total value and I would prefer to go down this route. There are a few items I want insured (Apple Mac for example) but I'm not too worried about most things - the chances of it all being damaged/lost is small. I am told by my shipping company that if I insure in bulk I will have trouble claiming for anything and that it will be so much easier if I've listed each item - again I believe they are trying to pressure me with scare tactics.

 

What have you done - did you itemise your insurance, go with a bulk number or did you not bother at all?

[NicF]

I wouldn't insure with the place you are shipping with for two reasons, 1 they are more expensive and 2 if you need to make a claim they can be incredibly slow to sort things out. Get quotes from Insure Your Move and Letton Percival. When we insured we did itemise everything, but you don't have to list each single item separately - a dinner service is one item, three piece suite another, cd collection etc. It's worth doing this kind of exercise anyway to work out the value of your goods you are shipping. I think trying to only insure a few items is a mistake - while the chances are small, what happens if the ship goes down with your container on it? Or the container is dropped while being loaded? Can you afford to risk everything for the sake of a couple of hundred pounds?

 

The director of insure Your move posts on here occasionally with some good advice and information about insuring goods for shipping - have a search and see if you can find some of the posts he has made. I can't remember the exact user name, but it is something along the lines of IYM.

[DazAmy]

I wouldn't insure with the place you are shipping with for two reasons, 1 they are more expensive and 2 if you need to make a claim they can be incredibly slow to sort things out. Get quotes from Insure Your Move and Letton Percival. When we insured we did itemise everything, but you don't have to list each single item separately - a dinner service is one item, three piece suite another, cd collection etc. It's worth doing this kind of exercise anyway to work out the value of your goods you are shipping. I think trying to only insure a few items is a mistake - while the chances are small, what happens if the ship goes down with your container on it? Or the container is dropped while being loaded? Can you afford to risk everything for the sake of a couple of hundred pounds?

 

The director of insure Your move posts on here occasionally with some good advice and information about insuring goods for shipping - have a search and see if you can find some of the posts he has made. I can't remember the exact user name, but it is something along the lines of IYM.

 

Thankyou for your response - just to be clear, I wasn't thinking of insuring only a few items, I will insure the lot - I just meant that there really are only a few things I would be upset with losing, namely some of my kids items.

 

Has anyone insured a 'bulk' number rather than an itemised list?

[Guest Guest62720]

I am a Director of Insurer-Your-Move.com

 

Our Policy only requires one overall lump sum replacement value to be declared and then any items within that declared lump sum, which are individually or collectively valued at £750 or more, need to be specifically declared. The headings for these items also only needs to be generic eg, dining room suite £ 1000, clothes £2,000, bicycles £ 1500, DVD's/CD's/games £ 1750, etc etc

 

Beats having to list out every pot and pan...!!

[LouDYorkie]

A word of caution on insurance, we are having horrendous trouble with our claim....There are many traps to fall into......

I listed as per the 'suggested' items on the form, then added a few entries of my own where none of the suggestions seemed appropriate.

When we received our shipment, some of the boxes had been opened and some items were missing/damaged. We were unable to claim for a missing toolbox full of tools because I'd listed them under 'tool box' and not 'hand tools' (we hadn't assigned any value to hand tools but we had listed a large sum to cover our three toolboxes).

They then changed my description of items and told me sockets for a drill were 'hand tools' not 'power tool accessories' so that I couldn't claim them.

Also anything electrical/mechanical that did not work after being shipped was not covered as Mechanical/Electrical failure was not included on the policy-we did not know this!

In other words, despite the insurance costing thousands, it was relatively useless as the insurer called things by different names to have them excluded, reduced the claim value on other items (no surprise there) and sent a repair man out who knew nothing about repairing the items he was looking at! This is after initially telling us that they couldn't find our paperwork so we weren't covered unless I could provide evidence I'd sent it, despite the fact that they'd been paid! If we move back to the UK, I will seriously look at whether it's worth the insurance or better to risk it.

Hope you have better luck!

[Guest The Pom Queen]

A word of caution on insurance, we are having horrendous trouble with our claim....There are many traps to fall into......

I listed as per the 'suggested' items on the form, then added a few entries of my own where none of the suggestions seemed appropriate.

When we received our shipment, some of the boxes had been opened and some items were missing/damaged. We were unable to claim for a missing toolbox full of tools because I'd listed them under 'tool box' and not 'hand tools' (we hadn't assigned any value to hand tools but we had listed a large sum to cover our three toolboxes).

They then changed my description of items and told me sockets for a drill were 'hand tools' not 'power tool accessories' so that I couldn't claim them.

Also anything electrical/mechanical that did not work after being shipped was not covered as Mechanical/Electrical failure was not included on the policy-we did not know this!

In other words, despite the insurance costing thousands, it was relatively useless as the insurer called things by different names to have them excluded, reduced the claim value on other items (no surprise there) and sent a repair man out who knew nothing about repairing the items he was looking at! This is after initially telling us that they couldn't find our paperwork so we weren't covered unless I could provide evidence I'd sent it, despite the fact that they'd been paid! If we move back to the UK, I will seriously look at whether it's worth the insurance or better to risk it.

Hope you have better luck!

Sounds like it would have been better to go with Insure Your Move.

I am guessing as you said you paid thousands you used the shipping companies own insurance.

[LouDYorkie]

Sounds like it would have been better to go with Insure Your Move.

I am guessing as you said you paid thousands you used the shipping companies own insurance.

 

We didn't have a choice as it was paid for by the employer (which is actually the upside-that we didn't personally choose such a bad and expensive policy). But you are right PomQueen, it was the shipping companies own insurance I would make sure we get to choose should we need one again!

[Guest Guest62720]

I am a Director of Insure Your Move and may I offer a word of warning and advice.

 

As most people now know the remover companies mark up the the insurance rate and use this as a revenue stream. Equally, in the event of a claim they will not want full settlement as it could 'harm' their claims record and thus could push up the rate at which they then buy their insurance.

 

Therefore, should you use the removers insurance and have a claim then make sure the claim is actually being handled by the Insurer and not by the 'remover on behalf of the insurer'. I have yet to experience an Insurer who would decline any legitimate claim through the nebulous reason the item had been declared in the wrong category on the inventory, especially as the insurance industry is now heavily regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

[LouDYorkie]

I am a Director of Insure Your Move and may I offer a word of warning and advice.

 

As most people now know the remover companies mark up the the insurance rate and use this as a revenue stream. Equally, in the event of a claim they will not want full settlement as it could 'harm' their claims record and thus could push up the rate at which they then buy their insurance.

 

Therefore, should you use the removers insurance and have a claim then make sure the claim is actually being handled by the Insurer and not by the 'remover on behalf of the insurer'. I have yet to experience an Insurer who would decline any legitimate claim through the nebulous reason the item had been declared in the wrong category on the inventory, especially as the insurance industry is now heavily regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

 

That was my point exactly, it shouldn't have been refused but as it was, I thought I'd warn that there are less reputable insurers and people do need to read small print etc when making a decision who to use. Hence my claim is still ongoing (started in December) and on its way to someone with more knowledge than I have in this area.

[DazAmy]

Thanks to everyone for posting. I certainly won't take out insurance with the removal company :-)

[fosseboy]

I used Insure Your Move. Their Director phoned us and advised on descriptions and values. He was very helpful and not pushy. We didn't think we would have to claim.

3 months later, Robinsons have lost a pendulum to a 200 year old grandfather clock and the bolts to 2 quality single beds and a dining table. The insurance paid out and our descriptions helped the process. The pendulum was a nightmare to replace in WA and took a specialist clock maker months to repair and was quite expensive and his quote changed as it took longer. The insurance assessor got a bit shirty (I don't think he worked for Insure your Move) about the time it was taking and that the quote was a range rather than fixed but when he realised the alternative was to ship the clock back to the UK for repair, he accepted it was taking time. Overall I would recommend them highly.

[MovingtoTasmania]

I had already decided from feedback on this forum to use IYM and Fosseboy's post has just reinforced that decision.

[sparrow9999]

just be very carefull we shipped all over stuff over with pickfords on total cover. when we got our stuff the tv was not working went to make a claim told it was not covered as needed to take out mechanical & electrical derangement on top of the total cover so all I can say is read the very small print.

[MovingtoTasmania]

just be very carefull we shipped all over stuff over with pickfords on total cover. when we got our stuff the tv was not working went to make a claim told it was not covered as needed to take out mechanical & electrical derangement on top of the total cover so all I can say is read the very small print.

 

Yes, I used to work for Pickfords and when people would ask if they should use the insurance through Pickfords I used to say well you can do but you should also shop around to find one that suits your needs the most.