The number that decides everything
Under German law, a moving company's liability for your goods is capped at 620 euro per cubic metre of loading space needed to fulfil the contract. The provision is § 451e of the Handelsgesetzbuch (Commercial Code), and it applies to every residential moving contract in Germany whether or not anybody mentions it.
Two misunderstandings are worth clearing up immediately. The 620 euro is not a flat payment per damaged item — it is a ceiling for the whole move. And it is measured in cubic metres of loading space, not in the value of the item that broke.
What that means for your move
| Move | Volume | Statutory maximum |
|---|---|---|
| 1-room flat | 15 m³ | 9,300 € |
| 2-room flat | 25 m³ | 15,500 € |
| 3-room flat | 35 m³ | 21,700 € |
| 4-room flat | 50 m³ | 31,000 € |
| House | 80 m³ | 49,600 € |
Within that cap, the actual loss is compensated. The cap only bites once the total of all damage exceeds it.
For ordinary household contents this is usually generous. A cubic metre is about twelve moving boxes, and twelve boxes of clothes, books and kitchenware are rarely worth 620 euro.
The deadlines, which matter more than the cap
A liability you cannot claim is worth nothing, and German law sets short deadlines. § 438 HGB distinguishes two cases:
Externally visible damage must be reported at the latest on delivery — meaning on moving day, in the presence of the crew, before they leave.
Damage not externally visible must be reported within fourteen days of delivery, in text form.
Miss either deadline and the law presumes the goods were delivered undamaged. That presumption can be rebutted in theory. In practice, weeks later, with no documentation from the moving period, it cannot.
This is why the handover matters. At the end of a long day the temptation is to let the crew go and look properly tomorrow — and tomorrow the first deadline has passed. Take the twenty minutes. Look at the corners of the wardrobes, the table tops, the sofa edges, the backs of units.
How to report damage
Four things belong in a damage report:
- A close photograph of the damage.
- A photograph of the whole item, so it is clear what it is.
- A short description of where and when you noticed it.
- The date.
That is all that is needed initially. No valuation, no quotes from a repairer.
Two things not to do before the damage has been recorded: do not throw anything away, and do not have anything repaired. A disposed item cannot be assessed, and a completed repair makes the extent of the damage unanswerable.
The self-packing exception
For boxes you packed yourself, liability for transport damage to the contents is limited. This is not fine print in a contract but § 451d HGB: the contractor is released from liability so far as the damage is attributable to packing done by the consignor.
The reasoning is practical. A sealed box is a black box. Whether the glasses were wrapped, whether voids were filled, whether the plates stood on edge or lay stacked flat — none of it can be verified from outside. A box that arrives undamaged on the outside and holds broken glass inside is therefore regularly not a recoverable transport claim.
Anything the crew packed is covered without restriction.
The practical response is not to have everything packed. It is to have the right things packed: you do books, clothes and towels; the crew does crockery, glasses, pictures, electronics and anything collectable. That costs a fraction of full packing and restores the full liability position for exactly the items in question.
When to insure beyond the statutory cover
Multiply your volume by 620. If the value of your belongings is clearly above that figure, arrange additional transport insurance.
The five cases that regularly exceed the cap:
Art and antiques. A painting takes almost no volume and therefore contributes almost nothing to the statutory cover, while its value can exceed the whole cap. That mismatch between volume and value is the classic case for insuring a single item.
Designer furniture. A single chair or table from a manufacturer can be worth many times 620 euro per cubic metre.
Collections. Books, records, watches, wine. Collections are densely packed and have an unusually high value density.
Professional equipment. Studio and event technology, camera equipment, measuring instruments, server hardware.
Musical instruments — with one caveat: we do not transport pianos or grand pianos at all. They need specialist equipment and a company set up for them.
How it works is simple, and different from what most people expect: you declare the value yourself, for the whole move or for individual items, and the premium follows that figure. Nobody comes to appraise your belongings. A value declared too low produces a correspondingly low settlement, so take half an hour and consider what replacement would actually cost.
What is not covered by transport liability
Damage to the building — a scrape in the stairwell, a damaged flat door, damage to the parquet — does not fall under § 451e HGB but under the company's public and professional liability insurance. Ours is with LVN. It is a different cover for a different kind of damage, and it applies exactly where transport liability does not.
Damage during storage falls under the storage contract with its own terms, not under transport liability.
Cash, jewellery, securities and documents are not part of the consignment at all. They travel with you.
Your household insurance
German Hausratversicherung typically covers damage in the home, not in transit. Some policies contain a time-limited moving clause covering contents at both addresses for a period.
Ask your insurer two questions before the move, and both are worth the phone call: Is transport damage covered? and From when is the new flat covered? The second is asked less often and matters more — a flat not yet on the policy is not insured if something happens there on the first evening.
After the report
Once reported, the damage is assessed. Where the condition before transport was documented — as we do for valuable and fragile items — that assessment is quick.
What can be repaired properly is repaired. With solid wood and good veneers a competent repair is usually a better outcome than a partial payment that leaves you to find a craftsman yourself. Where repair makes no sense, the item is replaced within the statutory liability, or up to the agreed value if transport insurance was taken.
This page sets out the legal framework and is not legal advice. The full conditions and exclusions come with the quote and the terms of business.
A short glossary
- Haftung — liability
- Haftungshöchstbetrag — the liability cap, here 620 € per m³
- Transportversicherung — additional transport insurance
- Versicherungswert — the value you declare, which sets the premium
- Schadensmeldung — the damage report
- Übergabeprotokoll — the handover record
- Betriebshaftpflicht — public liability insurance, covering damage to the building