Do you really need to spend the extra money insuring your international move? The answer should always be YES. Household goods insurance costs for an international move easily can represent 20 percent of your total moving bill. Considering that an average 20 percent of goods are lost or damaged during international moves each year, insuring your international move is the right move.
It pays to partner with a company that has programs in place to minimize damage to your goods while in transit. Norah Franchetti, vice president of marketing for the Crown Worldwide Group, a global moving and relocation firm with operations in 55 countries, told us that insurance claims for moves within the U.S. are about 25 percent of all moves, but international claims are one out of five. “Crown is below the industry average at around 18 percent, primarily due to our quality assurance program called Crown Touch, which focuses on training our crews and partners. Through our Quest internal quality program, we measure the quality each office is providing its customers by studying customer feedback and the number of insurance claims, which helps us focus our training in the areas that need improvement. We benchmark one office against the others and have the capability to know where the insurance claims are happening and take immediate action throughout the system. We can track which packer packed which box that a claim was filed against,” she said. Of all Crown-handled international moves about 60 percent are insured through them and the rest are third-party insured. “We are below the industry claim average and 97 percent of our claims are for under U.S. $1,000,” she said.
International moving insurance covers physical damage or loss of goods while in transit via land, sea or air. It may be purchased through your moving partner or a third-party insurer. Like finding the best moving company partner, finding a third-party insurer is not easy and you still have to deal with issues of trust and reliability. If you want to look at an alternative, check with your insurance company or insurance broker for recommendations.
The type of insurance you will want is called All Risk, which means that if you suffer any damage to your goods you can make a claim. Total Loss is another form of coverage, but you can make a claim only if there is a total loss of goods.
When you purchase All Risk you are required to insure your goods for their full replacement value in the destination country. Coverage is for full repair or replacement value as determined at your destination with no depreciation. In addition to the household items list that you need to prepare for importation of goods to your destination country, you will need to estimate the value of each item. You will receive a specific insurance form for that purpose. Since the value will be based on replacing the item in your new country, you may want to connect with expats who live there via online forums to help you estimate the cost.
When you complete your estimate of value for your goods, photograph or video the individual items and make notes regarding their condition, particularly for the items that are most important to you. Having a visual record will be important in case of loss or damage. And, do not forget to make a visual record of damaged goods to include with your claim. Insurance policies allow you a period of time after your goods are delivered to file a claim. You can usually file only one claim, so be very thorough when you check each item to be sure everything is included in your claim form.