Do you know which high value items are covered by your home insurance policy? The answer could be none! In many standard homeowner policies, particularly valuable items are not covered unless they are specifically mentioned.
Over the years, you may have acquired more valuable belongings and never thought about insurance for them. Do any of these scenarios sound familiar?
Some people think or may assume home insurance covers everything in their house but you need to be aware that this is not the case. While home insurance does cover your personal property and average belongings, like furniture, clothing, housewares, etc., it does not cover or completely cover unusual or expensive items.
Most policies have limits on the amount of coverage that will be provided for certain items or specific categories of personal property, such as jewelry or musical instruments for example. The reason for this is to be fair to all policyholders and provide coverage for standard, everyday belongings at reasonable rates. If you happen to have items of significant value, then you can choose to place special coverage on them either for replacement value or market value. Some examples are:
If you’re not sure if you need or want to have extra coverage for any of your valuables, there’s no harm in getting a quote to see what it would cost and asking your insurance expert about your options.
To really know what you have in your home now, make a home inventory list, which you can use for discussions with your insurance professional. This list will be extremely helpful if you ever need to make a claim, and it can also help you determine if your current policy limits provide sufficient coverage. Your inventory list should include a brief description of items as well as their estimated replacement cost. A quick way to take inventory is to make a video of each room and closets describing items as you go through your home.
To find out what high value items you have that may need extra protection, feel free to talk with the home insurance experts at Mitchell & Whale Insurance Brokers. Contact us at 1-800-731-2228 or email us at firstname.lastname@example.org. We’d be happy to help.