It may seem like it if you visit their site, but Progressive does not offer specialized jewelry insurance. They may offer jewelry “riders” on their renters or homeowners policies, but they do not offer standalone jewelry insurance. And, in our articles about homeowners and renters insurances you will see we highly recommend against relying on renters or homeowners for jewelry coverage.
But why does Progressive let me quote jewelry insurance on their site?
Even though you can quote jewelry insurance on Progressive’s site, they are not the ones that will ultimately underwrite and administer your policy. They have a relationship with a jewelry insurer named Lavalier that covers their jewelry. This is not an uncommon occurrence in the insurance world. In fact, GEICO also makes it looks like they offer jewelry insurance, but their coverage is really through Jewelers Mutual.
There is no real concern here, because Lavalier is a respected jewelry insurer, and Progressive does inform you during the process that the jewelry insurance is provided through a third party. That third party is Lavalier, and they are whose name would be on the policy you sign.
Why do they have this relationship?
Basically this relationship is set up so that Progressive can look like it offers a complete suite of insurance products to its customers, and Lavalier gets the lead generation. There may be a few other bells and whistles behind the scenes that don’t impact you the customer, but that’s effectively the reason. Progressive looks more “robust” and Lavalier gets the leads from a massive P&C company.
The price you’ll pay, whether it’s through Lavalier directly or through Progressive’s process, won’t change. And whichever coverage options you choose would be the same regardless of how you purchase. You may even get the added benefit of paying and reviewing all your Lavalier’s policy documents through Progressive’s site, so you only have to go to one place. But technically speaking, you insured your jewelry through Lavalier.