What happens if some item of value is dropped, something heavy is put on top of it or it has not been packed well enough and gets broken? A glass table top gets chipped or a mirror is dropped and is damaged because of inadequate packaging. Who pays for a mishap like that?

The stock answer is – you do, if you are not adequately insured. So, who provides the insurance cover you need to avoid the cost of repairing or replacing expensive items. It is easy to assume that by using a reputable removals company you are fully covered for such damage, but assuming that you would be covered for any breakages or damage would be unwise.

If a removals company picks up a box or package that you have pre-packed, they will have no idea what may be inside the packaging, or the value of the contents. They will not know if the item has a chip or crack already on it or whether you have properly protected a fragile item against damage when being moved. Most removals companies will then cover any item, up to a value which will be stated in the remover’s insurance policy. This may be nowhere near the real value of the item in question. This means that your items may not be fully covered by their insurance, unless you have contracted to buy their packing service, in which case they will know what will be in the box or packaging and will pack the item accordingly. Always check your removals company’s terms and conditions as to what their insurance does and does not cover.

Most reputable removers will offer a service whereby they will pack any fragile, breakable or valuable items at one end and unpack them at the other. By doing this, they will accept insurance liability for these items, under the terms and conditions of their insurance policy. They will use their own packaging materials to protect your valuable and fragile possessions and by unpacking them in your new home, they are able to reclaim these materials for further use at a later date. 

Likewise if you are purchasing Removals Insurance independently, your insurers may stipulate that you must use the packaging service of a reputable removals company. This will ensure that each item is properly packed, otherwise you will not be fully covered. It is also possible that your removals company of choice may wish to have documentary proof of your independent insurance cover.

Your standard Home Contents Insurance may or may not cover your house contents when moving house. It is important to check, as around 40% of household insurances do not provide cover for moving house as standard, despite the headline stating that your house contents are covered if they are lost or damaged when out of the home. That being the case, if you want to do some of your own packing, it is wise to look at each item and decide whether or not its value is sufficient to risk it being uninsured during the move. If you decide that you want the removals company to pack all of your possessions, they will do so but this could add around 25% to you removal costs.

The final part of the fairly complicated process of handing over your existing property to its new owners and taking ownership of your new home is to take possession of the keys to that property. Documents have to be signed, money has to be transferred and solicitors have to be satisfied that all that has been done before the keys can be handed over at the allotted time. In most property sales, the handover of the keys is achieved with little or no problem. However, this is not always the case and in some instances even this simple act can be problematic or simply take a little more time than anticipated. This can result in you removals company not getting access to your new property at the agreed time and being faced with waiting till the keys can be handed over. This will obviously have a cost impact on the removals company which will be passed on to you in some form or another.

Most companies will offer an optional waiting time waiver scheme, which will normally cover the first two hours of any waiting time. Thereafter you may be charged an hourly rate of around £30 plus VAT which will be calculated on a per man, per hour, basis. A two hour wait in excess of the waiver scheme for three men would therefore mean an extra charge of £216.

Moving house has a not insubstantial cost attached to it and the cost of the actual removal is undoubtedly a major contributor to the total cost. On that basis, it is a spend that requires a great deal of thought and research before making a final decision on which company to go with. 

As with many things in life, it is not always best to buy the cheapest. Study the quotes you get, make sure they cover all aspects that you want and try to find any hidden or extra costs not included in the headline price. If you find anything ambiguous or badly explained, ask for clarification, most removals companies will have nothing to hide and will welcome the interaction as an opportunity to build a relationship with their potential customer.

Removals Insurance is complicated and the devil, as they say, is in the detail, so read the small print in the terms and conditions. Don’t be put off or concerned if you are asked by a reputable company to pay up front. Most removers will ask for payment ahead of the moving date, this can either be by card, bank transfer or cheque. Bear in mind that a ‘reputable company’ is a company with a good, solid reputation of trust, which they will have built up over a period of time and on that basis are not likely to take your payment and then not provide a good service.