Liability
Moving valuation and liability, explained
What a mover offers is liability under its tariff, not an insurance policy. The free option pays by weight, which is why it protects a sofa far better than a laptop.
Plan Your Move Valuation calculator
Written by HyreMover Research Desk Primary-source research and fact checking
The short answer
Moving valuation is not insurance: it is the carrier’s liability under your contract. On an interstate move, released value costs nothing and pays 60 cents per pound per article.
Full value protection is the default unless you waive it in writing; the carrier may charge for it, and it pays for repair, replacement or a cash settlement. Declare high-value items separately.
Key takeaways
It is the level of the carrier’s liability under your contract and its tariff.
60 cents per pound per article. It costs nothing extra, and you get it only by waiving full value protection in writing.
On an interstate move, unless you waive it in writing. The carrier may charge for it.
Items worth a lot for their weight normally must be listed to be covered at their value.
Damage written on the delivery paperwork is a claim. Reported a week later, it is an argument.
Plan your move, with valuation decided up front
Free, with no obligation: a person at HyreMover reads your request and replies. Matching with moving companies is not live yet, so this is not a quote.
What are the two liability levels on an interstate move?
Two levels, and they are different products. Here they are side by side.
Released value protection
Cost: no extra charge.
Pays: 60 cents per pound, per article, whatever the item is worth.
How you get it: only by waiving full value protection in writing. It is not the default.
Suits: heavy, inexpensive items.
Full value protection
Cost: the carrier may charge for it. A higher deductible lowers the price.
Pays: repair, replacement with a like item, or a cash settlement, subject to the terms and any deductible.
How you get it: the default unless you waive it in writing.
Suits: most households with ordinary contents.
Both levels are carrier liability under the tariff and your bill of lading. Separate moving insurance exists, but it is sold by licensed insurers, not by carriers.
Why does the weight basis matter so much?
Released value pays on weight, and the things people most mind losing are light. A television, a laptop, a camera, jewelry, a painting, a violin: each is worth many times what its weight would return.
A heavy, inexpensive item, like a chest of drawers, a mattress or a washing machine, is comparatively well served by it. A ten-pound laptop is a ten-pound laptop, whatever it cost.
Run the numbers on your own items with our valuation calculator.
Which liability level should I choose?
Pick the five things in your home you would most hate to lose, and ask what their weight would pay at 60 cents a pound. That usually makes the decision.
For a household of ordinary contents, full value protection is usually the one worth paying for. Then check what your own policy already covers, below.
What else affects a moving damage claim?
Four things decide what a claim is worth before anyone reads it.
No extra charge, but only if you waive full value protection in writing. It pays 60 cents a pound per article, by weight rather than worth, so a light, valuable item recovers very little.
The default on an interstate move, and the carrier may charge for it. The carrier repairs, replaces or pays the current value, subject to the terms and any deductible you choose. Read what is excluded.
Damage inside a box you packed yourself is treated differently from damage to a carton the carrier packed. If contents matter, that changes the packing decision.
Photographs of valuable items before loading, and noting damage on the inventory at delivery before signing. A claim without either is difficult.
Check your homeowners or renters policy as well — some provide limited coverage for goods in transit, and some do not. Between the two you can work out the actual gap rather than assuming it is covered.
How do I cover items of extraordinary value?
List them. Items unusually valuable for their weight, such as jewelry, furs, antiques, artwork, collections, rare books and important documents, normally must go on a high-value or extraordinary-value inventory form. Without it, they are treated like any other article of their weight.
Ask for the form at the survey, not on moving day. List each item with a value, back it with appraisals or receipts where you have them, photograph it, and keep your copy.
For small, irreplaceable things, like jewelry, documents, passports, cash and medication, carry them yourself and take them out of the question.
What might my own insurance already cover?
Call your insurer and ask about property in transit and in storage. Get the limit and the exclusions in writing.
Many policies cover personal property away from the premises, at a percentage of the contents limit. Some address goods in transit; some exclude them.
Items listed on your policy by name, such as rings or art, often keep their cover in transit. Check.
Often covered at a limit, which matters if your move has a storage gap. See storage between homes.
Sold by licensed insurers, not carriers. Worth pricing when the value at risk is high.
Sometimes relevant on a corporate move, and easy to miss.
How does a moving damage claim work?
The steps and the federal time limits for an interstate move.
Write damage or shortage on the delivery paperwork before you sign.
The damage, the carton it came in, and the item in place. Photos from packing day make these count.
Until the claim is resolved. It is evidence of how the item was protected.
With the carrier, within the window in your bill of lading: at least nine months from delivery on an interstate move.
Of the carrier receiving your claim.
Payment, a declination, or a firm settlement offer.
Interstate carriers must offer a dispute settlement program. Complaints go to the FMCSA National Consumer Complaint Database.
Does any of this apply to a local move?
Not the federal detail. Moves inside one state follow state rules, which vary widely in the liability a mover must offer and what it must disclose.
The same way of thinking still works. Ask your mover what liability applies under your state’s rules, and ask your insurer what your policy does.
Your inquiry
Tell us about the work
Three short steps: the job, your home, and how to reach you. Nothing goes to a moving company unless you agree.
Free, with no obligation: a person at HyreMover reads your request and replies. Matching with moving companies is not live yet, so this is not a quote.
Plan Your Move
Tell us about the move and where you are. We will follow up about connecting you with moving companies serving your area.
Questions
Is moving valuation the same as insurance?
What is released value protection?
What is full value protection?
Does my homeowners insurance cover a move?
How does packing affect a claim?
How long do I have to file a claim?
What are items of extraordinary value?
Is there a deductible on full value protection?
Written and audited by
HyreMover Research Desk
Primary-source research and fact checking
We are not a moving company and not a broker. We read the federal rule, the FMCSA record or the state regulator’s page ourselves, and publish what it says with the source and the date we read it.
Where a number cannot be traced to a primary source, we publish the shorter page and say what we could not verify.
- 9
- free moving tools that show their working on the page
- 0
- national average moving prices published, because one figure would mislead
- 0
- invented reviews, ratings or named experts
How this desk works
- Primary sources only. Interstate rules come from 49 CFR Part 375 and FMCSA. Carrier records come from SAFER and the FMCSA registration system. We do not cite an article that cites a source; we read the source.
- Every figure carries its retrieval date. Rules are amended and registrations lapse. A fact without the date it was read cannot be checked.
- Fact, calculation and analysis are labeled apart. A quote is a quote, a tool’s arithmetic says so, and an interpretation says it is ours.
- Limits come first. If a rule applies only to interstate moves, or a figure is a range rather than a price, that is said before the figure is used.
Authorship on this site is organizational: the analysis belongs to the desk rather than to a named individual, and we do not publish credentials we do not hold. Our editorial policy sets out how we source, date and correct what we publish.
Sources & retrieval dates
HyreMover does not sell insurance, valuation coverage or any financial product, and nothing here is insurance or legal advice. Coverage terms vary by carrier, tariff and policy; read yours and ask your insurer. HyreMover is not a moving company and not a broker.