Full Value Protection vs. Released Value Protection for Moving

This is liability, not insurance

The word you will see on the paperwork is valuation. It sets how much your mover is responsible for if your goods are lost or damaged. It is not an insurance policy, and the distinction is written into the federal rules: a mover may sell or arrange separate liability insurance only when the shipment is released at a value not exceeding 60 cents per pound per article, and if it does sell you a policy it has to give you the policy or other written evidence of it at the time you buy.

So if your estimate says “full coverage” or “fully insured” without naming one of the two valuation options, that phrase has not told you which level applies.

What Full Value Protection covers

Under Full Value Protection, if an article is lost, destroyed or damaged, the federal booklet says your mover will, at its option, either repair the article or pay you the cost of those repairs, or replace it with an article of like kind and quality or pay you the cost of replacement.

The choice among those four outcomes is the mover’s, not yours. You are owed a settlement; you are not owed a particular form of one.

Full Value Protection costs money, and how much varies between movers. Two things decide the price:

• The valuation level. The minimum valuation level for pricing Full Value Protection is $6.00 per pound times the weight of your shipment. A mover may use a higher minimum, and you may declare a higher value at additional cost. On a 5,000-pound shipment, that minimum works out to a declared value of $30,000.
• The deductible. Full Value Protection may be offered with different deductible levels, and the deductible changes the charge.

The charges for Full Value Protection have to appear in the mover’s tariff, so the amount is not something to be quoted verbally.

What Released Value Protection covers

Released Value is the no-additional-cost option. Your mover assumes liability for no more than 60 cents per pound per article, based on weight rather than value.

The federal booklet’s own example is the clearest way to see the difference: a 10-pound stereo component worth $1,000 would be settled at no more than $6.00, because ten pounds times sixty cents is six dollars.

Note that it is per article, on that article’s own weight. It is not sixty cents times the weight of your whole shipment.

Where the figure comes from is worth knowing, because FMCSA does not set it. The Surface Transportation Board does, in a released rates order, and the current order prints sixty cents in the very waiver form you would sign. The Board states that the limited liability level “is currently set at $0.60 per pound for each item.” So sixty cents is the number today, but it is a number a federal agency sets and can change, not a constant. Read the rate printed on your own valuation statement and check that it matches.

Side by side

What this looks like on your paperwork

The valuation choice is normally presented as two numbered options. The federal booklet describes them as Option 1, Full Value Protection, and Option 2, Waiver of Full Value Protection (60 cents per pound).

You should see that choice twice, and both times matter:

• On the written estimate. Federal rules require the mover to include the liability election notice from the released rates order as part of the estimate. This is the first document you get, and it is where the two options are first put to you.
• On the bill of lading. The valuation statement is one of the seventeen items the bill of lading must contain. This is the contract. Our guide on the estimate versus the bill of lading covers how the two documents relate.

Look for these words specifically:

• Valuation statement or declaration of value: the block where the choice is recorded.
• Declared value: the dollar figure your Full Value Protection is priced against.
• Deductible: a stated dollar amount.
• Released value or waiver: signing and initialling here is what moves you off Full Value Protection.

Articles worth more than $100 per pound

There is a separate rule that catches people out. If you ship under Full Value Protection, your mover’s liability for an unusually valuable article may be limited to $100 per pound for that article unless you tell the mover in writing that it is worth more. FMCSA calls these high-value articles and defines them as items worth more than $100 per pound.

A wedding ring, a laptop, a piece of jewellery or a small antique can pass that threshold easily. A two-pound item worth $3,000 is worth $1,500 a pound. Declaring it in writing is the step the rule asks for.

If something is lost or damaged

Your valuation choice decides how a claim is settled, but not whether you can make one. You have nine months from the date of delivery to file a written claim with your mover. The mover then has 30 days to acknowledge it and 120 days to give you a disposition, though it may take 60-day extensions if it notifies you in writing.

The claim is settled against whichever valuation level your paperwork records, which is the practical reason the block matters more than it looks. If you are still working through the rest of the document, our guide on how to read a moving estimate before you sign covers the order to check things in.