You report the damage in writing, the mover acknowledges it, and the claim is settled under whichever valuation coverage applied to your shipment, usually by repair, replacement or a cash payment. The part people get wrong is timing, because a claim raised weeks after delivery is far harder to substantiate than one noted on the paperwork while the crew is still in the driveway.
Daymakers Moving & Storage handles local and long distance work as movers in Bloomington, MN, and we walk the home with customers before the truck leaves for exactly this reason. Photograph anything questionable at both ends, and the conversation afterwards becomes a factual one rather than an argument.
What actually counts as a damage claim?
Most claims fall into three buckets: damage to an item, damage to a property, or a missing item. Furniture accounts for the bulk of it, usually chips, gouges, broken legs or scratched finishes, and the second category catches things people forget movers can be responsible for, such as a scraped door frame, a torn screen or a mark on a hardwood floor. Missing items are the rarest of the three and are more often a case of a box landing in the wrong room than anything leaving the property.
What does not usually qualify is worth knowing before you file. Damage inside a box the customer packed themselves is difficult to claim, since nobody can establish how the contents were protected or whether the item was already broken. Pressboard and particle furniture is another common gap, because it frequently fails at the joints when moved regardless of handling. Mechanical items that stop working after a move, such as a treadmill or an older appliance, sit in a grey area unless there is visible physical damage to point at.
What coverage comes with a move by default?
Every mover carries some baseline liability, and it’s almost always calculated by weight rather than by what the item is worth. That distinction is the single biggest surprise people run into. A heavy, inexpensive item can be covered reasonably well under a weight-based calculation, while a light but genuinely valuable one, a laptop or a piece of art, is barely covered at all under that same formula. The baseline is included at no extra cost, which is exactly why it’s so limited. Pairing it with professional packing services helps in a different way too, since fragile or high-value items packed by the crew are less likely to end up damaged in the first place, which means fewer claims to worry about later.
Fuller protection is available as a paid option and works closer to how people assume coverage works, repairing or replacing an item at its actual value rather than by the pound. Which rules govern your move depends on whether it crosses a state line, since interstate moves follow federal requirements while a move that stays inside Minnesota follows state ones. Ask your mover which applies to your job and ask for the written valuation options before you sign, and read the federal Rights and Responsibilities booklet that reputable movers link from their own site. Anyone reluctant to hand over those documents has told you something useful.
Do these before the crew leaves
- Walk every room, including closets, the garage and the basement
- Photograph anything already damaged before loading, and anything questionable after unloading
- Note damage on the delivery paperwork before you sign it
- Keep the inventory sheet and any condition notes the crew recorded
- Check assembled furniture for wobble and drawers for alignment while the crew is still there
Not sure whether your move qualifies for federal or state valuation rules? Give us a call at (651) 461-1951, and we’ll walk you through the written options before you sign anything.
How do I file a claim, and how long do I have?
Put it in writing to the mover, describe the item and the damage plainly, attach photographs, and reference the job date and the delivery paperwork. A phone call is a fine way to start the conversation but a poor way to preserve it. Filing windows vary depending on whether the move was interstate or intrastate and on the mover’s own terms, so confirm the deadline at the time of booking rather than finding out afterwards. The safest assumption is that the window is shorter than you expect.
Notation at delivery carries real weight in how the claim proceeds. If the damage was recorded on the paperwork while the crew was present, there is little to dispute about when it happened. If the first report arrives three weeks later, the mover has no way to distinguish transit damage from something that occurred while you were arranging the room, and reasonable companies will still look at it, but the evidence is doing more work.
What happens once the claim is with the mover
The company reviews the report against its own records, the crew’s notes and the inventory, and in some cases sends someone to inspect the item or asks for a repair estimate from a furniture technician. Resolution is usually repair where the item can be restored, replacement or cash settlement where it cannot. Straightforward claims tend to close in a few weeks. Ones involving inspections or third party repair quotes take longer, and a mover who tells you a realistic timeframe at the outset is doing you a favor.
Disputes arise when the parties disagree on cause, value or whether the item was already damaged. Escalation paths exist beyond the company itself, including the Better Business Bureau and, for interstate moves, a formal dispute process and arbitration. Most claims never travel that far. The ones that do are almost always the ones where nothing was documented at delivery, which is the part you control completely.
What makes a claim harder to win
Self packed boxes, missing documentation and delay account for most denied claims. A box the customer sealed is a box the mover cannot vouch for internally, and that is not a technicality so much as a practical limit on what anyone can establish after the fact. If you pack your own kitchen, photograph how the fragile items were wrapped before the box is closed. It takes a minute and it changes the conversation entirely.
High value items need to be declared rather than assumed. Jewelry, collections, art and anything unusually valuable for its weight should be listed specifically before the move, and in many cases they are better carried personally. Protecting belongings during a move covers which items are worth keeping out of the truck entirely.
How to avoid needing a claim at all
Prevention is mostly a packing problem. The majority of damage we see reported across this industry traces back to items that were under protected before they ever reached the truck, not to the carry itself. Professional packing services exist largely for this reason, since a crew that wraps and boxes the contents also carries the liability for how it was done. When the same company packs, loads and delivers, there is no gap in the chain where responsibility becomes debatable.
The second half comes down to handling. Specialty pieces such as pianos, safes, stone tops and oversized mirrors call for proper equipment and technique rather than extra hands, and moving large furniture and specialty items explains how those jobs get approached. Crews are made up of trained movers rather than day labor, which matters here, since the person carrying a marble table has done it before.
Frequently asked questions
Does homeowners insurance cover damage during a move?
What if the mover damages my wall or floor rather than my furniture?
Can I refuse to pay the bill until the damage is resolved?
How long should I keep the moving paperwork?
Talk to our Bloomington office first
Ask us how valuation works on your move before you book, not after. Call (651) 461-1951 or visit 8400 Normandale Lake Blvd #920, Bloomington, MN 55437. Our hours are Monday through Friday 8 am to 5 pm, Saturday 8 am to noon, and Sunday by appointment.
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