If you have too many expensive items in your home, you must ensure that they are protected with adequate insurance. It’s not that your homeowner’s insurance or renter’s policy will deny coverage for your personal belongings. However, the standard policies usually restrict coverage for the expensive personal belongings. Thus, if you want all your treasured items are covered against losses, damages, mysterious disappearances or thefts, you’ll have to take up your own measures and buy additional insurance coverage if necessary.
What are the high-valued items which needs additional protection?
The item for which you’ll need additional insurance protection may have been an expensive gift, or you might have used up your own financial resources to acquire it. Such items may include:- Expensive jewelry or precious stones (engagement rings, necklaces etc.)
- Collectibles and special assortment or set of unique items
- Antiques and heirlooms
- Original artworks like paintings, sculptures, fine arts etc
- Unique handcrafted items
- Expensive musical instruments
- Crystals, China and Silverwares
- Furs
- Sports equipments
- Computer equipments
How to opt for additional protection?
As it has been mentioned before, the standard home insurance or renter’s insurance policies extend coverage for the valuable contents in home. However, those policies impose a dollar limit on coverage which ranges around $1,000 to $2,000 in total. If the worth of your possessions is beyond the permissible limit of coverage, you’ll need surplus insurance protection. An additional endorsement in the form of a floater or a rider will have to be bought so that you’ll be financially protected for the losses or damages to the treasured items.How can you make sure that your valuables are protected?
The Insurance Information Institute gives out certain directions which have to be followed to make sure that your valuable items are adequately covered.- Inform the insurer – As soon as you become the owner of a new valuable item, you need to inform your insurer about it. The insurers won’t extend coverage for the unlisted belongings that they are unaware of.
- Review your policy – Check your policy details to know if you have an actual cash value policy, or you’ll only be able to obtain the replacement cost for the item. Besides, you’ll need to find out about your existing limits of coverage to determine how much additional insurance protection you’ll require.
- Seek an appraisal – The expensive items need to be appraised properly to determine their value. The art collections, antiques and heirlooms need to be evaluated so that the rider or the floater can be bought accordingly. The premiums charged for the items depend on their appraised value. If it’s a recent item bought by you, send a copy of the receipt to the insurer to let them know the current value of the item.
- Update your inventory – You need to save the receipt of policy in your home inventory file. Visual records are helpful to document the belongings in your home, and thus photographs and videos are to be added in the insured’s inventory file. The insured needs to update his inventory at regular intervals. It is helpful after an accident or theft, since an updated inventory accelerates the claim process.
- Store in safe place – You’ll need to store the items in a secured location, even if it’s in your home. You can build in a safe deposit box or a vault to store the items. The inventory file also needs to be placed in a fire-proof and safe location.
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