Your home insurance is designed to protect you and your family from loss. But unfortunately that homeowners insurance comes with limits – knew there had to be a catch somewhere! One thing that might be subject to a strict limit is jewelry. You know that you need to protect your home from burglary, but you also need to consider what your insurance will cover where valuables are concerned. Some homeowners and renters policies have a limit as low as $1000 for jewelry. Depending on the bling you have, this may not be enough to cover everything if your jewelry is stolen or destroyed. You’ll have to review your policy carefully to see what your jewelry limit is.
If you find that you don’t have enough coverage for all of your jewelry, you have a few options to make sure it’s fully protected.
Valuable items endorsement:
An endorsement is an addition to your policy that can change it. In the case of valuables or jewelry, items included in the endorsement are scheduled onto a list. Basically, an endorsement for jewelry can provide coverage for the treasures that you want to protect by giving you an appropriate limit of coverage.
Floater:
A floater is another way to add coverage for your jewelry. It covers items that are easily moved, and they’re used to increase the limit of coverage for valuable belongings. If you have a pricey bracelet, brooch, ring, or necklace, for example, a floater can help you increase your coverage for the piece.
Valuable items policy:
If you have a very expensive piece of jewelry, for insurance for a diamond necklace worth more than $10,000, you can get an entirely separate policy to cover it. Items that are very expensive may not get enough coverage from a floater or endorsement, which is why you might need to consider taking out a completely separate policy rather than adding it to your home insurance.
How much coverage do I need?
That depends on the item you want to insure. At any rate, you need to make sure that whatever method you use to insure your jewelry will cover replacements made of similar materials and type. Also, you should consider taking a home inventory so that you know exactly which pieces of jewelry you need to get additional coverage for.
To figure out what kind of limits you should be looking at, you’ll need to have your jewelry appraised by a professional. Ask them to list each item you’re having appraised separately and to note a description and the value. Keep in mind that you’ll need to update your appraisals every once in a while because prices change and markets fluctuate. You need to have a current appraisal so that you can keep your insurance up-to-date and make any necessary changes to your policy.
Pro tip: Don’t forget that your monitored security system can qualify you for a discount on your home insurance.
In conclusion:
Home or renters insurance policies usually have strict limits of coverage for jewelry, and these limits may not be enough to fully cover all of the valuables in your possession. You need to review your policy, and if the value of your jewelry exceeds the limit specified in your policy, you’ll have to talk with your agent about ways to get the right coverage. Make sure you have the insurance you need to protect your jewelry and don’t underestimate the value of your belongings. When in doubt, have the jewelry appraised. It’s worth it to ensure that you’ll get the money you need to replace the piece of pieces that were stolen or destroyed.
Do you need home or renters insurance? We’d love to get you some free quotes for your coverage – it’s what we do. We can help you build an insurance plan to protect your home, valuables and all. Just fill out our online quote form or give us a call today to get started.