The Best Shipping Insurance Companies in 2023
Before you start any adventure, you have to make sure that your most precious possessions are protected. Moving home is already more stressful than getting divorced, according to a 2015 study by E.ON, so you donโt need any more things to worry about.
Thankfully, youโve presumably chosen to ship your goods, which is the safest and most affordable option. From 2014 to 2016, ships transported an average of ยฃ8.5 billion worth of cargo across the world every day, and 99.99% of containers travelled safely to their destination. Add to that the fact that air freight can be up to 18 times more expensive than ocean freight, according to Transporteca, and youโre entitled to pat yourself on the back for making the right call.
And donโt worry: insuring everything you own may sound like a steep task, but itโs not too difficult, and itโs not that expensive. Weโve investigated how much different insurance companies would charge for a port-to-port transportation of the contents of an average house โ which according to Admiral Insurance is valued at ยฃ43,629 โ and are ready to provide you with the best value for money out there.

Protect your loved ones' possessions for a happier move
The Best Shipping Insurance Companies in 2023: whatโs on this page?
Head straight to a specific section by clicking the links below.
01 | The best shipping insurance companies
02 | The best shipping insurance companies in the UK
03 | The best shipping insurance companies in the USA
04 | The best shipping insurance companies in Australia
05 | Summary
When youโre looking at getting shipping insurance, you have two choices: get the cover which your shipping company is offering as part of its quote, or look elsewhere for a separate policy. Make sure you donโt just accept what youโre given by shipping companies โ if you put the hard work in to find a relatively cheap, reliable business to move your possessions, you deserve a good deal on insurance, too.
Your decision will come down to which company can provide the best service at the cheapest rate โ so thatโs how weโve rated the best shipping insurance companies around. Youโre already transporting yourself and your favourite items across the world; you donโt need an extra expense, and you certainly donโt want to worry about whether your belongings will make it.
Adventure awaits, but any journey starts with a single step โ and that step is getting shipping insurance. Simply fill in the form at the top of this page, and our suppliers will get back to you with their best quotes.
The Best Shipping Insurance Companies
Please note: These quotes are for a move from London to New York City. Every cost entry includes the Insurance Premium Tax, which stands at 12%. All of the policies quoted are All-Risk, which means they cover everything that could go wrong while shipping your possessions, other than extraordinary occurrences like natural disasters, war, or riots.
We avoided Total Loss Only quotes, seeing as they will only cover your belongings if everything on board is lost at sea. This type of policy doesnโt generally cover theft or damage, which are two much more likely reasons that youโll need insurance.
1. Letton Percival
Premium: 1.4%; covers all electrical items under five years old, and insures for mould and mildew
Cost for an average home: ยฃ684.11
Excess: ยฃ100
Underwritten by: Tokio Marine Kiln
Trustpilot: N/A
Verdict: Third-party brokers are typically cheaper than insurance companies themselves, and there is no better example of this than our two best shipping insurance companies, Letton Percival and Insure Your Move. Letton Percival may not be on Trustpilot, but no matter โ itโs regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, meaning you can trust it with your move.
The Liverpool-based company has been around since 1907, and knows a thing or two about saving you money. The fact that it provides cover for electrical damage and mould or mildew is an added bonus. We've run the rule over this 1.4% premium offering, and it's the real deal: itโs at least two times cheaper than the market standard, and worth every penny.
2. Insure Your Move
Premium: 1.78%
Cost for an average home: ยฃ869.79
Excess: ยฃ150
Underwritten by: Royal and Sun Alliance PLC
Trustpilot: N/A
Verdict: Insure Your Move is another third-party broker, which explains why it also offers an attractively low premium โ cut out the shipping company, and you can save big. And while it may sound like a flash-in-the-pan business, the company has specialised in removals insurance for 28 years, and is also regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
3. Bishop's Move
Premium: 2.7%
Cost for an average home: ยฃ1,319.34
Excess: 1% (minimum ยฃ50, maximum ยฃ250)
Underwritten by: Amica for AXA
Trustpilot: 9.2
Verdict: Bishopโs Move came second in our article on the 10 Best Shipping Companies, and โ as itโs not a broker โ wins our award for best all-in-one shipping company by coming third in these rankings.
The 165-year-old powerhouse has the cheapest premium of any shipping company. It also offers a reasonable excess that reduces your fee if you only lose part of your shipment, but doesnโt land you in hot water if you lose all of it.
Bishopโs Move has one of the best Trustpilot scores out there, and won a place on review site Sireloโs โBest of 2018โ list. Itโs also accredited by four big moving associations โ BAR (British Association of Removers), FIDI (Fรฉdรฉration Internationale des Dรฉmรฉnageurs Internationaux), EURA (the European Relocation Association), and IAM (International Association of Movers). If you want to arrange your whole move through just one company, make it this one.
Select the size of your move to get free quotes
4. John Mason
Premium: 3%
Cost for an average home: ยฃ1,465.93
Excess: None
Underwritten by: Amica for AXA
Trustpilot: 9.4
Verdict: The premium may be slightly more with this company, which started in Liverpool in 1884 using horse-drawn carts, but the fact that thereโs no excess on claims is extremely appealing. It means that if the worse were to happen, you would potentially save hundreds of pounds in excess fees.
John Mason only performs international removals, making it a specialist company entirely shaped around your needs โ a fact backed up by its ratings. You donโt get 9.4 on Trustpilot or 9.3 on Sirelo without doing many, many things right.
5. Pickfords
Premium: 3% outside Europe, 2% in Europe
Cost for an average home: ยฃ1,465.93 (at 3%)
Excess: None
Underwritten by: The Baxendale Insurance Company
Trustpilot: 9.4
Verdict: Pickfords isnโt just one of the oldest companies in Britain; itโs one of the oldest companies in the world. This 373-year-old veteran was formed before the Great Fire of London or King Charles Iโs beheading โ and rather than falling behind the times, itโs risen to the challenge of the modern era, defending its position as one of the best shipping insurance companies out there.
Its premium for shipping outside Europe is good, but its rate for shipments inside Europe is especially impressive. Like John Mason, it doesnโt charge any excess, and its identical 9.4 Trustpilot score shows its trustworthiness.
6. Arpin International Group
Premium: 2.75%
Cost for an average home: ยฃ1,343.77
Excess: None
Underwritten by: UNIRISC
Trustpilot: N/A
Verdict: Arpin offered a lower premium to our test customer than any company outside of the top three best shipping insurance companies, and that policy comes with zero excess. It also has a long history of removals, having been established in 1900, but has unfortunately been let down by its lack of customer reviews. Without any concrete data on what customers think about Arpinโs services, itโs impossible to rank it higher.
It also doesnโt help that when our test customer got a quote for their London to New York City move, it came to a relatively expensive ยฃ6,550.
7. Robinsons Relocation
Premium and Excess:ย
3.65% with ยฃ0 excess
3.5% with ยฃ50 excess
3.25% with ยฃ100 excess
3% with a ยฃ250 excess (which we would recommend for an average move)
Cost for an average home: ยฃ1,465.93 for 3%, ยฃ1,783.55 for 3.65%
Underwritten by: Lonham
Trustpilot: 9.4
Verdict: When you use Robinsons, youโre forced to choose between a high premium or a high excess. Either way, this decision requires a trade-off.
However, a market-high 9.4 Trustpilot rating means that Robinsons โ which is more than a century old, and accredited by BAR, FIDI, and OMNI (Overseas Moving Network Incorporated) โ is still worth checking out.

Your belongings will travel on a ship like this one, which is safe 99.99% of the time
8. Anglo Pacific World Movers
Premium: 3%
Cost for an average home: ยฃ1,465.93
Excess: 1% of the claim (min ยฃ50, max ยฃ200)
Underwritten by: Lloyd's of London
Trustpilot: 7.9
Verdict: Anglo Pacific has a premium which stands up to the rest of the market, and a reasonable enough excess. Its Trustpilot score is also good, though it pales in comparison with the other leaders in its field โ only one of the other movers on this list falls below Anglo Pacific in terms of customer reviews.
Its cost for moving to New York City is also steep, coming in somewhere between ยฃ6,500 and ยฃ7,000, and its estimated time of travel โ 8 to 10 weeks โ is among the worst.ย
Nevertheless, itโs a trustworthy removals company, accredited by both BAR and FIDI, and has deservedly made it onto both our top shipping companies article and this list.
9. Abels
Premium & Excess: 3.45%; extra options of insuring against mould and mildew, electronic derangement, and one of pairs or sets breaking, for an additional 0.26% each
Cost for an average home: ยฃ1,685.82
Excess: ยฃ50
Underwritten by: Aviva
Trustpilot: 9.3
Verdict: 3.45% is high, and though Abels comes with a great reputation โ backed up by its excellent Trustpilot score โ you can get cheaper insurance policies with equally reputable firms.
You may have seen Abels vans across the country, and the company may have transported wedding presents for Prince Charles and Princess Diana, but that doesnโt mean you should spend hundreds more on Abels to add to an already expensive move.
10. Movecorp
Premium: 3.5%
Cost for an average home: ยฃ1,710.26
Excess: 1% of the value
Underwritten by: Lonhams
Trustpilot: 7.6
Verdict: Movecorpโs premium is significantly higher than the market rate, and more than ยฃ1,000 higher than Letton Percivalโs. Its excess is standard, while its Trustpilot rating โ though still decent โ is the lowest of any company on this list.
It does, however, pay out on claims. MoveHub learnt that Movecorp has made 1,950 moves happen over the past six months, receiving 7 claims โ and paying out on all of them.
11. Britannia Movers International
Premium: 4%
Cost for an average home: ยฃ1,954.58
Excess: None
Underwritten by: Amica for AXA
Trustpilot: 8
Verdict: Britannia has excellent customer service, and is underwritten by Amica for AXA, which has insured people for more than a century. It also ranked third in our list of best shipping companies, and first in Sireloโs list of the best removals businesses of 2018.
While you can therefore trust Britanniaโs insurance policies, a premium of 4% is simply too high. If you donโt mind paying extra for quality, then thatโs fair enough, but you can get the same level of service elsewhere โ and for a lower price.
12. 1st Move International
Premium and Excess: 4% with 1% excess (maximum ยฃ250), or 4.5% with no excess
Cost for an average home: ยฃ1,954.58 for 4%, or ยฃ2,198.90 for 4.5%
Underwritten by: Royal and Sun Alliance PLC
Trustpilot: 8.0
Verdict: This relatively young company boasts that it will โgive your personal effects the rock star treatmentโ, and its reviews are very good, if not great.
Unfortunately, a 4% premium with a 1% excess is far too high, especially when the difference between a 3% and 4% premium on the average house adds up to more than ยฃ430. Thatโs money you should be spending on enjoying your new home city.
13. Baggage Hub
Premium: 7%
Cost for an average home: ยฃ3,420.51
Excess: ยฃ100
Underwritten by: Reason Global is the broker, but Baggage Hub wonโt reveal the underwriter before the customer makes an order
Trustpilot: 3.4
Verdict: Weโre not going to beat around the bush: a 7% premium is comparatively expensive. Itโs five times as much as Letton Percivalโs premium, and comes with an underwriter which our test customer was unable to identify. It also comes from a company which has a low Trustpilot rating, and only slightly betters it on Sirelo, where it scores 4.9.
Now that weโve ranked the best shipping insurance companies around, letโs zero in on your location. To start with, here are the top firms in the UK.
The best shipping insurance companies in the UK
- Letton Percival
- Insure Your Move
- Bishop's Move
- John Mason
- Pickfords
- Robinsons Relocation
- Anglo Pacific World Movers
- Abels
- Movecorp
- Britannia Movers International
- 1st Move International
- Baggage Hub
And for those of you who donโt live in the UK, but would still love to get information that was specially chosen for you, here are the best shipping insurance companies in the USA and Australia.
The best shipping insurance companies in the USA
- Arpin International Group
- InsureShip
- U-PIC
The best shipping insurance companies in Australia
- Ausmove
- King & Wilson
- World Baggage
Summary
When youโre considering who to trust with your precious cargo โ the beloved items which will help you to settle in when you make your next big move โ you want only the best shipping insurance companies. Fortunately, all of the companies in this article are ready and raring to provide you with some of the best customer service in existence, and all for a reasonable price.
If you want to investigate further โ and we would certainly encourage that โ head on over to our International Container Shipping Costs page, and see how much it would take to set you up in your new home.
Or, to start receiving quotes for shipping to your chosen destination, simply fill in this form and our professional suppliers will get back to you! Any international removal project is possible with these world class providers.