Protection for Your Valuable Belongings
Your grandmother’s platinum ring, your brand new HDTV, and your antique book collection are cherished assets that require special care and attention. Many homeowners fall into the trap of thinking that if these precious items are in the home, they are automatically covered by home insurance. Unfortunately, this simply isn’t the case. Many valuable belongings will require additional coverage if you want to protect them in their entirety.
Almost all homeowners have wisely taken out the basic precaution of getting home insurance that protects the property from catastrophic loss from fire, theft, vandalism, natural disasters, and more. Although these policy types protect against losses on the standard contents of the home, every policy has its limits.
Items of high value, such as jewelry, fine art, antiques, collections, electronic equipment, cameras, musical equipment, and more are all examples of belongings that may be at risk under many standard home policies. Fortunately, there are easy ways to insure your most valuable possessions.
Start by taking a home inventory, documenting each item in your home and recording its worth. You may need to take special items to an appraiser for an accurate record of the value. If you already have a home inventory, review it. Certain items may need to go back to the appraiser. For example, precious stones in jewelry often acquire value over time. If the last time you conducted a home inventory was a couple of years ago, now is the time to understand the true value of your belongings.
Most home insurance policies provide contents coverage up to a certain limit. If the total value of your belongings supersedes this limit, it’s important to acquire additional coverage. Called an endorsement or a floater, the added insurance is specifically for that collection of baseball cards, diamond necklace, or latest sound system, which must be listed and described.
Not sure if a home insurance endorsement is for you? Contact the experts at Nahai Insurance and we’ll help decide if this coverage is a good fit for your belongings.