Insuring Your Household: Here're Types of Insurance You Need to Know While Shifting Home

This content is Written by Avinash Raghav, co-founder & MD of Shift Freight

Shifting home from one location to the other or from one city to another comes with a Pandora box full of troubles. Initially we struggle to decide on what to leave and what to take along, following which we grapple with different movers & packers who are either untrained or lack standardized services. However, if we manage these two things by making a checklist and identify the right mover & packer, it begins to appear as half the battle has already been won. Sorry to break it at this point but these is merely the preliminary hiccups that have been taken care of, for the transit of items itself is enough to induce a severe headache.

The major bottleneck areas with regard to transit of goods include getting the right vehicle, optimized route and most importantly insurance so that all loss incurred in accounted for. Consider a situation when you buy an item on an e-commerce site, there as well you would find an option to buy transit insurance. When bought, the good you purchase becomes insured against any loss or damage. Similar is the case with moving insurance, which is bought at the time of shifting home.

The moving insurance can be taken from either a general insurance company or the hired mover & packer. Several goods such as furniture, electrical appliances, garden equipments, tables, chairs, almirah etc are covered under the same, though other items like jewelleries, cash, medications, collectables, documents etc are excluded. Usually there are two levels of transit liabilities offered by companies in India – Full Value and Released Value. While the former warrants a bigger premium and accounts for the complete shipment, the latter takes into consideration the declared and assessed values of items.

The exact premium of an insured consignment is calculated on the basis of a number of factors. Amongst the key determinants include nature of items, age of goods, real value, distance of the transit and claim history.

Now let’s talk about the coverage usually offered by movers & packers in India. They basically come under two heads, namely transit insurance and all-inclusive insurance. As the name suggests, the transit insurance covers goods and items only during the transit. If there is any damage caused while packing, unpacking or arranging, there is no coverage offered under the same. In case there has been any earthquake, accident, theft, explosion or fire incident, while goods were in transit, the owner can claim the insurance.

For those who do not wish to take a chance and want their good to be covered under insurance right from the arrival of packing team to the unpacking of the last item, the best bet is the all-inclusive insurance. Any damage caused during packing, loading, transporting, unloading and unpacking is covered under this insurance, which for obvious reasons come with a relatively hefty premium. Also, this insurance is offered only by professional and organized movers & packers, or aggregators like us who work with a network of multiple movers & packers.

Irrespective of which insurance you go for, it is sacrosanct that you read all insurance related documents carefully and collect original insurance certificate and bills from the entity providing insurance cover.

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