Valuation Is Not Insurance
One initialed line on the contract decides whether a destroyed television is worth its replacement price or sixty cents a pound. It is not an insurance policy, it is a limit on the carrier's own liability, and the cheaper option is the one that gets ticked by default.
The rule in short
On an interstate move the carrier's liability for lost or damaged household goods is replacement value up to the declared value of the shipment, unless the shipper waives that in writing in favor of the released rates set by the Surface Transportation Board. Released rates pay by weight rather than by value. Separate insurance sold by or through the carrier is a different product with its own policy, and the bill of lading must show evidence of it, including the premium.
Valuation is not insurance. It is a ceiling on what the mover itself owes if something is lost or broken, agreed in advance and written into the contract, and it decides the size of every later claim.
Two choices exist on an interstate household goods move. Full value protection is the standard: the carrier is liable for the replacement value of goods lost, damaged, destroyed or not delivered, up to the declared value of the shipment. The alternative is to waive that in writing in favor of released rates, which value goods by weight. Released rates cost nothing, which is why they are often the option that ends up ticked.
What full value protection actually covers
Under full value protection the measure of liability is the replacement value of the item, with the declared value of the shipment as the maximum. The declared value is subject to the rules of the Surface Transportation Board and to the carrier's tariff, and the tariff is where the deductible options and the settlement mechanics live.
The carrier usually holds the choice of remedy: repair the article, replace it with one of like kind and quality, or settle in cash. When a claim is settled, a household goods carrier must take the replacement cost of the lost or damaged item as its starting point and then apply a depreciation factor to arrive at the current actual value. A ten-year-old sofa is not settled at the price of a new one, and that is the rule rather than a negotiating position.
The carrier also has to disclose the limits of its liability clearly and concisely. That obligation is easy to satisfy on paper and easy to satisfy badly in practice, because the disclosure usually sits inside a tariff summary handed over with a stack of other documents. A shipper who asks the estimator to say out loud what the carrier would owe for a specific broken item under each option will learn more in two minutes than from reading the tariff.
What released rates leave a household with
Released rates work on weight. The regulations describe the released level as sixty cents per pound per article, and the released rate may be increased by the carrier based on a published cost of living adjustment. The important feature is the unit. Nothing about the article's price enters the calculation.
That produces results that feel wrong and are correct. Heavy, cheap things recover well. Light, expensive things recover almost nothing. A shipper who waives full value protection has agreed that a lost carton of electronics is worth what the carton weighed, and the waiver has to be made in writing on the valuation statement that the bill of lading is required to carry.
The first is the declared value. Protection runs only up to the figure declared for the shipment, so an understated declaration caps a large loss. The second is the high-value rule: if a shipper agrees to release goods above sixty cents per pound per article, liability may be limited to one hundred dollars per pound per article for anything the shipper failed to notify the carrier of in writing. Articles above that level have to be listed to be covered at their real worth.
Where insurance is a genuinely different thing
A carrier may sell liability insurance, and some do. That is a contract with an insurer, not a limit on the carrier's own liability, and it comes with its own policy wording, exclusions and claims process. Where the carrier sells or arranges it, the rules require that the shipper be issued a copy of the policy or other appropriate evidence, and the bill of lading must show evidence of any coverage obtained from an independent insurer, including the amount of the premium.
The consequence of skipping that step falls on the carrier. A mover that sells insurance and fails to issue the policy or evidence of it may carry additional liability of its own. From the household's side, the practical test is simple: if there is no policy document and no premium recorded anywhere, no insurance was bought, whatever the salesperson called it.
Vocabulary is where most of the confusion starts. Movers and their sales material routinely use the words coverage, protection and insurance for all three arrangements. Only one of them is an insurance contract. The other two are limits written into a transportation contract, enforced through a claim against the carrier rather than a claim against an insurer, and settled under the federal claims rules rather than under state insurance law.
Comparing the three ways goods can be protected
| Option | What decides the payout | Cost and paperwork |
|---|---|---|
| Full value protection | Replacement value, up to the declared value, less depreciation | Priced into the move; the default unless waived |
| Released rates | Weight of the article, at the released rate per pound | No charge; requires a written waiver on the valuation statement |
| Insurance from an insurer | The policy wording, its limits and its exclusions | A premium, evidenced on the bill of lading |
| Existing residential policy | Whether goods in transit or in a carrier's custody are covered | Already paid; often limited or excluded for moves |
Making the choice before the truck arrives
The decision is made on the valuation statement, and it belongs on the same reading pass as the dates and the payment method on the bill of lading that governs the move. Three things are worth doing before signing. Write down a realistic total for the household's contents rather than a round guess. List separately anything worth more than one hundred dollars per pound, which in practice means jewelry, cameras, instruments, art and small electronics. Ask what deductible options the tariff offers, because they change the price of full value protection considerably.
Owner-packed cartons interact with all of this, because who filled a box affects what can be proved about how it broke. That is the subject of packing done by the shipper compared with the mover. Valuation also stops at a defined point in time: once goods convert from storage in transit into ordinary warehousing, the carrier's liability ends and the warehouse's terms take over, which is set out under storage in transit and when it becomes warehousing.
None of this is worth much if the claim is filed late. The valuation choice sets the ceiling; the nine-month claim window decides whether there is a claim at all. Photographing valuable items before they are packed, and keeping receipts where they exist, is the cheapest thing on this entire list, and it is the evidence that turns a disputed settlement into a straightforward one.
Points to carry away
- Full value protection is the default liability standard on an interstate household goods move.
- Released rates pay a fixed amount per pound per article, regardless of what the article cost.
- A waiver of full value protection has to be made in writing on the valuation statement.
- Items worth more than one hundred dollars per pound must be listed in writing to be fully covered.
- Insurance bought through a mover is a separate contract and must be evidenced on the bill of lading.
Questions readers ask
What does sixty cents a pound actually mean in practice?
Released rates value goods by weight rather than by cost. A flat-screen television weighing thirty pounds is valued at eighteen dollars under a sixty cent rate, whatever it sold for. A marble table top weighing two hundred pounds is worth more under the same rate than a laptop worth twenty times as much. The measure has nothing to do with value, which is the point of it: it is the price of the cheapest liability the carrier is allowed to accept, and it is why the option costs nothing extra.
Does homeowner or renter coverage fill the gap?
Sometimes, partly, and rarely in the way people assume. Many residential policies limit or exclude property in the custody of a carrier or in transit, and deductibles often exceed the value of the individual items that get broken. A policy may also cover the loss without covering the carrier's failure, leaving the household to claim from its own insurer and lose a no-claims position. Checking the wording before the move is far more useful than discovering the exclusion after a carton arrives crushed.
Can a mover repair an item instead of paying for it?
Under full value protection the carrier generally has a choice among repairing the item, replacing it with an item of like kind and quality, or making a cash settlement for the cost of repair or replacement, subject to the terms of the tariff and the declared value. That choice belongs to the carrier rather than the shipper. When a claim is settled, a household goods carrier must use the replacement cost of the item as the base and then apply a depreciation factor to reach the current actual value.
Sources
- 49 CFR 375.201 — Normal liability for loss and damageSets full value protection as the standard and describes waiver in favor of released rates.
- 49 CFR 375.203 — Shipper actions that reduce liabilityContains the sixty cents per pound reference and the notice rule for high-value articles.
- 49 CFR 375.303 — Selling liability insuranceRequires a copy of the policy or other evidence of insurance to be issued to the shipper.
- 49 CFR 375.505 — Required bill of lading itemsRequires the valuation statement and evidence of any independent insurance, with the premium.
- 49 CFR 370.9 — Disposition of claimsRequires replacement cost as the base with a depreciation factor applied on household goods claims.
- 49 U.S.C. 14706 — Liability under receipts and bills of ladingThe statutory basis for carrier liability and for limitations agreed in writing with the shipper.
National Attorney Hub is a publication, not a law firm. This article states general rules and cites its sources; it is not advice about any particular case, and the law differs by state and changes over time.
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The Nine-Month Window to Claim for Lost or Broken Goods
On an interstate household goods move the carrier may not provide a period shorter than nine months for filing a claim, or shorter than two years for bringing a civil action after it gives written notice that the claim is disallowed. A valid claim is a written communication identifying the shipment, asserting liability and demanding a specified or determinable sum. The carrier must acknowledge it within thirty days and pay, decline or make a firm settlement offer within one hundred and twenty.
How the Weight Is Established and Checked
An interstate household goods shipment charged by weight must be weighed either as an origin weigh or a back weigh, with the vehicle fully equipped, nobody aboard, and the fuel tanks handled consistently. The shipper may observe every weighing and, after being told the billing weight and total charges but before unloading begins on an origin weigh, may demand a reweigh. The reweigh weight then governs the freight bill, and weight tickets must accompany the invoice.
Delivery Windows and What Delay Entitles You To
Interstate household goods carriers must provide reasonable dispatch service and must tender the shipment on the agreed delivery date or within the period stated on the bill of lading. When a delay becomes apparent the carrier must notify the shipper by a listed method, at its own expense, and record the notification. Delay is claimable under the federal claims rules, and the carrier must acknowledge a written claim within thirty days and dispose of it within one hundred and twenty.