Month of Love
It’s February – the month of love! We know a lot of people are getting special gifts, and some are even getting engaged during this season. I want to give you a brief overview of the differences between adding jewelry to your homeowner’s policy and purchasing a separate policy just for your jewelry.
Adding Jewelry to Your Homeowner’s Policy
Most homeowners’ and renter’s policies have a rider that can be added to cover jewelry. When you add a jewelry rider, or schedule the jewelry, on your home insurance policy, the deductible is often waived should anything happen. However, the downside is if you ever turn in a claim on that jewelry (should it get lost or damaged), then it will show as a claim on your homeowner’s insurance. Without adding a rider, or scheduling your jewelry, your home insurance policy will provide limited coverage.
Here in Alabama, especially right now, we’re in the challenging market for home insurance. Any losses at all, even if they’re not related to your home insurance, can really impact your eligibility and rate. For that reason, we often recommend scheduling your jewelry on a completely separate policy.
Insuring Your Jewelry Separately
We have carriers in our office, such as Jewelers Mutual and Travelers, that have policies specifically set up for jewelry insurance. If you take out a separate policy for those special items, should a claim occur, it would not be tied in any way to your homeowner’s insurance. Therefore, you wouldn’t need to worry about any effects on your homeowners’ insurance in this challenging market.
Summary
We recommend purchasing a separate policy for your jewelry so a potential claim will not affect your homeowner’s insurance policy or rates. Call our office at (205) 847-5616 so we can talk through the best option for you.