OWNERSHIP AND LIFE EVENTS

Does homeowners insurance cover your belongings during a move?

By The ClearCoverCost Editors

Your homeowners policy follows your belongings onto the moving truck, but the standard HO-3 form pays for them only when a named peril causes the loss: fire, theft, a vehicle, windstorm and a short list of others. A dresser dropped on the ramp or a carton of crushed dishes is not on that list. For that damage the claim goes to an interstate mover, which federal rules at 49 CFR Part 375 make liable for loss or damage during the move at either full replacement value or a released rate of 60 cents per pound per article.

That released rate is smaller than most people expect. The federal booklet movers must hand out, printed as Appendix A to Part 375, gives its own example: a 10-pound stereo component worth $1,000 that is lost or destroyed costs the mover no more than $6.00, ten pounds times 60 cents. The option costs nothing extra, which is why it shows up on so many signed bills of lading.

Disclaimer: Published averages and benchmark ranges, not a quote. This page is not insurance advice. Your premium will differ based on your home, location, claims history, and insurer. Flood insurance is separate from a standard homeowners policy.

Two different promises cover the same boxes

On moving day two separate promises can stand behind the same carton, and they are built on opposite logic. The homeowners policy is an insurance contract that you bought. It covers your things wherever they are, but only against the causes it names. The mover's liability is a legal duty that comes with the job. Under 49 CFR 375.201(a), a household goods carrier is liable for loss or damage that happens during the transportation and all the related services listed on the bill of lading. That duty has no list of perils. It does have a price ceiling, and you choose the ceiling when you sign the valuation statement.

So the useful first sort is by cause. Fire and theft are named perils in the homeowners policy, and a crash may be one, for reasons the form leaves open below; the mover may owe for all three too. Handling damage, the scratched table and the cracked television screen, belongs to the mover alone. A move with a weak mover liability level and no named peril in the story leaves the household holding most of the loss.

What the HO-3 form says about property away from the house

The rows below quote or summarize ISO's Homeowners 3 Special Form, edition HO 00 03 10 00, from the sample copy published by the Insurance Information Institute, the same form our other guides use. Your insurer's form, a later edition or a state amendment can change any row, so use each row to find the matching paragraph in your own policy and read that version.

The perils row is the one that decides most moving claims, and it surprises people who know that the house itself is insured on an open-perils basis. In the HO-3 sample, Coverage A for the dwelling covers direct physical loss unless excluded. Coverage C for belongings does not; it names its causes. Our HO-3 versus HO-5 comparison explains how an HO-5 or an open-perils contents endorsement changes that for personal property, which is the policy feature that matters most if you expect to file a moving claim with your own insurer.

The vehicles peril deserves a careful read. Under Coverage C the sample lists it as a single word, "Vehicles," with no qualifier and no definition. It plainly reaches a car that crashes into property. Whether it reaches a load that is damaged when the truck carrying it overturns or collides is not spelled out in the sample. Ask your insurer how it reads that peril for property in transit before the move, not after a crash.

Electronics in a truck raise one more limit. Special limit j caps electronic apparatus and accessories at $1,500 while in or upon a motor vehicle, but only if the apparatus can run on the vehicle's electrical system while still capable of running on other power. Most household electronics cannot run on a vehicle's power, so the limit seldom bites, but a device that can may be capped while it rides. Our guide to theft away from home works through that equipment test with a laptop.

What an interstate mover owes under 49 CFR 375

Part 375 is the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's consumer protection rule for household goods moves. Section 375.101 limits it to household goods motor carriers transporting household goods for individual shippers in interstate commerce, so it applies when a mover carries your goods across a state line. It sets two levels of liability. The Surface Transportation Board, which oversees mover tariffs, sets the dollar figures through its released rates order.

Three details in that table carry most of the money. First, Full Value Protection is a replacement promise. The booklet's description has no deduction for depreciation; the mover restores the article or replaces it with one of like kind and quality. That is a richer basis than the actual cash value the HO-3 sample pays on personal property. Second, the $100-per-pound rule. Appendix A lists jewelry, silverware, china, furs, antiques, oriental rugs and computer software as examples of articles of extraordinary value. A five-pound laptop worth $1,600 is $320 per pound, so it belongs on that list too, and if it is not declared in writing its recovery can fall to $500 even under Full Value Protection. Third, the 60-cent figure is not frozen. Section 375.201(c) says the released rate may be increased annually by the mover based on the Department of Commerce cost of living adjustment, so the number printed on your bill of lading is the one that binds.

A mover's own conduct can also change the result. Under 375.203(a), if you pack perishable, dangerous or hazardous articles without the mover's knowledge, it need not assume liability for them or for damage they cause. Appendix A adds that cartons you pack yourself and pack badly can reduce the mover's liability, as can declaring a shipment value below the real value of the goods.

A damaged shipment, worked three ways

The figures below are invented to show the arithmetic. They are not averages, not quotes and not the terms of any mover or insurer. The household is moving from one state to another with a professional mover.

• Shipment weight: 7,000 pounds.
• Homeowners policy: HO-3 sample terms, Coverage C limit $150,000, $1,000 deductible, personal property settled at actual cash value.
• Full Value Protection: no value declared, so the declared value is the higher of 7,000 times $6.00 or $6,000, which is $42,000. The household picked a $250 deductible from the mover's options.
• Released value: 60 cents per pound per article, the figure printed in Appendix A.

Case one: five articles damaged in handling

The crew drops a television carton, breaks a dresser leg on the stairs, crushes a carton of dishes and a carton holding a laptop, and tears a sofa arm on a door frame.

Released value line by line: 50 times 60 cents is $30; 180 times 60 cents is $108; 40 times 60 cents is $24; 5 times 60 cents is $3; 120 times 60 cents is $72. Added up, $30 plus $108 is $138, plus $24 is $162, plus $3 is $165, plus $72 is $237. The weight of the carton of dishes is treated as one article here; how a mover weighs part of a carton is set by its tariff, so read that before you count on a figure.

The Full Value Protection rows, step by step. With the laptop undeclared, its recovery is capped at 5 pounds times $100, or $500, so the covered loss is $1,100 plus $420 plus $380 plus $500 plus $260, which is $2,660. Less the $250 deductible, the mover owes $2,410, and the household carries $1,350: the $1,100 of laptop value above the cap plus the $250 deductible. With the laptop declared, the loss is the full $3,760, less $250, for $3,510.

The homeowners column is zero because nothing in the story is a named peril. Even if it were, the policy would settle at actual cash value, $2,510, less the $1,000 deductible, for $1,510. That is less than the mover owes at Full Value Protection, and roughly six times the released-value figure.

Case two: the truck burns with the whole load

Same household, same policy and same declared value. This time a fire destroys the entire shipment. The contents would cost $70,000 to replace new and have an actual cash value of $45,000. Every article in the load is worth more than 60 cents per pound, and the household's extraordinary-value items were listed.

The released value figure is the sum of each article's weight times 60 cents, and since every article is worth more than that rate, the sum is simply the whole 7,000 pounds times 60 cents, or $4,200. Under the default Full Value Protection, the $69,750 after the deductible runs into the $42,000 declared value; how the deductible meets that ceiling is set by the mover's tariff, so the payment could be $250 lower. Declaring the real $70,000 value, at the extra charge the mover's tariff sets, closes that $27,750 gap.

Fire is a named peril, so here the homeowners policy is in play and the mover is liable too. That does not mean you collect twice. The sample's subrogation condition lets your insurer step into your rights against the mover to the extent it pays you, and the No Benefit to Bailee condition keeps the mover from using your policy as its cover. Tell both the mover and your insurer about the loss, give each the other's claim number, and ask the insurer in writing how it will handle a loss the mover also owes. If a replacement cost endorsement applies, our recoverable depreciation guide explains how the second payment is released after replacement.

The comparison points to one decision rule. When the shipment's replacement value is well above $6.00 per pound of its weight, the default declared value will be too low for a total loss, and declaring a higher figure is the step that changes the outcome. When the goods are worth less than that, the default may be enough, and the deductible choice matters more.

Which promise covers which kind of move

Part 375 reaches only one kind of move. Every other arrangement leans harder on the homeowners policy and on whatever the moving company's contract says.

The storage row has a deadline hidden in it. Under 375.609, when storage-in-transit is about to expire the mover must notify you of the date it converts to permanent storage and of the nine-month period after that date for claims about loss or damage in transit or during storage-in-transit. The rule ties carrier liability to the storage-in-transit period, so ask the mover in writing what terms apply to your goods after conversion. If your goods sit with a mover while the new house is finished, mark that conversion date on a calendar the day it arrives.

Self-storage is a different case. A storage unit is not a residence, and our theft away from home guide explains why the HO-3 sample's 10 percent limit for other residences does not, on its words, reach one.

Jewelry, laptops and the box you should carry yourself

The articles that do worst under every option are small and valuable. On a truck under released value, a 2-ounce ring pays pennies. Under Full Value Protection it may be capped at $100 per pound unless you list it. Under the homeowners policy, theft of jewelry and watches is capped at $1,500 in the HO-3 sample, and a ring crushed in a carton is not a named-peril loss at all.

Carrying those items yourself changes only one of those three answers, but it is the one you control. In your car or on your person, the goods stay covered anywhere in the world against the named perils, with the theft caps, and they never enter a mover's custody where a weight-based ceiling applies. Jewelry, watches, cash, passports, prescription medicines and the hard drive with your family photographs belong in that box. If the value is large enough that the $1,500 theft cap worries you, our guide to scheduling valuables explains how scheduling an item works and what to ask about it.

For articles you do send on the truck, write down every one worth more than $100 per pound before the crew arrives. Appendix A puts the duty on you: the mover can limit its liability for extraordinary items unless you specifically list them on the shipping documents. The arithmetic is quick. A $3,000 painting that weighs 20 pounds is $150 per pound and should be listed; a $900 rug at 40 pounds is about $22 per pound and need not be.

Third-party moving insurance and how it fits

Some movers offer separate cargo insurance from an insurer. Section 375.303(a) allows a mover to sell liability insurance only when you release the shipment at the 60-cent level, and the mover must give you a copy of the policy or other written record at the time of purchase. If it does not, Appendix A says, the mover is liable for any claim for loss or damage. The same booklet adds a warning worth reading twice: disputes with third-party insurance companies are not subject to FMCSA regulations, so the arbitration program described below does not reach them.

This is also the product that interacts with your homeowners policy. The HO-3 sample's Other Insurance condition says that if a covered loss is also covered by other insurance, the insurer pays only its proportion of the loss, in the ratio of its limit to the total insurance covering the loss. A mover's liability under a bill of lading is a carrier's legal duty, not an insurance policy, but a cargo policy you bought is insurance. If you hold both, a covered fire loss could be shared between them rather than paid in full by either. Ask your insurer how it would apportion a loss before you buy the second policy, and compare the cargo policy's causes, valuation basis and deductible with Full Value Protection at a declared value you choose.

Filing after delivery: the clocks on both sides

The paperwork starts at the curb. Under 375.503(d), at delivery the mover must let you check that the same articles are being delivered and note in writing any missing articles and the condition of damaged ones, and give you a copy of those notes. Notes made on the spot, with the driver watching, are the best evidence either claim will ever have.

The arbitration rule is the strongest tool in Part 375 for a shipper. A mover must keep a neutral arbitration program, tell you about it before the bill of lading is signed, and charge you no more than half the cost of starting a case. It cannot require you to agree to arbitration before a dispute arises. For claims of $10,000 or less, if you ask for arbitration the result is binding. Case one above, at any liability level, sits well under that line.

On the homeowners side, the HO-3 sample asks for an inventory of damaged personal property showing the quantity, description, actual cash value and amount of loss, with bills and receipts attached. The same list serves the mover's claim. Photographs taken while packing, with model numbers visible, do more for both claims than any description written afterward. Our home inventory guide shows what to record for each item, and our guide on whether to file a homeowners claim covers the trade-off when a loss sits only a little above the deductible.

Coverage gaps around the move itself

Between closings. The HO-3 sample keeps the full Coverage C limit for property in a newly acquired principal residence for 30 days from the time you begin to move it there. Past that, property usually located at a residence other than the residence premises falls to 10 percent of the limit, or $1,000 if greater, until the new house becomes the residence premises on your policy. Our guide to insurance when buying a house covers binding the new policy, and our guide to cancelling after a sale sets the date the old one should end.

Renting at either end. A renter's HO-4 uses named perils for personal property too, so the same handling gap applies. Our renters insurance guide lays out the HO-4 perils list.

Water in transit. The sample's water damage exclusion removes flood, surface water and waves from coverage whether or not driven by wind. A truck caught in a flash flood is not saved by the anywhere-in-the-world grant. The exclusion does give back direct loss by fire, explosion or theft that results from water damage.

Movers' own exclusions. Full Value Protection is "subject to the allowable exceptions in your mover's tariff," in the words of Appendix A. Ask for the tariff's exceptions list along with the estimate.

Three signatures that set what you recover

Most of the money in a moving loss is decided before anything breaks, by three pieces of paper. The first is the valuation statement on the bill of lading, where you either keep Full Value Protection or waive it for 60 cents a pound. The Surface Transportation Board required that statement on the bill of lading itself in 2012, noting that the bill of lading is the last form the mover gives the customer and the one courts look to when deciding whether a customer agreed in writing to limit the mover's liability. Read it slowly, and write a declared value if the shipment is worth more than $6.00 a pound. The second is the inventory under 375.503, which the mover must prepare at loading and which you may check and sign. The third is the delivery paperwork, where your notes on missing and damaged articles start the claim.

Before any of those, open your own declarations page and find the Coverage C limit, the deductible and any endorsement that switches personal property to replacement cost or to open perils. Our declarations page guide shows where each sits. Those three facts tell you how much of case two your homeowners policy would carry, and how much of case one it would carry, which is nothing. With that in hand, the declared value on the bill of lading is the one number left to choose.

Selling the old house in the same month? The ownership and life events hub covers the policy side of a sale, an inheritance and a move, and the guides index lists everything else.

Moving and coverage: reader questions