Harmony, who has renters insurance in Colorado Springs, CO, has a question about her renters insurance coverage.
I just got engaged and am concerned about the safety of my ring. I’ve never worn much jewelry, so I wanted to know if renters insurance would cover my ring if anything were to happen.
Great question Harmony, and there are a couple different parts to this answer, so let’s jump right in…
Is Jewelry Covered On Renters Insurance?
If you have renters insurance you probably just assume that all your personal property is covered, which is why we commonly get asked if jewelry is covered on renters insurance policies. Find out the answer below, as well how to be sure it’s covered, from the renters insurance experts.
Does Renters Insurance Cover Jewelry? Yes, But…
The first angle to look at is the high level view. Yes, renters insurance covers jewelry as the policy is written, but it’s a class of property that has what’s called a sub limit. This means that regardless of how much personal property coverage you have, only that sublimit regarding to jewelry would be paid out on that class of property from renters insurance. Generally, the sub limit is pretty low as the policy is written, often around $1,500. That’s not much coverage for an engagement ring.
There are two ways you can solve that coverage gap between the sub limit and the actual replacement cost of your ring. The first is with an endorsement on your renters insurance policy, which can often cover items up to $10,000.
It’s important to remember that endorsing jewelry onto your policy does not increase the total amount of personal property coverage. If you have a $10,000 ring endorsed onto the policy and $15,000 of personal property coverage, that only leaves $5,000 for everything else. Although that’s not an ideal situation, you can certainly increase the total personal property coverage to ensure that your ring is covered.
Does Renters Insurance Cover Jewelry? What If I Need More Coverage?
If you have jewelry that exceeds $10,000 of value, then you need a different approach. There’s a separate policy called a personal articles floater which allows you to schedule valuable property, like jewelry. Generally, they run somewhere in the neighborhood of $15-$18 per thousand of value, per year. They’re not only inexpensive, but they’re also open perils. That means that physical loss or damage to the insured item is paid unless it’s otherwise excluded from the policy, rather than the named perils of a standard HO-4 renters insurance policy.
Depending on how much jewelry you have and how you want to protect it, one of these two options likely is the right choice for you. Contact Effective Coverage’s renters insurance experts at (800)892-4308 for more information and to help decide how to best cover your jewelry.