A Screech Brings Peace of Mind

I was speaking with an acquaintance last week.  She told me she had A LOT of beautiful jewelry and just found out her homeowners insurance policy would only cover up to $2,000 if it were stolen or lost.  ONLY TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS (her caps, said while screeching).  She called her homeowners insurance agent and, among other things, asked what she should do.  They set the jewelry up on its’ own policy (scheduled) so, if something happens and there is a claim, each piece of jewelry on the policy would be covered to the stated amount.  There (humph), she felt better.

If you have any antiques, guns, collections, furs, fine art, cameras, etc and these are not set up the same way run, do not walk, to your homeowners agent to talk with them and decide if they should be.  A client had a table that her grandmother had bought and had it added to her homeowners policy at a value of $2,000.  If there had been a fire and the table wasn’t scheduled, the claims adjuster would have just seen it as a used, old table and given $5.00.

Another way to look at the situation is this:  if you have a single item, say a handmade rug, that had a high dollar value and you had a house fire, you wouldn’t want to be in position to choose between replacing the rug or replacing your kitchen appliances.  Set the rug up on your homeowners policy so it can be replaced along with the appliances.

The key is to call your agent, go over anything I mentioned above and, if it makes sense, get them on the homeowners policy.  There, no screeching and you just bought a little piece of mind.