What You Need To Know About Insurance When Moving Home

Moving home is always an exciting experience, yet at the same time it can be a source of considerable worry. There are just so many things to consider, particularly if you are moving any distance away. So, for instance, you may have to find the kids a new school, you will need a new doctor, you need to cancel your current doctor and arrange for all your records to be sent to the new one. Same thing goes for your dentist.

You have to cancel the papers, cancel the milk, cancel your gym membership, tell all your friends your new address and phone number, perhaps put your dog in kennels for a few days so that you can come back and collect him after the move, make sure that you keep the cat in and that it doesn’t escape into the garden on moving morning – the list just goes on and on and on.

Then there is all the packing to do. What fun! Of course, you can let the removal company do the packing, and in many instances that is the better deal. Sure, it costs more, but it means that you don’t have to do it yourself, and you know that your goods will be properly packed for the trip. But even before you pack, there is something else to do. And that is – GET RID! When you are moving home the simple fact is that the less that you move, the less the move will cost.

We all collect lots of “stuff” over the years, and now is the perfect time to offload everything that is not necessary. Don’t do what this writer did many years ago. I moved home, put a lot of “stuff” in the garage, and then six months later hired a skip to get rid of all the stuff that seemed as though it “might come in useful” so that I could get the car into the garage! So, sell it, take it to the charity shop, or take it to the tip!

Then there is the little matter of moving house insurance. This is something that many people forget – until something gets damaged on the way and then they find it isn’t covered. Many other people who do think about it simply assume that everything is covered by the removal company, or that it is covered on their home contents policy. True, it might be. Then again it might not.

Some home contents policies do provide cover for your belongings when you move, but many don’t. As regards, the removal company’s insurance policy, these can vary from one company to another and there can be all sorts of limitations. The terms and conditions of their contracts can vary enormously. More to the point, even if your goods are covered, there may be a very low level of cover – perhaps £40 or £50 per item, which is not much good if your new sofa gets dropped and needs to be re-covered.

There may also be items that are excluded from a claim, or there may be a limit on the amount that can be claimed on an individual item. Is there any excess on a claim? If your move is in two stages – old house to storage, and then from storage to the new home – are your belongings still covered while in storage?

You will most likely find that the cover that the removal company provides is by no means sufficient, so at The Insurance Broker we can help you with moving house insurance and make certain that you are fully covered. Furthermore, these policies are really not at all expensive, so better to be safe than sorry.