Is all of your jewelry insured?

[maddiepaddy]

I just went and got all my good jewelry appraised and was planning on insuring all of it. Four pieces (heirloom) came back with way higher appraisals than I expected. While this is great, I am surprised at how much it will cost to insure them. 

Since I rarely wear the four heirloom pieces, I'm thinking that I should get a safe deposit box for them and take the risk of not having them insured. Then I'll just insure the pieces that I wear daily/often. 

I would be devastated if something happened to the heirloom pieces, but just replacing them wouldn't really help, as they really wouldn't be the same. 

Has anyone else taken this approach? Tell me I'm not being stupid 

[arch01]

The only thing we have insured is my engagement ring. Even though I have some pricey pearls, I never wear them and they're in the safe deposit box. My jewelry insurance is cheap-$50ish for about $5k in coverage.

[Ashley&Scott]

What kind of quote did you get? We pay $110/yr to insure approx. $12k (my engagement ring & wedding band, DH's wedding ring & my diamond earrings)

This reminds me I need to have our stuff re-appraised.

[audette]

I'm in the camp of "I don't want jewelry that needs special insurance". So, no, we don't have any specific riders for jewelry on our insurance.

Heirloom pieces are a tough one. The value is more sentimental than $, although they can often be quite monetarily valuable, too. Have you looked at what your homeowners/renters insurance covers, and if/what the costs might be to get a special rider attached for the jewelry? Might be cheaper than the safe deposit box, although I personally might want the security of one if I had high-value heirloom pieces I rarely wore...

[v]

I have a rider for my engagement ring; I'm pretty sure everything else is covered by our renter's insurance (and if it isn't -- none of it is worth enough for me to worry much about it).

[maddiepaddy]

Sept 30, 2014 11:07:27 GMT -5 Ashley&Scott said:

What kind of quote did you get? 

$420 annual for $40K of coverage. But to insure the pieces I actually wear often ($15K) is only $140.

I'm thinking that the additional $280 is a bit much for items that get worn once a year (if that). These pieces' biggest risks are theft and fire, both of which are mitigated in a safe deposit box, I hope...right?

[Ashley&Scott]

Sept 30, 2014 11:17:29 GMT -5 maddiepaddy said:

Sept 30, 2014 11:07:27 GMT -5 Ashley&Scott said:

What kind of quote did you get? 

$420 annual for $40K of coverage. But to insure the pieces I actually wear often ($15K) is only $140.

I'm thinking that the additional $280 is a bit much for items that get worn once a year (if that). These pieces' biggest risks are theft and fire, both of which are mitigated in a safe deposit box, I hope...right?

I would probably do the safe deposit box for the pieces your rarely wear.

Did you ask the insurance co if there's a discount if the items are kept in a safe deposit box? Not sure if there is or not but it doesn't hurt to ask. 

[raangoli]

I have my engagement ring insured through Jeweler's Mutual, but nothing else is since the ring is by far the most expensive piece of jewelry I own.

[Susie]

My jewelry is all covered under my homeowners' insurance, but the deducible ($1k) would apply, whereas if I got a jewelry rider it wouldn't. I only have a couple items worth even 4 figures each, and the odds that I'd lose all of them at the same time aren't great. I prefer to self-insure, both for this and in general. Hell, I think my bike collection may be worth more than my jewelry collection anyway. It's close.

[dragonfly08]

My diamond ring (engagement diamond, but not original setting so it's not really my ering anymore, I guess) is insured separately since it's over the amount we can get a rider for on our policy.

Pretty much everything else is under to the cap allowed by our insurance for items w/o appraisal or rider. My wedding band may be the exception, but it's close enough that I'd just accept the cap in terms of replacement.

[mich1]

Sept 30, 2014 11:14:59 GMT -5 v said:

I have a rider for my engagement ring; I'm pretty sure everything else is covered by our renter's insurance (and if it isn't -- none of it is worth enough for me to worry much about it).

Renter's insurance only covers about $500 for jewelry.  On my last policy, I had a rider that bumped it up to $5000 and it really didn't cost much, I want to say it only added about $20/year.  I think that that was as high as I could bump it up without getting my jewelry appraised.

A friend of mine was given a Rolex from his aunt.  He discovered that jewelry limitation when the insurance company only covered $500 of a $5000 watch, and that was just one item.  He had a few gold chains that were stolen too.

[212]

I just cancelled our insurance and we bought a safe instead. I don't wear the stuff we had insured enough to justify the cost.

[Nonny]

We were robbed in July, and they took most of my jewelry. Before that happened I never thought I had much money in jewelry, but as it turns out it adds up FAST even when just talking about costume pieces.

Our policy (without any special jewelry riders) was up to $5000 in total jewelry, with a max of $2500 for any single item. I was lucky that they didn't get my engagement ring (I can't wear it because I'm too heavy, but it was in our safe, which they didn't find), but they did get a $1200 pair of heirloom diamond earrings (which also would have been in the safe had I realized they were worth that much*). Then I had to start adding up the different things I'd bought over the years, that had been given to me as gifts, handmade stuff from Etsy, etc... I was really lucky that they just dumped my jewelry box and took some travel pouches where I had stored out of date stuff I didn't really wear, and that they completely ignored the necklaces I had hanging from a mirror. I got really close to that $5K limit without the necklaces, and if they'd taken those too I would have easily hit the max.

Since I no longer have anything worth insuring like this it's kind of moot for me, but I'll tell you that the emotional hit of losing sentimental pieces was a way bigger gut punch than the monetary hit.




*My sister has an almost identical pair and looked up her appraisal for me.

[v]

Sept 30, 2014 13:17:20 GMT -5 mich1 said:

Sept 30, 2014 11:14:59 GMT -5 v said:

I have a rider for my engagement ring; I'm pretty sure everything else is covered by our renter's insurance (and if it isn't -- none of it is worth enough for me to worry much about it).

Renter's insurance only covers about $500 for jewelry.  On my last policy, I had a rider that bumped it up to $5000 and it really didn't cost much, I want to say it only added about $20/year.  I think that that was as high as I could bump it up without getting my jewelry appraised.

A friend of mine was given a Rolex from his aunt.  He discovered that jewelry limitation when the insurance company only covered $500 of a $5000 watch, and that was just one item.  He had a few gold chains that were stolen too.

As I said -- none of my other jewelry is worth enough for me to worry much about it

My policy covers $1500 per article for jewelry.  My engagement ring is covered separately, and no other item of jewelry we own comes close to that value.  (There's probably some kind of aggregate limit for the jewelry, but meh -- again, it just isn't worth all that much).

[LoveTrains]

After my house was broken into over the summer I wanted to confirm that I had enough insurance coverage. I have a rider for my e-ring and wedding band, those combined are insured for approx $10K for a cost of $56/year. There is no deductible on that and it is covered if I lose it, etc.

For my homeowner's insurance, it only covered all other jewelry and fur up to a total of only $1500 with a $1,000 deductible. Well, that is ridiculous.

I upped it to $5,000 (still with a $1K deductible) and it cost me an additional $19/year.

The big thing getting stolen in my neighborhood are jewelry boxes. most professional thieves go straight to the master bedroom and search for jewelry. I was also told by the police that the thieves go over the state line to pawn things and stuff is rarely found.

[LoveTrains]

Sept 30, 2014 13:34:47 GMT -5 v said:

Sept 30, 2014 13:17:20 GMT -5 mich1 said:

Renter's insurance only covers about $500 for jewelry.  On my last policy, I had a rider that bumped it up to $5000 and it really didn't cost much, I want to say it only added about $20/year.  I think that that was as high as I could bump it up without getting my jewelry appraised.

A friend of mine was given a Rolex from his aunt.  He discovered that jewelry limitation when the insurance company only covered $500 of a $5000 watch, and that was just one item.  He had a few gold chains that were stolen too.

As I said -- none of my other jewelry is worth enough for me to worry much about it

My policy covers $1500 per article for jewelry.  My engagement ring is covered separately, and no other item of jewelry we own comes close to that value.  (There's probably some kind of aggregate limit for the jewelry, but meh -- again, it just isn't worth all that much).

You might want to verify that $1500 is PER article and not a total of all articles combined....if it is per article, well that's awesome and no worries.

[megstoo]

Sept 30, 2014 11:17:29 GMT -5 maddiepaddy said:

Sept 30, 2014 11:07:27 GMT -5 Ashley&Scott said:

What kind of quote did you get? 

$420 annual for $40K of coverage. But to insure the pieces I actually wear often ($15K) is only $140.

I'm thinking that the additional $280 is a bit much for items that get worn once a year (if that). These pieces' biggest risks are theft and fire, both of which are mitigated in a safe deposit box, I hope...right?

$420 is high for that amount of coverage.  You might want to call a state farm agent - I know their personal article policies are not that expensive (I used to work for them).

That being said I have a rider on our home owners policy to cover my wedding band, DH's band and a couple heirloom pieces which is a 0 deductible.  I did also increase the coverage for jewelry for things like costume jewelry but that is total value (not per piece) and is subject to my home owners deductible which I think is $1k.  

[maddiepaddy]

Sept 30, 2014 13:43:35 GMT -5 megstoo said:

$420 is high for that amount of coverage.  You might want to call a state farm agent - I know their personal article policies are not that expensive (I used to work for them).

This is for a seperate personal article's policy (0% deductible) with State Farm, actually  . I checked Jeweler's Mutual and they were actually a bit higher for the same amount of coverage.