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Coverage of the Week: Valuable Articles

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8/4/14

By: Alan Mani

 

Welcome to this week’s “Coverage of the Week” blog where we discuss a particular coverage to educate and clarify a particular topic. This week’s topic…Valuable Articles Insurance. There are several insurance policies you can purchase to protect your valuables. I asked one of our Personal Lines Executives to help me gather as much information as I could. Hopefully the information below will benefit you.

First things first. Let’s address the myth that your jewelry, silvers, and collectibles are covered in your homeowner’s policy. There is a bit of truth to this myth because there are some basic protections for your valuable possessions, but the homeowners form has a cap.  Generally, you will be limited to $2,500 to $5,000 for covered losses, and claims are subject to your deductible. This is where Valuable Articles Insurance comes into play.

So what is Valuable Articles Insurance? Basically, it’s when you “schedule” certain items such as jewelry, art, furs, silverware, stamps & coins, musical instruments, guns, cameras and collectibles. There is no deductible for this insurance, and exclusions that apply to your general contents will not apply under the valuable articles coverage. For example, your valuables would be covered for flood, dampness, loss by animals, earthquake, and mysterious disappearance – all generally excluded by your homeowner’s policy.

You have two options when you want to insure your valuables. Individually itemizing the valuables (scheduling) or placing them under a blanket. When you itemize your valuables, you are placing a specific value on each item and insuring it for that amount. For items of high value such as fine arts, gold, and silverware you need to get them reappraised every 3 to 4 years so that they can be insured to the correct amount since these items increase in value. When you place items under a blanket, you take your smaller valuable items and insure them for their total replacement costs. There is a limit to how much an individual item is awarded; typically it’s $10,000 per item.

Finally, you have the option of insuring items kept in a bank vault. The rates are much lower for these items, but any vault-stored item can be taken out no more than 3 times a year.

It may be time to make a list of all of your valuables and sit down with your insurance professional to discuss the value of each item, how much coverage you have for those items under your present homeowner’s policy and if that is sufficient, and if a Valuable Articles policy is the best way to protect those items in case of loss.

Travel: To the World Cup and Beyond!

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By Louise R.

Let’s put it out there – I work for an insurance broker. This likely conjures images of sleazy men with comb-overs and ill-fitting suits. My bosses at Levitt-Fuirst, however, have pretty nice suits, and we sell the most exciting insurance products in the world!  Okay… that MAY be an exaggeration.  Let’s face it, though – in my 22 years at Levitt-Fuirst, I’ve learned a thing or two about all types of insurance, and I can offer tips on things that you don’t know you need until, sadly, you need it.

One of the biggest things in the news today is the World Cup. Have you thought about traveling to Brazil, cheering on Team USA? Maybe just traveling to Brazil and laying on the beach, and mentally cheering on Team USA?  Or is it Europe, Asia, Canada or the Caribbean that is calling you?  Are you bringing your jewelry with you? AHA!! Gotcha! Insurance as it relates to your life…namely in the form of a jewelry floater on your Personal Lines policy. Insurance IS exciting, when it protects you from lost or stolen jewelry!

Our resident Personal Lines experts here at Levitt-Fuirst advise that any larger items (over $10,000) be “scheduled” on your homeowner’s policy, which is a nice way of saying “list it specifically on your policy”.  Do you have many smaller jewelry items you are bringing?  You should “blanket” your less valuable pieces together into one limit.

As you can see from the linked NBC News article, thefts while traveling to Brazil are a major concern…  “Rio has seen an increase of something called ‘arrastão,’ which means ‘big sweep.’ A wave of thieves line up along the sand and rob everyone in a lightning quick operation that is in and out before beachgoers or police can even blink.” Not something that you think about while planning a great trip. And that’s why we are here – to think about the things that you don’t, and to know what type of insurance will keep you protected.