Does Renters Insurance Cover Moving?
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Renters insurance may cover your personal property if you move by yourself, but it won’t cover anything that’s damaged while in the care of professional movers.
While it's highly recommended to have renters insurance with comprehensive coverage, even that may not cover belongings a policyholder moves on their own. Fortunately, there are a number of insurance solutions for moves.
The average person in the US moves 11 times in their lifetime and should strongly consider insuring their property in some way while moving.
Insurance offered by moving companies
A moving company is liable for your possessions from the moment they begin packing or handling belongings until those items arrive at their final destination. Since even the best renters insurance won't cover items handled by movers, moving companies offer two liability options. Of the two, renters should strongly consider full value protection over released value.
Full value and released value protection agreements insure against financial losses caused by the mover, but they are not technically insurance policies. The agreements are tariffs of liability authorized by the US Department of Transportation and are not governed or regulated by state insurance laws.
Full value protection
Under a full value protection agreement, a moving company is liable for the replacement cost of any lost, damaged or stolen property. It's the more comprehensive of the two coverages offered, and means paying an additional fee to the moving company to get this protection.
With this agreement, the company would cover the cost to repair broken items or replace them with similar items. They may opt to offer a cash settlement for an item at its current market value instead.
The only caveat to full value protection is that moving companies limit their liability for losses or damages. Some items are explicitly excluded, but, typically, any item worth more than $100 per pound (such as jewelry, precious stones, fine silverware and place settings, furs and antiques) is also excluded.
Released value protection
Unlike full value protection, released value protection is generally offered free of charge by moving companies. It is far less comprehensive, which is why it costs little or nothing. Released value protection of the items the moving company is liable for usually covers only 60 cents per pound, per item.
For example, if a moving company were to ruin your couch, they would pay you 60 cents for every pound the couch weighed, regardless of the market value of the couch, up to a claim limit.
Furniture and other belongings are one thing, but some valuables are relatively light. In those cases the payout from the movers would be well short of what the items are worth. Imagine you bought a brand-new television for $5,000 and opt for released value protection when you move. If the TV weighs 15 pounds and the moving company breaks it, they would only give you $9, not the $5,000 you paid.
Covering high-value belongings
Every renter who hires a moving company should strongly consider purchasing full value protection, but even full value coverage has caveats for high-value items. This is similar to how renters insurance works: Any expensive or special valuables are subject to different treatment. Some valuables, such as jewelry or furs, might be explicitly excluded from coverage. All other valuables commonly have a claim limit of up to $100 per pound, per item.
Make sure you fully understand what is covered and what is excluded in your agreement with a moving company and that none of the covered items exceed the claim limit to replace them.
Another option, if you have a small number of valuables, is to transport those possessions yourself. For example, as a renter, you might choose to have a moving company transport your furniture, appliances and boxes of clothes, but want to keep your jewelry in your possession while you move. This won't always be possible though. You likely don’t have the capacity to move something such as an expensive piano on your own, and that probably isn't something you should trust with a standard moving company.
Third-party moving insurance policies
Renters who choose released value liability coverage from the moving company might consider a third-party moving insurance policy. Unlike the full- and released-value agreements, third-party policies are insurance products regulated by each individual state. Typically, if anything is broken or damaged, the moving company must pay the released value (or the full value up to the policy’s limit) of the damaged or lost property, and the third-party insurer would cover the remaining expenses.
In some cases, a renters insurance policy might include coverage for moving, effectively acting as a third-party insurer against moving damages or losses, or you can purchase a rider or endorsement for your move.
Again, every moving company is different. It's important to know for certain what items are covered and excluded to help decide whether you should consider a third-party policy.
How much does moving insurance cost?
For renters of apartments and single-family homes, the cost of third-party moving insurance depends on a number of factors, including:
- The amount of coverage needed
- The policy's deductible
- What is being moved
- How far the items are traveling
For example, insuring $25,000 in personal property traveling cross-country might cost anywhere between $200 and $1,000. While that cost may be more than your annual renters insurance, which is usually relatively affordable, it doesn't make sense to protect your belongings in your home but then allow them to be susceptible to harm without insurance while moving.