Moving Insurance and Valuation: What Actually Covers You

Valuation is not insurance

What movers provide is valuation coverage — the level of liability the mover accepts for your goods. Insurance is a separate product from an insurer. The distinction matters mainly because it sets expectations about what a claim actually pays.

The Florida minimum

Worth knowing before anything else: Florida requires every registered intrastate mover to carry at least $10,000 per shipment in liability coverage for loss or damage resulting from negligence. That is a floor set by Chapter 507, not a generous offer, and for a whole household it is not a large number.

What follows is about the coverage you choose on top of it.

The two levels you will be offered

Released value. Usually included at no additional cost, and normally calculated by weight — a set amount per pound per item.

That per-pound basis is the whole problem. It has nothing to do with what an item is worth. A laptop weighing four pounds is covered as four pounds of goods, not as a laptop. For anything light and valuable — electronics, jewellery, a camera — released value pays a fraction of replacement cost.

Full value protection. Costs extra. The mover is liable for repair, replacement, or a cash settlement for items lost or damaged. This is what most people assume they already have.

Ask which one your estimate includes. It will almost always be released value unless you have chosen otherwise.

Check your own policy first

Before buying anything, check what you already have:

• Homeowner's or renter's insurance sometimes covers belongings in transit, sometimes not, and often with a lower limit than you would expect. Ask specifically about goods in a mover's custody.
• Credit card benefits occasionally extend to this.
• High-value items — jewellery, art, instruments, collections — frequently need a separate rider whether you are moving or not.

One phone call to your insurer answers this and may make the decision for you.

High-value items need declaring

Most movers ask you to list items above a certain value. If something is not declared, it will not be covered at its true value — that is the normal condition, not a trick.

Declare art, antiques, jewellery, collections, instruments and high-end electronics. And read what is excluded: cash, documents and irreplaceable personal items are commonly outside coverage entirely, which is exactly why those travel with you rather than on the truck.

What weakens a claim

• Items you packed yourself. Movers are generally liable for damage to boxes they packed. For a box you packed, damage to the contents is harder to attribute — which is one practical argument for professional packing on fragile things.
• Pre-existing damage that was not noted.
• Waiting. Report damage the same day where possible; claim windows are finite.

The ten minutes that make a claim straightforward

Photograph your valuable items before they are packed. Date-stamped, showing condition.

That is the whole tip, and it is worth more than anything else here. Almost every difficult claim comes down to proving what condition something was in beforehand. With photographs the conversation is short.

Also keep the estimate, the inventory and the bill of lading. Note any existing damage on the inventory before signing.

Questions to ask

1. What valuation is included in this estimate, and how is it calculated?
2. What does full value protection cost?
3. What is the deductible?
4. What is excluded?
5. Do I need to declare high-value items, and how?
6. What is the claims process, and what is the time limit?

Ask us

We would rather explain the difference before you book than after something has gone wrong.

We serve Maitland, Winter Park, Orlando, Orange County and the surrounding area.

Call In A Zip Moving on (407) 987-2624 and ask what your estimate includes. It is also worth reading how to choose a moving company for the other questions worth putting to anyone you are considering.