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Nerdy takeaways
- Standard home insurance policies cover some kinds of valuable belongings, but only up to a certain amount.
- You can add scheduled personal property coverage so individual high-value items are fully covered.
- Scheduled personal property coverage typically costs between 1% and 2% of the item’s value.
Imagine your wedding ring is stolen while you’re traveling. Your ring is worth $2,500, but your home insurance policy will cover stolen jewelry only up to $1,500. That means your insurance payout wouldn’t be enough to buy a new ring to replace the one that was stolen.
This is where scheduled personal property coverage comes in. This optional add-on offers full coverage for your expensive belongings so you don’t come up short should something happen.
What is scheduled personal property coverage?
Scheduled personal property coverage is an endorsement you can add to your homeowners, renters or condo policy. It provides more coverage for specific high-value items like a diamond ring, a piece of heirloom furniture or an expensive bike.
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Answer a few questions to see custom quotes and find the right policy for you. A standard insurance policy has a coverage limit for personal property, which is the maximum amount the insurer will pay for your belongings in a covered claim. For homeowners, your personal property coverage limit is usually set at 50% to 70% of your dwelling coverage limit.
However, personal property coverage also has sublimits for valuable items. That means you may have $150,000 in personal property coverage but only $1,500 for stolen jewelry.
Without scheduled personal property coverage, you’d get $1,500 from your insurer to replace your stolen wedding ring. But with scheduled personal property coverage, your ring would be insured up to its replacement cost value.
Scheduled personal property coverage also covers a broader range of problems than standard policies, including accidental damage and loss. This add-on may even cover what’s sometimes known as “mysterious disappearance,” which is another way of saying that something was lost without any clear explanation. (Many standard home insurance policies exclude this.)
🤓 Nerdy Tip
Another benefit of scheduling your valuable items is that this coverage usually has a low deductible or none at all. That means you’ll usually get back more from your insurer if you file a claim. What does scheduled personal property cover?
Scheduled personal property coverage is for individual items that are unique, valuable or irreplaceable. Covered items might include:
- Jewelry and furs.
- Fine art.
- Silverware.
- Collectibles and antiques.
- Musical instruments.
- High-end electronics and cameras.
- Firearms.
- Bicycles.
Do you need scheduled personal property coverage?
Consider buying scheduled personal property coverage if:
- You own a single item that’s worth at least $2,000 (vehicles excluded).
- You travel with expensive belongings, such as high-end cameras or bicycles.
- You collect rare or valuable things.
If your stuff is standard or inexpensive, you probably don’t need this coverage.
If you do have expensive belongings, consider how much it would cost you to replace them if they were stolen, lost or damaged. Compare that against the cost of adding scheduled personal property coverage to your policy. That varies by insurer, but you can generally expect to insure the item for 1% to 2% of its value. For example, it could cost $50 to $100 a year to insure a $5,000 ring.
Blanket coverage vs. scheduled personal property
An alternative to scheduled property coverage is blanket coverage. What’s the difference?
The main difference is that blanket coverage combines all of your valuable items under a single limit without the need to list or appraise each item individually. However, a per-item limit may apply. With scheduled personal property coverage, the policy insures individual items to their full replacement cost.
Say you want to cover an engagement ring worth $15,000 and a watch valued at $10,000. Here’s how each type of coverage could work:
Blanket coverage
- Total coverage limit: $30,000.
- Per-item limit: $10,000.
- Appraisal: Not required.
With this policy, the watch is fully covered. However, the ring is underinsured by $5,000.
Scheduled personal property
- Limit for ring: $15,000.
- Limit for watch: $10,000.
- Appraisal: Required.
With this policy, both items are fully covered for their appraised values.
Blanket coverage may be a good option if you have a collection of semi-valuable items but none of them is particularly expensive.
How to get scheduled personal property coverage
If you think you need scheduled personal property coverage, here’s what you should do:
1. Get your insurance policy documents and look at the sublimit categories in the personal property coverage section. This will help you identify which of your belongings may be underinsured.
2. Collect information about each expensive item to prove its value. This could include the purchase price, model and serial number.
3. Contact your insurer and ask about adding a scheduled personal property endorsement to your current policy. Your insurer may request documentation such as receipts, photographs and appraisals.
4. Once you provide your insurer with that documentation and pay your premium, your coverage will begin.
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