Who Is responsible For Damage During A Move?

Moving and damage are two words that most people would rather not hear in the same sentence. Sometimes it happens, and it is beyond everyone’s control. You could take the wrong road and get very upset about it, or you could understand that sometimes accidents happen. It really all boils down to how you moved in the first place.

If you did not hire a moving company, but instead chose to rent your own moving truck, do all of the packing yourself, and drove the moving truck to your new destination, then you have absolutely no one to blame but yourself.

It really depends on how your personal items got damaged in the first place. If your items got damaged as a result of your own reckless driving, or less than adequate packing, then you are to blame, but if your items got damaged because someone else drove their vehicle into the rental moving truck while you were driving, then it will be up to the insurance companies to decide who has to pay for what.

Insurance company battles are never fun, and neither is moving, but insurance is for times like this. It is the whole reason that you have insurance to begin with. Your insurance company may even make you jump through hoops to get your claim, but if that is what it takes to get your damaged goods replaced then do it.

Having to deal with someone else insurance company is a completely different ball game all together. Hopefully everything will work out smoothly, but be prepared for battle because most insurance companies will not give up a claim without a fight.

Determining which state you were in at the time of the damage will also help to determine who is responsible. Some states like Florida for instance are declared a no fault state. It does not matter who caused the accident in Florida because it will be no ones fault. Someone will get a citation, and that is usually enough to make an insurance company pay up as long as you are not the one getting the traffic citation.

If you choose to hire a moving company instead of doing all of the work yourself, then the moving company may be liable for damages caused during the move. Once again you might be doing battle with an insurance company to get things straightened out. In most cases the moving company will do what it takes to make things good.

The moving company does not want or need any type of bad press, and they will try their best to avoid any type of accidents, but accidents do happen sometimes. If something has been damaged during the move be prepared to fill out some paperwork. Hopefully you have some sort of proof that will help everyone understand the true value of the damaged goods.

In a perfect world accidents would never happen when you are moving, but unfortunately our world is far from perfect and there are way too many things that are beyond our control to make everything work smoothly.