Advice for moving my bags across the country
- Thread starter ODEDIHAIMS
- Start date
Great idea! Thank you.
That is a perfect combination , I think. Thank you!
I never would have thought to ask a manager to pack them! That is a fantastic idea! Thank you.
Advance apologies for the long post: I can add my experience -
In May, I moved from the East Coast to the West Coast. My wrinkle is that my new home in CA is not ready for move in until end of July. Meaning my entire house contents would have to go into storage with the moving company. We were flying to CA, no cross country driving involved. If you cannot carry all of your beloved Hermes (and not just bags) with you by air or car, the 3 things to think about are: the duration of the transportation journey which determines whether fragile bags or other items should be under climate control, loss through theft or incompetence during the packing and the journey, and insurance coverage. In my case, (1) the pieces I wanted to use for 3 months were either carried with me or packed in luggage which we sent to CA through Luggage Forward and, after investigating insurance coverage options, (2) items exceeding $X threshold or hard to replace vintage pieces and fragile exotics, (and most of my scarf collection!) were packed and stored together with fine art, collectibles, fine china etc by a specialist art/collectibles moving company and (3) lower value items have been packed and stored with the rest of the house contents by the main moving company.
As for the packing, you should ask your movers whether they can provide specialty boxes or cartons that work better for your bags. Most of mine are in their dust bags. In the past, when I moved internationally between countries, the movers can do boxes which come with dividers and you drop the dust bags in standing up if you know what I mean. I don’t think these boxes are available here in the US but I got my movers to improvise their boxes for me so that not everything will lay on their backs or sides. I also packed a number of the bags into the boxes myself although we got very good moving crews in both cases that I was comfortable to have them help.
Insurance is a much longer story, and I will be happy to detail that for you if you think it helps.
And I carried all the leather bracelets etc and jewelry items during several trips I was able to do before the actual move.
Good luck, you have plenty of time to plan ahead!
In May, I moved from the East Coast to the West Coast. My wrinkle is that my new home in CA is not ready for move in until end of July. Meaning my entire house contents would have to go into storage with the moving company. We were flying to CA, no cross country driving involved. If you cannot carry all of your beloved Hermes (and not just bags) with you by air or car, the 3 things to think about are: the duration of the transportation journey which determines whether fragile bags or other items should be under climate control, loss through theft or incompetence during the packing and the journey, and insurance coverage. In my case, (1) the pieces I wanted to use for 3 months were either carried with me or packed in luggage which we sent to CA through Luggage Forward and, after investigating insurance coverage options, (2) items exceeding $X threshold or hard to replace vintage pieces and fragile exotics, (and most of my scarf collection!) were packed and stored together with fine art, collectibles, fine china etc by a specialist art/collectibles moving company and (3) lower value items have been packed and stored with the rest of the house contents by the main moving company.
As for the packing, you should ask your movers whether they can provide specialty boxes or cartons that work better for your bags. Most of mine are in their dust bags. In the past, when I moved internationally between countries, the movers can do boxes which come with dividers and you drop the dust bags in standing up if you know what I mean. I don’t think these boxes are available here in the US but I got my movers to improvise their boxes for me so that not everything will lay on their backs or sides. I also packed a number of the bags into the boxes myself although we got very good moving crews in both cases that I was comfortable to have them help.
Insurance is a much longer story, and I will be happy to detail that for you if you think it helps.
And I carried all the leather bracelets etc and jewelry items during several trips I was able to do before the actual move.
Good luck, you have plenty of time to plan ahead!
Thank you for your in depth reply. I would like to hear your insurance advice as well. I know I have plenty of time to prepare but it's weighing on me and I want to know my plan of action.
I have moved across from continent to continent about 3 times back and forth, Asia to Europe. No Hermes goes into the sea freight container except furniture and china. Bags either go with me on multiples flights, or packed with RTW and accessories in air freight with photos and insured. I have my own inventory which I started long ago and update everytime I make a new purchase so this helps. Every bag is in its dustbag with all accessories including raincoat, my packer kept them all upright. Orange boxes go in the container to arrive later. Items requiring climate control arrive in a few days and go straight to transit accommodation e.g. Furs. I made sure all required paperwork such as CITES was in order.
@OEDIHAIMS, I owe you a reply. It’s been a long travel week for me and I’m not a frequent poster.
I have seen another thread somewhere in the forum about insurance, I will not repeat that here and try to keep it simple. So, assuming you have coverage at the mo for your H bags whether through a homeowners/renters/home contents umbrella policy or an add on policy for collectibles/personal articles etc, here are the different scenarios for the move -
If you will have a home in your new location by the time of your move: you buy the same coverage for the new home before you move. Make sure policy covers the items in transit, for example policies can have an exclusion for loss occurring while property is in custody of transportation agent but it doesn’t quite mean that.
If you don’t have a permanent new home yet when you move but you can keep your current policy whilst you transition, your bags could still be covered under your current policy if you have coverage for property owned or used by you anywhere in the world. So you should still be ok during the move. But this is only a short term solution, because you probably can’t/won’t keep this policy or at least in its current scope. Again, verify this through broker.
If you can’t get a home policy at either end so to to speak, there is no such thing as a stand alone insurance policy that I know of. Your safest bet will be to carry all your bags with you in 1 go and store them under lock and key until you can buy protection. You could consider temporarily storing them in a climate controlled locker at a good secure self storage facility at your new location - the new built modern indoor self storage facilities are quite good and do offer limited insurance cover and in the better ones, can be around $10 to 15k. I know that this is no real comfort given the kind of H$ involved here but it is better than nothing.
If you have a good insurance agent, do not hesitate to to use her/him to navigate for you, or find one.
You are absolutely right to plan well ahead. Only other thing I will say as regards the whole process: if you are not familiar with using Excel, it’s time to make Excel your friend.
Happy weekend!
I have seen another thread somewhere in the forum about insurance, I will not repeat that here and try to keep it simple. So, assuming you have coverage at the mo for your H bags whether through a homeowners/renters/home contents umbrella policy or an add on policy for collectibles/personal articles etc, here are the different scenarios for the move -
If you will have a home in your new location by the time of your move: you buy the same coverage for the new home before you move. Make sure policy covers the items in transit, for example policies can have an exclusion for loss occurring while property is in custody of transportation agent but it doesn’t quite mean that.
If you don’t have a permanent new home yet when you move but you can keep your current policy whilst you transition, your bags could still be covered under your current policy if you have coverage for property owned or used by you anywhere in the world. So you should still be ok during the move. But this is only a short term solution, because you probably can’t/won’t keep this policy or at least in its current scope. Again, verify this through broker.
If you can’t get a home policy at either end so to to speak, there is no such thing as a stand alone insurance policy that I know of. Your safest bet will be to carry all your bags with you in 1 go and store them under lock and key until you can buy protection. You could consider temporarily storing them in a climate controlled locker at a good secure self storage facility at your new location - the new built modern indoor self storage facilities are quite good and do offer limited insurance cover and in the better ones, can be around $10 to 15k. I know that this is no real comfort given the kind of H$ involved here but it is better than nothing.
If you have a good insurance agent, do not hesitate to to use her/him to navigate for you, or find one.
You are absolutely right to plan well ahead. Only other thing I will say as regards the whole process: if you are not familiar with using Excel, it’s time to make Excel your friend.
Happy weekend!
These are all great ideas but my recommendation is to contact your insurance agent and discuss so you have no surprises should you take an action and then something happens and things don't turn out as you think. Insurance can be very tricky. I'm in the business but not that kind of insurance. Everyone thinks their policy works a certain way and then can be surprised at time of claim. All policies may not work exactly the same so find our how your policy works from your agent/broker. I've seen companies move carriers and then something isn't exactly as it was with the other carrier. It can be minor but still not what the customer/claimant was expecting. I'm not trying to discredit any one here but want to make sure you are informed and do what is best for you and your situation.
I've enjoyed reading the discussion because it makes me realize I need to start cataloging my own collection and look in to my insurance should something happen. My collection has grown the last few years and while they are not Hermes, they are things I can't easily replace and have spent a lot of money to just lose it all.
I've had several long distance moves but none recently but makes me think about what would I do? I can't imagine doing this internationally!
I've enjoyed reading the discussion because it makes me realize I need to start cataloging my own collection and look in to my insurance should something happen. My collection has grown the last few years and while they are not Hermes, they are things I can't easily replace and have spent a lot of money to just lose it all.
I've had several long distance moves but none recently but makes me think about what would I do? I can't imagine doing this internationally!
I was about to say the same. Each policy is different and you really need to discuss details on them with your broker/provider to make sure there is no surprise.
Thank you all. I'm adding a phone call to my broker to the list. It's WAY overdue. And I need to dust off my excel skills and get organized with an inventory. I have lots of organizing to do. These are things that should have been done a while ago so the impending move just gets me off my tush to get it done.
We are having a similar issue, moving from the UK to France, due to different countries, the insurances are a nightmare, so I guess I will chance it and just drive with the most expensive items in the car (luckily an estate) and the 2 Dobies in the back (totally harmless cuddle monsters but they can make a lot of noise, so a great deterrent for thieves) and the rest in secure boxes with a moving company.
The older I get the more stuff I have, gosh, in my 20's transatlantic moves, Australia, cross Europe, not much of an issue, but my tastes have gotten a bit more expensive, which is an added headache.... Hubby jokes that we need an extra van just for my shoes...
The older I get the more stuff I have, gosh, in my 20's transatlantic moves, Australia, cross Europe, not much of an issue, but my tastes have gotten a bit more expensive, which is an added headache.... Hubby jokes that we need an extra van just for my shoes...
On the insurance issue, for our move we had special moving insurance on all our items. We had to catelog all our items, and then my husband’s company footed the bill for the insurance premium. That was reason moving manager came and packed and cateloged my luxury items - so it would be fully covered under the moving insurance. I don’t know how it would have worked with our home insurance, so I would definitely contact you home insurer to see if you are covered and if you are not then look for special insurance through moving company.
I also need to catalog my own items in my home and for home insurance purposes. Never gone around to it, but going was planning on doing it this coming week since I just cleaned out my closet.
I also need to catalog my own items in my home and for home insurance purposes. Never gone around to it, but going was planning on doing it this coming week since I just cleaned out my closet.
Good luck with your move. In my younger days I moved often and never worried but now that I have collected some precious items it definitely gives me some stress.
I must be the least trusting person on this forum! LOL! I would never trust removal people(even a manager) with my H bags, nor would I ever check them in as airline luggage pieces. The potential damage and/or theft is way too high for me. Even if they were insured, those bags can't be easily replaced due to SOs or discontinued colours etc. Personally if I were you I would hire one of those "U haul" type of lockable containers, put each orange box in plain brown boxes and drive them across the country. Park well-lit areas or closeby at night if you have stop over. It's a real tough one and good luck with your move!
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