St. George Moving Company

St. George Moving Company moves households in the St. George area. The single most misunderstood thing in the moving industry is what happens when something is damaged, because the coverage every mover is required to provide is not insurance and is far more limited than customers assume.

Background

Movers offer what the industry calls valuation, which is the carrier's declared level of liability for the goods it carries. There are two standard levels. Released value protection is the basic option, provided at no additional charge, and it settles claims by weight rather than by worth - the carrier's liability is a set amount per pound per article, so a heavy item of modest value is covered reasonably and a light item of high value is barely covered at all. A damaged flat-screen television settled by weight illustrates the problem clearly.

Full value protection is the other level, which costs extra and obliges the carrier to repair the item, replace it with something of like kind and quality, or settle at its current market replacement value. Customers choose between the two in writing, and choosing nothing normally means the basic level applies by default. Neither is insurance in the legal sense; separate moving insurance is available from insurers rather than carriers, and a homeowner's policy sometimes extends to goods in transit, which is worth checking rather than assuming. Two practical points follow: high-value articles usually have to be listed specifically on the paperwork to be covered as such, and claims have filing deadlines, so damage is worth documenting and reporting at delivery rather than after unpacking finishes.

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