Don’t Unwrap a Coverage Problem: Insuring Your Gifts

Are you one of the people from the car commercials who will find a surprise in the driveway with a big bow on it Christmas morning? For most of us, the answer is probably not, but just like you’d insure a new car, you may want to look into insuring some other gifts this holiday season. Certain gifts, such as cars, obviously require their own insurance policy, but sometimes it’s not always as clear.

Most of the gifts that you find in their stockings or under the tree will be covered by your homeowners or renters insurance, but there are a few gifts that may be exceptions to that. Trusted Choice^® independent insurance agents encourage you to review your insurance if you unwrap one of these gifts this year:

Jewelry
Jewelry is a popular gift item every year, and on top of the value of each piece, a jewelry collection can have a value of thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars. On a homeowners insurance policy there may be a limit of $2,000 or less on the amount of coverage for jewelry. A diamond ring and a pair of pearl earrings may put you over that limit. With jewelry it’s important that you know how much your gift (and other pieces) are valued at, and whether it exceeds the limits in your policy. If it does exceed the limit, consider adding what’s known as a “valuable articles floater” to your homeowners policy.

Collectibles & Memorabilia
Whether it’s the baseball card from your favorite player’s rookie year, the autographed “Rolling Stones” album cover or the rare stamp your philatelist father-in-law has been searching for, collectibles and memorabilia can have significant value, either as an individual item or as part of a larger collection. For some collections, listing or “scheduling” the items on your homeowners insurance policy will provide sufficient coverage. For some collections though it may make more sense to obtain a separate policy- for items like art, antiques, musical instruments and coin collections, a Fine Arts and Valuable Items policy may be available for added peace of mind.