Awareness of jewellery insurance
When you get engaged, married or buy another valuable piece of
jewellery, you may often overlook something quite important – whether
your home contents insurance will cover its loss or theft.
It is very easy to get caught up in the excitement of forthcoming
nuptials or owning a beautiful piece of jewellery that you wear with
pride – so much so that thinking about insurance is probably one of the
last things on your mind.
In fact a recent article on the Government-founded MoneyAdviceService website reveals shocking statistics:
- one in three people consider their engagement ring to be their most valued possession;
- one in four do not have home contents insurance to cover its loss or theft at home;
- around one in seven do not have additional cover for personal possessions outside the home either.
I have home insurance, so is my jewellery covered?
Not
necessarily so. Those people that do have personal possessions cover as
part of their home insurance may believe that their jewellery is
covered. (Note that full cover, ie: for inside and outside of the home,
is normally a paid for additional option. It is unlikely to form part of
your standard cover). If you don’t remember asking for the protection,
you probably don’t have it.
Also, it is important to note that many household policies have
limits up to which your personal possessions (such as jewellery and
other valuable personal items such as PC tablets etc) can be covered.
Typically this is £1,500 per item, though some insurers may have higher
limits.
According to the same article, the average value of an engagement
ring is £1,800 – so if you did make a successful claim on your household
policy for loss or theft, the maximum amount you could get back would
be £1,500 – less any excess amount. (The excess is the first part of any
successful claim that you are liable for. This could be around
£100-£500).
What can I do to protect my jewellery?
Assuming
you already have home insurance contents cover, the first thing you
need to do is to check whether you have cover for loss or theft of
personal possessions in and outside of the home (this is often referred
to as “All Risks” within the policy document).
If you do, what is the claim limit per item? Look at your valuables
and see if each comes within that claim limit. For example, if you have a
necklace worth £1,400, that will typically be covered, but a Rolex
watch, even one of the lesser expensive ones, can be valued at well over
£3,000, meaning the single limit wouldn’t cover the full value needed
to replace the watch.
Speak to your insurer
If
you find that you don’t have the most suitable limit of insurance,
speak to your household insurer and ask them how much it would cost to
include a specific piece of jewellery in the cover, up to the its full
value.
They may be able to help you, though you could find this pushes up the cost of your home insurance to an unacceptable level.
Another option is take out specific jewellery insurance. This is a
standalone policy available from specialist companies such as ourselves
at Assetsure.
We offer cover either for single items or groups of items and our cover
provides a comprehensive worldwide “All Risks” policy wording. This
means that the item or items specified within the policy are fully
covered against risks such as damage, theft and loss – no matter where
you are.
Unlike with a standard home insurance policy, there is no excess to
pay on this jewellery cover either, in the event of a successful claim.
This means you get the full value of your jewellery back, without
needing to pay towards the claim, nor losing any no claims discount on
your home insurance cover.
As you can see, there are lots of options for protecting your
jewellery – whatever you do, don’t forget to check that yours is fully
protected.
