Moving insurance in Thailand, built on the value you declare
A carrier's liability is calculated by weight, not by worth — which means a crate of books is better protected than a crate of electronics. Asia Relocation Thailand replaces that arithmetic with a declared value, an inventory, and a claims route that is written down before anything moves.
Every mover carries liability, and almost nobody reads how it is worked out. Under the international conventions that govern freight, it is calculated on weight: so many units of compensation per kilogram, regardless of what the kilogram contains. A box of crockery and a box of laptops of the same weight are worth the same to that formula.
Insurance exists to replace that arithmetic with a number that means something — the declared value, which is what it would cost to replace the goods at destination. It is established from the inventory made at survey, and it is the figure every later conversation refers back to, including the awkward ones.
Asia Relocation Thailand prepares that inventory itself, arranges cover through certified insurers, and stays in the claim if one is ever made. What we sell here is not reassurance, it is a documented position.
What a policy answers for, and what no policy will
Exclusions are not fine print here: they are half of what you are buying, and the half people discover too late.
Covered by the policy
- Loss and damage in transit — from the moment the goods are packed to the moment they are delivered, by sea or by air.
- Handling, at both ends and in between: loading, the quay, the vessel or aircraft, the customs inspection, the delivery.
- Storage, when it is declared under the policy — the weeks in a Thai warehouse between two leases count.
- Partial loss under all-risk terms: the broken item among three hundred, which is what actually happens.
- The claim itself: documentation prepared in advance, and our team alongside you with the insurer.
The cover, its level and its limits are written into the quotation.
Outside the cover
- Goods packed by their owner. A carton nobody professional closed is a carton no insurer will open an argument about.
- Value that was never declared. An item left off the inventory is, for the policy, an item that was not there.
- Wear, mould and the passage of time. Cover answers for an event, not for the age of a sofa.
- The transport itself. Insurance rides along with a shipment; the shipment is an international move or a local one, quoted apart.
- Specialist consignments. A vehicle, an animal or an office is covered on its own terms, not on a household policy.
Say what is travelling and we will say which cover it needs, before it ships.
Five ways a shipment is protected, and what each one answers for
The right level follows the cargo and the route, not the size of the invoice.
All-risk transit cover
The usual answer for a household shipment leaving Thailand. It responds to accidental damage and partial loss during packing, loading, the sea or air leg and delivery — the broken mirror rather than the sunken ship.
Total loss cover
Catastrophe only: the vessel, the fire, the container that goes over the side leaving Laem Chabang. Cheaper, and honest for low-value cargo, provided you know it answers for nothing else.
Container shipments, sole use or shared
A shared container passes through more hands and more depots than a sole-use one, and the cover is priced on that exposure rather than on the volume alone. It is the difference the survey is looking for.
Storage declared under the policy
Weeks in a Bangkok warehouse between two leases, or a shipment landing before the tenancy starts. Declared, those weeks are covered; undeclared, they are the gap where the monsoon and the forklift live.
Corporate cover and certificates
Employer-funded shipments, assets on a company inventory, and the certificate an auditor or a contract asks for. Issued against the same declared value as the policy, which is why it has to be requested before departure.
From the inventory to a claim that does not turn into an argument
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Survey and inventory
Everything that ships is listed before it is packed. The inventory is the document a claim is later built on, so it is made carefully rather than quickly.
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Declared value, agreed with you
Replacement cost at destination, item by item where it matters — replacing a Thai teak table in Europe and replacing it in Bangkok are two different figures. We say when a number looks low, because under-declaration cuts compensation proportionally.
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Choosing the level
All-risk or total loss, with the reason stated and the exclusions read out rather than attached. What the policy does not answer for is said in the same breath as what it does.
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The policy, and the certificate if one is needed
Issued against the inventory and the declared value, before the shipment leaves. Corporate certificates are produced at this point, not retrospectively.
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Delivery, and a claim if it comes to one
Damage noted on the delivery documents before signing; concealed damage reported inside the policy window. Then inventory, photographs, estimates — and our team dealing with the insurer alongside you.
Four shipments, four ways the risk lands
Families shipping a whole home out of Thailand
The largest declared values and the widest range of items. Here the work is the inventory: what is irreplaceable, what is merely expensive, and what is neither.
Expats moving with less, but with electronics
A small shipment where value concentrates in a few objects. Weight-based liability serves this case worst, which is exactly why it comes up here.
Companies moving their people in and out of Bangkok
Mobility managers who need a certificate, a consistent level of cover across several shipments, and one invoice they can reconcile.
Facility managers shipping company assets
IT equipment and records rather than furniture, where a partial loss is an operational problem before it is a financial one.
Out of Thailand, into it, and inside it
The route changes the exposure, and the exposure changes the level of cover.
A container leaving Laem Chabang for Europe spends weeks at sea and passes through two customs inspections; a truck going from Bangkok to Chiang Mai spends a day on the road and is handled twice. Both can be covered, and pretending they carry the same risk would be the easiest way to sell the wrong policy.
Inbound shipments deserve a word of their own: cover taken out abroad often stops at the port of arrival, leaving the Thai leg — clearance, road transport, delivery upstairs — uninsured. It is worth checking where your existing policy actually ends before assuming it reaches your door.
What people ask before signing a policy
Is my shipment not already covered by the mover?
Is insurance compulsory to ship out of Thailand?
How is the declared value worked out?
What happens if we declare too low a value?
All-risk or total loss: which one do we need?
Does the cover extend to storage?
What do we do if something arrives damaged?
Can you issue a certificate for our company?
Two neighbours of this page
The shipment this cover rides on
Survey, packing, freight and customs for a household leaving Thailand or arriving in it.
Moving a home across a border →The whole moving service
Seven services in Thailand, and which of them your move actually needs.
Moving services in Thailand →Tell us what is shipping and what it would cost to replace
We build the inventory, agree the declared value with you, set out both levels of cover with their exclusions, and put the quotation in writing.
Ask for a cover quotation →