This article is part of a set of 3 articles. Please also read The Large Risks Insurance and The All Risks Insurance

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This insurance policy is offered by the booking agent for items that will be packed and unpacked as part of a single removal service. It applies to shipments packed and unpacked by the same mover (a common scenario in domestic or European removals); as well as to shipments packed and unpacked by different movers, provided that one of the movers takes control of the entire process and is therefore responsible for it. A typical example of this scenario is an intercontinental move where, due to the distances between point of origin and point of destination, the mover who packed the goods cannot be the same mover who will unpack them. However, even in an intercontinental move there is always a mover who is responsible for the whole process (we know him as the booker, this term is important, it should be remembered because we will use it often later) and he is generally the link between the mover and the insurance booking agent.

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Summarising the particularities of this policy:

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• Since it was a professional mover who packed the boxes or parcels, the insurance will cover all damage to their contents, even if the packaging looks impeccable. So a broken glass inside an immaculate package will be covered by the insurance booking agent.

• The policy will cover theft, fire, water damage, breakage or missing parts (such as the loss of screws from a wardrobe) and the total loss, either of the entire shipment or of individual items.

• The boxes or packages may have been packed by a professional, but if the movers who packed the goods are not the same as the bookers, in this case, the insurance booking agent will not agree to issue an all-risk policy. Why?... Because (A) the mover who packed the goods may have no relationship with this booking agent, and (B) the statistical history of the movers who packed the goods will be different from the statistical history of the booker. Understandably, statistics are the backbone of the insurance business, so as soon as someone ‘fudges the numbers’, the insurance broker will not want to take risks and will reject the request for an all-risk insurance policy.

• Boxes or packages unloaded, even temporarily, in a warehouse not controlled by the booker, are not covered by all-risk insurance. Even if they remain packed. The rationale behind this reasoning is: ‘once these goods leave the booker's direct control: we cannot know who had access to the items, or in what condition they were stored... the goods might have been stored in an unhealthy, damp cellar... or someone might have gone there during the night destroying everything with a baseball bat...’ This was an extreme example, but it gives an idea of how insurers think.

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This article is part of a set of 3 articles. We also invite you to read The Large Risks Insurance and The All Risks Insurance.