What to Do if Your Belongings are Damaged During a Move

Moving day is likely the most stressful day of the home-buying process. With so many items to keep track of, not to mention kids and pets, it can be easy to get overwhelmed during the process. To make matters worse, sometimes the items to so carefully pack are damaged during the move, or while unpacking at your new home.

In this article, we’re going to attempt to alleviate some of that moving day stress by giving you expert advice on how to avoid damaging your belongings during a move, and what to do if damage does occur.

What items are prone to damage?

Some items need to be handled with extra care while packing and while moving. Those items include:

• Glasses, plates, and other fragile kitchenware

• Electronics, especially those with display screens like televisions, tablets, or digital photo frames

• Mirrors and glass decoratives

• Anything containing liquid--this could be shampoo, cleaning supplies, wine or alcohol bottles, and so on. These are of particular importance because if they leak they can damage other items, not to mention require a cleanup that you don’t have time for

Packing to avoid damage

There are a few things you can do while packing and securing your boxes to avoid damage during a move. We’ve outlined some important packing tips below:

• Buy bright red fragile stickers and use them appropriately. Putting a fragile sticker on every box is no use, because you’ll need to know while ones shouldn’t be stacked high or left in insecure places in the moving van.

• For fragile items like glasses and plates, wrap them several times in packing paper, and put them in a double-thick packing box. When you fill the box, avoid leaving too much empty space but also be careful not to pack too much inside. This will put excessive pressure on the fragile items inside.

• For liquid items, check that caps are all screwed on tightly. Then place them inside of ziploc bags if you’re able. If not, putting them inside a plastic grocery bag and typing the top should be sufficient enough if a small leak occurs from one of the bottles.

Securing items in the moving truck

When it comes to stacking your boxes in the moving truck, put the heaviest, largest, and least-fragile boxes in the truck first. Use straps and bungee cords to keep items grouped together and avoid having boxes or other items tip over. Think of filling the truck like a game of Tetris- the better the items fit together, the less likely they are of falling.

What to do if your items are damaged

First of all, make sure to read the contract with your moving company and to purchase insurance. Then, take photos of your fragile and valuable items to that you can prove they weren’t damaged before the move.

If something is damaged, take a photo of it right away and request the paperwork required to file a complaint with the moving company. If they ignore your request, you may choose to file a formal complaint with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on their website