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 don’t need any more things to worry about.

Thankfully, you’ve presumably chosen to ship your goods, which is the safest and most affordable option. From 2014 to 2016, ships transported an average of £8.5 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 you’re entitled to pat yourself on the back for making the right call.

And don’t worry: insuring everything you own may sound like a steep task, but it’s not too difficult, and it’s not that expensive. We’ve investigated how much different insurance companies would charge for a port-to-port transportation of the contents of an average house – which according to Admiral Insurance is valued at £43,629 – 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: what’s 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 you’re 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 don’t just accept what you’re given by shipping companies – 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 – so that’s how we’ve rated the best shipping insurance companies around. You’re already transporting yourself and your favourite items across the world; you don’t need an extra expense, and you certainly don’t want to worry about whether your belongings will make it.

Adventure awaits, but any journey starts with a single step – 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 doesn’t generally cover theft or damage, which are two much more likely reasons that you’ll 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: £684.11

Excess: £100

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 – it’s 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: it’s 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: £869.79

Excess: £150

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 – 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: £1,319.34

Excess: 1% (minimum £50, maximum £250)

Underwritten by: Amica for AXA

Trustpilot: 9.2

Verdict: Bishop’s Move came second in our article on the 10 Best Shipping Companies, and – as it’s not a broker – 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 doesn’t land you in hot water if you lose all of it.

Bishop’s Move has one of the best Trustpilot scores out there, and won a place on review site Sirelo’s ‘Best of 2018’ list. It’s also accredited by four big moving associations – BAR (British Association of Removers), FIDI (Fédération Internationale des Déménageurs 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: £1,465.93

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 there’s 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 – a fact backed up by its ratings. You don’t 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: £1,465.93 (at 3%)

Excess: None

Underwritten by: The Baxendale Insurance Company

Trustpilot: 9.4

Verdict: Pickfords isn’t just one of the oldest companies in Britain; it’s one of the oldest companies in the world. This 373-year-old veteran was formed before the Great Fire of London or King Charles I’s beheading – and rather than falling behind the times, it’s 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 doesn’t 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: £1,343.77

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 Arpin’s services, it’s impossible to rank it higher.

It also doesn’t help that when our test customer got a quote for their London to New York City move, it came to a relatively expensive £6,550.

7. Robinsons Relocation

Premium and Excess: 
3.65% with £0 excess
3.5% with £50 excess
3.25% with £100 excess
3% with a £250 excess (which we would recommend for an average move)

Cost for an average home: £1,465.93 for 3%, £1,783.55 for 3.65%

Underwritten by: Lonham

Trustpilot: 9.4

Verdict: When you use Robinsons, you’re 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 – which is more than a century old, and accredited by BAR, FIDI, and OMNI (Overseas Moving Network Incorporated) – 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: £1,465.93

Excess: 1% of the claim (min £50, max £200)

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 – 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 £6,500 and £7,000, and its estimated time of travel – 8 to 10 weeks – is among the worst. 

Nevertheless, it’s 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: £1,685.82

Excess: £50

Underwritten by: Aviva

Trustpilot: 9.3

Verdict: 3.45% is high, and though Abels comes with a great reputation – backed up by its excellent Trustpilot score – 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 doesn’t 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: £1,710.26

Excess: 1% of the value

Underwritten by: Lonhams

Trustpilot: 7.6

Verdict: Movecorp’s premium is significantly higher than the market rate, and more than £1,000 higher than Letton Percival’s. Its excess is standard, while its Trustpilot rating – though still decent – 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 – and paying out on all of them.

11. Britannia Movers International

Premium: 4%

Cost for an average home: £1,954.58

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 Sirelo’s list of the best removals businesses of 2018.

While you can therefore trust Britannia’s insurance policies, a premium of 4% is simply too high. If you don’t mind paying extra for quality, then that’s fair enough, but you can get the same level of service elsewhere – and for a lower price.

12. 1st Move International

Premium and Excess: 4% with 1% excess (maximum £250), or 4.5% with no excess

Cost for an average home: £1,954.58 for 4%, or £2,198.90 for 4.5%

Underwritten by: Royal and Sun Alliance PLC

Trustpilot: 8.0

Verdict: This relatively young company boasts that it will “give your personal effects the rock star treatment”, 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 £430. That’s money you should be spending on enjoying your new home city.

13. Baggage Hub

Premium: 7%

Cost for an average home: £3,420.51

Excess: £100

Underwritten by: Reason Global is the broker, but Baggage Hub won’t reveal the underwriter before the customer makes an order

Trustpilot: 3.4

Verdict: We’re not going to beat around the bush: a 7% premium is comparatively expensive. It’s five times as much as Letton Percival’s 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 we’ve ranked the best shipping insurance companies around, let’s zero in on your location. To start with, here are the top firms in the UK.

The best shipping insurance companies in the UK

1. Letton Percival
2. Insure Your Move
3. Bishop's Move
4. John Mason
5. Pickfords
6. Robinsons Relocation
7. Anglo Pacific World Movers
8. Abels
9. Movecorp
10. Britannia Movers International
11. 1st Move International
12. Baggage Hub

And for those of you who don’t 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

1. Arpin International Group
2. InsureShip
3. U-PIC

The best shipping insurance companies in Australia

1. Ausmove
2. King & Wilson
3. World Baggage

Summary

When you’re considering who to trust with your precious cargo – the beloved items which will help you to settle in when you make your next big move – 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 – and we would certainly encourage that – 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.