shipping insurance

[brucesbabe]

Hi

I have read on here that people rate Letton Percival for shipping insurance. I know the value of the goods you are shipping will vary greatly but can anyone give a rough figure of what they paid for a 20ft container. We are using around 800 cubic feet and I am putting off the horrible job of itemising and putting a value on all our stuff. How detailed do you have to be, I mean do you have to put a value to all your pans etc ?

Cheers for any feedback

Lisa

[NicF]

Hi Lisa

 

We've just arranged our shipping insurance with Letton Percival today. They charge 1.3% of the value of your goods (plus insurance tax) so you need to know the replacement value of everything you are taking with you. My other half went round the house listing everything and putting a value on it. The big and more expensive things we listed out separately and things like crockery and cutlery we lumped together as one item on the list. I'm having a panic now that we haven't valued everything high enough, but we did check out Australian prices on the net to work out the values so if the worst happens and the container falls off the ship we should be okay.

 

Nicola

Edited May 17, 2012 by NicF

[Guest AngPhil]

We have just insured our container with http://www.insure-your-move.com/Get+A+Quote as it worked our a lot cheaper than going with our removers. Only took a couple of mins to get the quote and we have saved £700.

[Guest teamV]

We have just insured our container with http://www.insure-your-move.com/Get+A+Quote as it worked our a lot cheaper than going with our removers. Only took a couple of mins to get the quote and we have saved £700.

 

We used them as letton Percival wouldn't insure us because we loaded our container before ringing them ,when you say you saved £700 who was that quote off .

 

 

 

Kev.

[Guest Iron Chef]

Just so you all know, shipping insurance is really only to cover for total loss - without it, in the event that the vessel carrying your container capsizes, you will not only lose everything inside the container, you will also be liable for the costs of salvaging your container from the bottom of the ocean! Shipping insurance generally does NOT cover you for breakages or other damage to your gear.

 

Bearing that in mind, don't lose sleep over valuing everything to the exact pound, as the chances you're going to need it are, understandably, fairly slim. Ballpark prices are fine.

[keldaz]

Good post above by Iron Chef, this was my understanding of the insurance cover. In the event we said, what are the chances of a container ship sinking, we concluded slim to none so didn't bother with insurance. What a surprise, the ship didn't sink and our stuff turned up fine.

[NicF]

Just so you all know, shipping insurance is really only to cover for total loss - without it, in the event that the vessel carrying your container capsizes, you will not only lose everything inside the container, you will also be liable for the costs of salvaging your container from the bottom of the ocean! Shipping insurance generally does NOT cover you for breakages or other damage to your gear.

 

Bearing that in mind, don't lose sleep over valuing everything to the exact pound, as the chances you're going to need it are, understandably, fairly slim. Ballpark prices are fine.

 

Actually this isn't true. The insurance we've just purchased covers things like breakages, theft, mold and mildew, non delivery etc from the moment everything is being packed until it is unpacked in our home in Australia.

 

Nicola

[Guest AngPhil]

When you say you saved £700 who was that quote off .

 

 

 

Kev.

From the 2.25% we were quoted from the movers, they do a standard valuation of all containers of £52000. We have valued our items at £25000, so that saved us some cash straight away.

 

Hope that helps.

[Guest Iron Chef]

Actually this isn't true. The insurance we've just purchased covers things like breakages, theft, mold and mildew, non delivery etc from the moment everything is being packed until it is unpacked in our home in Australia.

 

Nicola

 

Actually that's not quite true either Your insurance will cover you until the moment you sign to receive delivery of the goods in Australia. Very few delivery drivers are going to sit and wait while you check every box for damage, and once you sign for it, you have basically signed to say the goods were received in good condition. Open your boxes after that point and you're on your own.

 

There are different types of insurance, the one you've purchased is generally significantly more expensive than the ones most shipping companies offer. The the company you used gave you full cover for 1.3% of the value, then you've done very well. I appreciate your faith in the system, but having seen how the shipping industry operates, I will continue to remain sceptical.

[NicF]

Actually that's not quite true either Your insurance will cover you until the moment you sign to receive delivery of the goods in Australia. Very few delivery drivers are going to sit and wait while you check every box for damage, and once you sign for it, you have basically signed to say the goods were received in good condition. Open your boxes after that point and you're on your own.

 

There are different types of insurance, the one you've purchased is generally significantly more expensive than the ones most shipping companies offer. The the company you used gave you full cover for 1.3% of the value, then you've done very well. I appreciate your faith in the system, but having seen how the shipping industry operates, I will continue to remain sceptical.

 

This is why we didn't purchase insurance through the shipping company and why we used Letton Percival, who are nothing to do with the shipping company. You could also use Insure Your Move, who also offer the same cover as we have got, but they were slightly more expensive for us. Feel free to be sceptical about the shipping industry but this is the insurance industry we are dealing with not the shipping industry (not that you shouldn't be sceptical about them as well though).

 

Incidentally my shipping company quote also includes unpacking at the other end so my insurance does cover everything. I'm sure there will be boxes that they will not unpack but we can unpack the ones with the valuable breakable stuff in while they unpack the furniture so we will be able to sign to say everything is in good condition (or otherwise) before they go anyway.

[Guest Iron Chef]

As long as you make sure you do that before they leave, you've done very well I'm sceptical about the insurance industry too haha

[Guest Sachertorte]

we can unpack the ones with the valuable breakable stuff in while they unpack the furniture so we will be able to sign to say everything is in good condition (or otherwise) before they go anyway.

 

That's a very sensible idea. Hopefully the movers will not hurry you! let us know if that works out well. We also used Letton Percival.

 

All the best!

[brucesbabe]

Cheers everyone ! That has all helped, especially the tip about unpacking the smaller items while the larger stuff is done.

Thanks

Lisa

[TheHarrisonFamily]

we also used Letton percival. Our sofa was damaged in transit, the wooden frame was broken. When the shippers unpacked it, it was obvious it was broken. This was noted on the delivery document and we claimed on our insurance. No probs

[Guest Adelaide_bound]

Another happy Letton Percival user here, so so so much cheaper than user our removal company directly, and as they are being paid to deliver and unpack when we ask them to (currently in storage), we can check things aren't broken as they unpack them and before they leave, hence the insurance won't be invalid.

 

Not that the insurance is that tight anyway - we had some things majorily broken when we moved in the UK, and the insurance said we had 7 days to report the damage, that we didn't had to report it/notice it upon delivery. (I have no over love of insurance per say, but think sometimes people are way too harsh - credit where its due upon my experiences...)