Is Your Personal Property Covered by Insurance?
Insurance Mistake #9: Not understanding the limitations in coverage on certain personal property items (Jewelry, fine art, collectibles, tools, etc).
It’s safe to say that we all want to keep what valuables we have safe. Whether these are expensive items or priceless heirlooms, anything material can get damaged or lost. It is important to discuss with your insurance provider which items you own are already covered, and which may be limited.
When you think about your household possessions and your insurance coverage, it is important to understand that certain items have limited coverage. For example, if you have a significant amount of jewelry, guns, artwork, or other valuable personal property, you will likely need to add coverage, either through scheduling the property (listing property, value, etc.) or paying an additional premium to provide a higher limit for that coverage.
The other advantage of scheduling is that it is typically all-risk coverage. For example, if you lost your diamond ring swimming at the lake, it would be covered for its replacement value. If the item were to become lost and you didn’t really know what happened to it, i.e., a mysterious disappearance, it would be covered if it were a scheduled item.
The other way additional coverage can be added is through blanket coverage. For example, as your insurer, we can add a broadened jewelry endorsement for $5,000 of all-risk coverage for about $18 per year. If you had a nice watch valued at $5,500, and it slid off your wrist and fell 100 feet to the ground on a roller coaster, we would cover the watch for the $5,000 limit on the coverage. This is a very cost-effective way to cover smaller jewelry items.
Go through a list of all of your valuable items with your agent to determine which ones are covered under your current homeowner’s insurance and which ones additional coverage would need to be added.
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