ireland132

Hi there.

I am about to get my wordly possessions shipped to LA and was wondering if anyone has any tips about the whole insurance issue. I can understand how to value my furniture and major items, but what about all my cds, books, dvds etc. The insurance quote is 2.75% of the replacement value.

The thing is, I have about 1000cds and about 250 dvds and quite a few books. Obviously the replacement cost is pretty high (even conservatively it's about £10,000). What did everyone else do? What chance does my ship have of sinking? Do I just allocate a little money and hope for the best?

And no, I am not going to burn all my cds onto an Ipod and take that.

Thanks in advance.

Pulaski

We insured, it cost a packet , and some of my books, LPs and CDs are effectively irreplaceable, but in the event that the container went missing, which does happen (more often than a container ship sinking I believe) at least I'd have had a fat check to buy myself some new stuff with.

ukemigrant

If you value your stuff, insure it, simple as that. Best thing to do is to make sure they pack it right, for international shipping. My bed was not packed right and incurred some damage, but it was less than the deductible so we couldn't claim.

I took pictures of all my stuff for reference. Cost 500 pounds to insure 15000 pounds value. The insurer says to insure at replacement value in the destination country - remember that.

And if you can find someone who can answer the sinking ship question, ask them to PM me - I'd like to get some lottery numbers off them

Rockgurl

Just out of interest, seeing as we're on the topic...how do you pack a bed? I have a pine loft bed that I have taken apart and now it's just a bunch of very long poles. I've wrapped some of them and bound them in plastic but I can't bind them all together or it will be too cumbersome and heavy. Is it ok to leave them in several bundles as long as they're wrapped? It's so awkward moving country!

Maggs

Hi

I grossly underestimated the amount it would cost to replace my wedgewood china. I insured it for 800 pounds and when I looked at the replacement cost it would have been 2000 pounds!! My insurance was new for old so I put down (apart from the wedgewood) what it would cost to replace each item if bought new today.

Hope this helps and good luck. By the way nothing got broken!

Maggie

ireland132

We've totalled up everything and its come to about £17,000. This is undervaluing replacement costs of cds/books/dvds/videos, but if we were to cover actual replacement value of every single one, it would double the amount at least.

The cost for this is £500 - seems reasonable.

Overall, I suppose it's a bit of a risk (I am not an actuary who could assess it exactly!) but it feels about right.

ukemigrant

Are you sure that's the replacement cost for buying in the US? The CDs/DVDs are cheaper over here. The insurance you pay is usually a % of the total amount you submit.

Sam.

ukemigrant

The shipping people packed our stuff, and they just just a harder wearing plastic wrap which was padded for everything (except our bed). They wrapped them all individually, including the four parts of the bed. I'm guessing they'd just wrap a couple of poles together - they should know what they are doing.

Sam.

ireland132

We have about 250 DVDs, over 1000 Cds, probably 600 books, 600 records, and a load of videos! The £17,000 value is for all the furniture we are taking, plus clothers, plus personal effects. Even taking into account the lower replacement value of the DVDs and CDs, they are still undervalued.

PrincessofWales

why would you bother bringing a bed here, when the US sheet sizing is different to the UK one! It's easier to save on the cost of shipping and buy a new one when you get here.

On insurance, must have, heard horror stories of china, glass, and all sorts getting smashed to smythereens (spelling?)!