In Insurance-ese (that special language unique to insurance) you are talking about Scheduled Personal Property. Why do you want it? Is it worth the extra money? The answer is yes. Yes. And YES some more.
- Your homeowners policy probably has internal limits for theft of jewelry, watches, furs, guns, fine art, coins, stamps, baseball cards and more. You may have as little as $500 in coverage if your special possessions are stolen, or you may have as much as $10,000. Read your policy to find out.
- If your home and its contents are destroyed in a fire, there is usually not an internal limit on those special items. But you ARE now using that same contents coverage amount for all of your furniture, clothes, kitchenware, appliances, tools...is there enough for all of that and your art work, too?
- Scheduling your personal property, in many cases, broadens the covered causes of loss. What does that mean in English? It means you may now have coverage for mysterious disappearance. Was the ring stolen? Lost? Eaten by the puppy? What??? Most homeowners policies would not cover it unless you can show it was stolen. Unless you scheduled it.
- How much is your favorite bronze sculpture or your baseball card collection worth? How would that be determined in the event of a loss? Scheduling your personal property, in some cases, is an agreement with the company that your item is worth what it is covered for. You may have to provide an appraisal to verify the value, but what a wonderful peace of mind to know that your grandmother's opal ring is covered for what it is worth. Of course, you can't put a price on the sentimental value of items, but you can at least make sure that they are covered for their monetary value.
- There are some things that are unique in their value. If you own something that would be difficult to determine a value for, doesn't fit into a typical category or is completely one-of-a-kind, maybe you should think about scheduling it. A great example is taxidermy. If you have a world-record, life size Dall sheep mount, how do you establish what that was worth in the event a claim? You can't exactly order up another one on Ebay. A claims adjustor is unlikely to have a reference book that will help. Look at it this way, if you schedule the sheep and something happens to it, maybe you can get enough money to go hunt another one.
Some of the comments I hear most often is, "My jewelry is more valuable to me because it is sentimental.", "Oh, that painting is one of a kind, so I couldn't replace it anyway." and my personal favorite, "If they try to take my guns, they're going to get them and not they way they meant to."
If your cherished jewelry was stolen, that gift from your husband or the family heirloom piece, would you be happy to receive a fraction of what it would cost to buy something similar? (just an example, of course). If the painting burned in a fire and you had never determined a value on it, how do you know you're getting what it was worth? The claims adjustor can only go by what is left of the painting and what you remember about it. And for that last one, do you really think a gang of thugs is going to wait until you are home to break in and haul away your entire gun safe?
So, take a good long look around your home. Give some serious thought to the value of the items you possess. If any of those things has a special value please call your insurance agent today. At least get a quote on adding Scheduled Personal Property, so that you know if you want to take the risk.
