Insurance for shipping container - worth it?

[lamprey42]

What did people do about insurance for shipping containers? I have read that some people don't bother. Our moving company require us to have it though.
They won't insure anything we pack at over £40 a box anyway. We don't have much of value that can damaged but would have a lot to replace if the whole thing went over the side.
Any advice?

[ineedamoreadultieradult]

I've never shipped anything and no idea how much insurance is etc but my brother is captain of a ship and he says the amount of containers which go over the side is huge!

[villainousbroodmare]

We shipped stuff from Ireland to South Africa. Our car was packed with stuff and was in the container, surrounded with more stuff (this is allowed, and fine). The container arrived, all well, but when unpacking it was revealed that they hadn't secured the car inside it so it could have shifted and wrecked everything else. So yes, insure.

[Laptopwieldingharpy]

What vilain just said. Ask for a lump sum insured with no specified valuables. Work out the sum insured as you expected replacement value for the whole lot at destination.

[MardAsSnails]

Our insurance was as much as the shipping cost again.

Nothing was damaged, apart from 3 Christmas baubles we didn't claim for them funnily enough but i wouldn't send uninsured. There again, I'm usually hit by Sod's law - if I insure, I won't need it. If I don't, I'll usually end up screwed. Always happens

[captainproton]

Ex seafarer here, and it is correct that containers stowed on deck are liable to falling overboard. More so in winter/hurricane season or routes famous for bad weather i.e. Capes, biscay, North Atlantic. I doubt you would ever get any say on where the container is stowed on the ship/ships (because it is unlikely to stay on one ship but be transshiped at some point from hub to feeder ports). Although I think the container owner/freight forwarder probably can pay extra for stowage below deck I have no clue whether you as the customer gets a say.

[InTheSandPit]

Can you afford to take the risk of the whole thing going overboard, getting damp and therefore mouldy or just disappearing in some port somewhere? If your happy to just pay out on the off chance something happens, feel free to ship uninsured.
We did what Laptop said. General replacement value, no named specifics. Think it was weight based.
Our shippers wouldn't let us pack, or ship uninsured.

[ExtremelyConfidential]

What's the value inside the container and the insurance premium you're being quoted? Is it just loss or also damage, mold etc?

[BikeRunSki]

My boss shipped his stuff from HK to UK. When unloading his car it rolled down the ramp, ran over some stuff that had already been unloaded and crashed.

[Smidge001]

We shipped from Aus to UK a couple of months ago and didn't insure. To actually give proper coverage the premium was going to be huge - same amount as the shipping cost. We could have replaced most of the furniture for that price - and if the container fell overboard no insurance would be able to replace the sentimental stuff anyway.

Our container arrived safely, so no regrets from me!

[thetoothfairywhoforgot]

We shipped a part load and some stuff was damaged by the movers bringing it from port to our house. The company wanted so much paperwork we ended up not claiming. If you do insure, find out what they need in advance. I seem to remember it being a list or 8 or 9 things they wanted.

And if you are moving to New Zealand, make sure they don't use the Moving Company. -fuckers damaged my stuff through pure carelessness. It was many years ago and I am still cross.

[Misnomer]

You can get better insurance rates if you arrange it separately from shipping. Letton Percival (or similar) is recommended a lot on emigrating to New Zealand forums. They are a specialist shipping insurance broker.

[MyFriendsCallMeOh]

I've had to claim for stuff getting broken and going missing from a shipment (about $500 worth), also have 2 friends who have opened containers in the past year to find them covered in mould, one other friend whose container was infested with cockroaches. I would definitely insure!

[lamprey42]

Thanks. All the horror stories have convinced me we do need something . I'll look at quotes from brokers as well as our shipper though as suggested.

[PinkBallerina]

I have always had it but they have never paid out for damaged stuff - a cracked table had an excess higher than the value of the table eg. I feel i am paying for should my container fall off the side of the ship rather than for individual damaged items

[PinkBallerina]

Also, we shipped a container from France to UK once (hardly shipping) and it got lost and took 2 months to retrieve. Considering the short distance it was supposed to be shipped i was surprised.

[Scotinoz]

I'm just about to have my house packed into a container. Yes to the insurance!

There should be various options offered by the shipper - basic insurance with the premium calculated as a percentage of the contents value, one that covers mould, and one that cover pairs&sets etc (if a dining chair gets damaged the they pay out for the entire set).

We're shipping our entire house contents and it seems nuts not to insure it,

[MooseBeTimeForSnow]

I had contents shipped from UK to Canada, first by sea and then rail. We were lucky in that my husbands new employer footed the bill. Several glass mixing bowls and baking dishes got smashed but were given a cheque no questions asked. Two pieces of furniture were dented and they sent a restorer to deal with them.

[Greaterthanthesumoftheparts]

I was advised to have insurance due to the falling overboard risk and the advice was to really list absolutely everything by box because if you lose the lot it can really cost a fortune to replace everything. Imagine you lost your entire kitchen of bits and bobs how much that would cost to replace, plus all your bed linen, tables chairs, clothes and shoes for the whole family all at once. It would cost a fortune even though individual item may not be worth much, it's the having nothing at all which is the problem, even if there is a per box limit (never heard of this) you can get hundreds of boxes in a shipping container so it's totally worth it in my opinion (three international moves later).

[ifink]

definitely get insurance....our v expensive office quality printer wasn't packed properly - we opened the carton to find it in there with no paper or protection. Naturally it had been dropped and didn't work - insurance paid out straight away.

[ICJump]

We got quotes from in dependants then got our shippers to match it.
We set the value so all my clothes were valued at new rather than the sales/charity shop price I paid.

[lamprey42]

Looking a insurers now anyone who had to claim and would recommend theirs? (Ifink and moose?).

[MooseBeTimeForSnow]

I still have the paperwork. I will check tomorrow.

[PlaydoughGirl]

We've shipped containers from Australia > UK, and UK > Australia, and neither time has the insurance been anywhere near the cost of shipping. Probably closer to 1/4 to 1/3. Both times, the company (different each time) provided us with an inventory list as a guideline. We estimated the cost of items we wanted to insure, added on the cost of shipping itself (it would be awful to pay shipping costs for a container that went overboard), and insured for a total lump sum. Moving overseas is expensive and stressful - insurance really is a peace of mind thing for us.