Texas home · Moving · What follows the truck
Does homeowners insurance cover a move in Texas?
It covers the house you are insuring, and it covers belongings with a limit that shrinks once they leave that address. It is not a moving policy for everything on the truck. Damage from rough handling is usually a claim on the mover’s valuation, not on your homeowners form.
Start here: Texas homeowners and personal property coverage.
The house stays. The boxes only partly follow.
| What | What the homeowners policy is doing |
|---|---|
| The house you are leaving | Dwelling coverage stays on that policy until you cancel or the sale closes. If it sits empty, vacancy rules can restrict theft, vandalism, or water after a set number of days in the form. Tell the carrier. An empty house is not the same risk as the one you live in. |
| Belongings still inside either house | Coverage C, personal property, at the insured location, up to that limit, for covered perils. |
| Belongings on the truck | Many forms extend personal property off the premises at a reduced share of Coverage C. Ten percent is common. It is not universal. A $50,000 contents limit with a 10 percent off-premises cap is $5,000 for everything in transit and anywhere else away from home, before the deductible and special limits. Example only. |
| A storage unit between homes | Often time-limited or capped the same way. Storage units and homeowners insurance. |
Why a crushed dresser is usually the mover’s contract
Homeowners pays for covered perils: fire, theft, wind, and the other causes the form names. It does not insure the mover’s packing. A dresser crushed because a ramp was dropped, or a box lost in a warehouse, is a transit and care issue. Federal movers offer two valuations, and they are not insurance in the homeowners sense.
- Released value is the default if you do not buy more. It is often 60 cents per pound per article. A 50-pound television that is destroyed might pay $30. That figure is a liability limit in the moving contract, not a replacement cost.
- Full-value protection is something you buy from the mover. They repair, replace, or pay the current value of the item, subject to their deductible and their list of excluded goods. Get it in writing before load day. “The driver said we’re covered” is not a contract.
Jewelry, cash, and some electronics still hit special limits on the homeowners form even if theft in transit is a covered peril. Schedule those items if the limit is too low, and carry them yourself if the form excludes them in transit. Photograph serial numbers before the truck is loaded.
If you are in a rental for a few weeks, confirm which policy is in force. A homeowners policy on a house you have not closed on does not cover the apartment. Texas renters insurance.
The new house needs its own effective date
Bind the new address effective at closing, with the lender’s mortgagee clause correct. Belongings can straddle two addresses for a few days. Ask whether a short overlap is available so you are not uninsured at the old house while the new one is already on a binder. Flood does not come with the homeowners policy. Wind and hail deductibles belong to each property, not to you personally. A percentage hail deductible on the new house is a new dollar amount. Recalculate it.
Canceling the old policy too early, or letting it lapse before the lender releases you, is how a forced placement happens. Cancellations, non-renewals, and lapses. What a policy is built to include: homeowners coverage.
A rental truck you drive is a third contract
If you rent a truck and load it yourself, three agreements are in play. The rental contract covers damage to the truck, subject to the waiver you did or did not buy. Your personal auto policy may or may not extend liability to a rental truck. Many personal auto forms limit or exclude large rented trucks. Read the form before you drive one across Texas. Your homeowners policy still only contributes the off-premises contents cap, and only for a covered peril such as theft or fire, not for a box you dropped. The rental company does not insure your furniture. Photograph the load. Keep the rental agreement. If something is stolen from the truck overnight, you will be asked whether it was locked.
