Long Island Home Insurance - Insuring Jewelry & Other Valuable Items

Does my home insurance policy cover all my valuable items?

A standard home insurance policy will include some coverage for your jewelry and other valuable items (such as watches or furs). Under your home insurance policy, these will be covered if destroyed by causes that are covered in your policy. Usually this includes fires, windstorms, vandalism, and theft.
The problem you will run into is that there are limitations in the standard policy as to how much you can claim for certain items. Because of this, the insurer won’t be able to pay out more than what is specified in the policy. This usually applies for jewelry. Because jewelry is can be stolen easily, standard policies usually only cover up to $1500 per item.

How do I ensure my valuable items are properly covered?

If you want to make sure the value of your jewelry is covered, there are 2 ways you can increase insurance coverage:

1. You can raise the limit of liability on your current home insurance or renter’s insurance policy. This is usually the cheapest option. The only problem is that there might be a limit on the amount you can claim on one specific item. You might only be able to claim $2500 on one item of jewelry when the limit of the policy for all items is $5000.

2. Purchasing personal article policies (sometimes referred to as floaters or riders) and “scheduling” each item. Floaters are policies that cover specific items that have a high $ value. This is basically way of listing specific valuable items on your policy. The schedule would include a description of each item that is covered and how much it is worth. According to this article , a State Farm Insurance spokesman said that 70% of floaters are bought to cover jewelry. This option is more expensive but it protects the items under broader circumstances. For example, a home insurance policy would not cover the loss of your ring if you left it in a hotel room or lost it swimming in the ocean. These situations can be covered under a floater policy. Before you get these items covered, it is essential to get them professionally appraised to determine their true value.