Updated
The two things that are not the same
Public liability covers damage the company causes to property — a scratched lift, a cracked marble threshold in a lobby, a damaged wall. Buildings usually require it before they will issue a moving permit, which is why every company has it.
Goods-in-transit cover is what protects your furniture. They are different policies with different limits, and a company can honestly say it is 'fully insured' while carrying very little of the second one.
- Public liability: damage to the building and third parties
- Goods in transit: damage to your possessions while being moved
- All-risk cover: broader, usually needs items declared in advance
- Storage cover: separate again, and often assumed rather than held
Why self-packed boxes are usually excluded
If you packed the carton, the mover cannot know what is in it or how it was packed, so almost every policy excludes damage to the contents of customer-packed boxes unless the carton itself is visibly crushed.
This is reasonable, and it is also the single most common surprise after a move. If you are packing yourself, pack the fragile things as if there is no insurance, because there usually is not.
Limits, excess and declared value
Two numbers decide whether a policy is meaningful: the limit per item and the excess. A policy with a high total limit and a low per-item limit will not replace one valuable thing. An excess set above the value of most household items means small claims are not worth making.
High-value items — art, jewellery, instruments, watches, designer furniture — normally need declaring in advance with a value. Declare them before the move. After a claim is too late.
What to ask, in order
Five questions, and they take a minute. A company that answers them precisely has read its policy; a company that reassures you instead has not.
- What is the limit per item, not just the total?
- What is the excess on a claim?
- Are customer-packed cartons covered, and under what conditions?
- How do I declare a high-value item, and by when?
- Is storage covered under the same policy or a separate one?
What a good claims process looks like
Photographs of the property and of high-value items at both ends. A written condition note before loading. A named contact and a stated timeframe for a response.
The point is not that damage never happens. It is that when it does, there is a record rather than two competing memories.