Valentine's Gift Coverage

Each year, we usually have a few clients who get engaged over Valentine's Day.  If you are one of these lucky couples, make sure that calling your insurance company is at the top of your list of people you notify.  Why?  "While there is no way to insure the sentimental value of such a gift, having the right amount of insurance will provide financial protection", according to the Insurance Information Institute.

Jewelry losses are one of the most common losses for all homeowners content-related insurance claims.  So if you received a new piece of jewelry for Valentine's Day (or a nice new set of golf clubs, or artwork, or fancy new camera, etc), you want to make sure that it is insured correctly.

Does the item need special coverage?
Most homeowners and renters insurance policies include coverage for contents, but there are limits to how much coverage there is for high-value items such as jewelry, furs, art, etc.  Usually, we add these types of items to a policy as "Scheduled Personal Property" or SPP.  This has specific coverage for individual items, offer broader coverage for loss (such as if your ring were to accidentally fall down a drain.)  There is usually no deductible applied to items that are scheduled as SPP on your policy.

Keep a copy of your Receipt or Appraisal
Insurance companies will usually ask for a recent appraisal of an item being specially insured as SPP.  This helps with a description of the item and the appraised value.  We also recommend that you keep a picture of items as well - this can help with identifying a lost item.

For more information regarding Scheduled Personal Property, check out this blog on our website.

If you have an item that you want to add as Scheduled Personal Property to your Homeowners or Renters Insurance Policy, please call your Absolute agent at 515-279-2722 or email us at service@insaia.com.

What gifts might you need to specially insure?

After the Christmas gifts are opened, the wrapping paper is picked up, and the Christmas dinner is over, you might want to take a minute to think about the different gifts that people in your household received.  Did anyone receive anything expensive that you might need to add specifically to your homeowners or renters insurance policy?  Did someone receive a nice necklace or ring?  That Gibson Guitar they have been talking about for a couple years?

We have had a few insureds share the great news that they are engaged this holiday season.  Engagement rings, and other jewelry, often has limited coverage on insurance plans unless it is added as "Scheduled Personal Property" to your home, renters, condo, or manufactured home insurance policy. 

We also typically get the question about who needs to insure the engagement ring - the person who gave the ring, or the person who is wearing the ring?  This depends on a few different factors such as whether the couple live together (and have a joint insurance plan) or if they live separately.  Generally, the person who is in possession of the ring needs to be insuring the ring.

Typically, we think about jewelry as an item that might be appraised and added to a homeowners or renters insurance policy as "Scheduled Personal Property", but there are other items that you might want to consider:

• Cameras, lenses, and equipment
• Golf Clubs
• Skis or snowboards
• Road bikes
• Art or antiques
• Firearms
• Computers
• Musical Instruments

If you, or someone in your household, received some of these items, you should consider adding them with special coverage to your homeowners, renters, or condo insurance policies.  Most Homeowner, Renters, and Condo Insurance policies place limits on high-value items.  These items should be added as Scheduled Personal Property to your policy.  You can insure jewelry, furs, fine art, expensive cameras, and other valuable items this way on your policy.  You can contact your Absolute Insurance agent at (515)279-2722 and discuss whether or not to add items to your policy.

You've Got Some Q's: We've Got the A's

Q:  I am a pizza delivery driver and I hit another vehicle.  My policy will cover the damage, right?

A:  NO.  A personal auto policy will not cover a vehicle being used for delivery purposes.  The same policy will also not cover paid-for snowplowing or people transportation (i.e. taxis).

You would need to have a commercial auto policy in order to cover this vehicle and the liability properly.

If you engage in these types of business, call your Absolute Agent today to ensure you have the right policy!


Q:  I failed to pay the renewal, but companies have a grace period, right?

A:  NO.  If the renewal payment has not been paid, then there is no coverage at that moment.  There are no grace periods on renewal payments as the policy period has expired.  These are handled differently than regular monthly bills that do have a short grace period.


Q:  How often should I get my jewelry appraised in order to keep it as a separate rider on my insurance policy.

A:  You'll want to get such things appraised about every 3-5 years.  This is in your best interest as the price of gold and precious metals and stones have increased drastically over the past 2 years.  For instance, if you had a ring appraised in 2002 and it came to a value of $2,000 and now it would appraise at $10,000 in order to replace, then the company would only be responsible for providing the $2,000 in coverage.  As you can see, given the vast increases in value on these types of things, it is very important to update these every 3-5 years.

Scheduled Personal Property Coverage

This blog post focuses on Scheduled Personal Property (SPP) and how to insure it properly for the full replacement value.

As most readers already know, your home insurance covers personal property at a certain percentage of your dwelling coverage.  This percent is usually set at 70%, so if you have a $100,000 policy on your home, then your contents are covered up to $70,000.  While this is good coverage, there are limitations placed on certain types of property.  These types of property include (but not limited to):

• Jewelry
• Guns
• Artwork
• Antiques
• Currency

Some of these limits are as low as $1,500 in total per class of items.  Also at stake when looking at these items is that they will fall under the total household deductible.  By this, if your $5,000 wedding ring was stolen, then the company would pay up to the $1,500 minus your deductible (nowadays, a standard home insurance deductible is $1,000).  By this, you would not be able to replace the ring with like kind and quality.  An easy way to get these to replacement value is to get an appraisal for each item that would exceed (or come close to) the limit and get it over to your Absolute Agent.  Not only will the pieces be insured to that value, but they would have a separate deductible of your choosing.  Give us a call today.