Should I get jewelry insurance before I propose?
Attention all future grooms! If you were proactive in buying the engagement ring or had one handed down to you from a relative, you may be forgetting something really important. The insurance!
Now, you may assume you’re covered through your renters or homeowners insurance. But you’re not! If you were to file a claim, you will almost certainly be sadly disappointed.
What type of insurance should I get?
What you want to buy is something called specialized, or standalone, jewelry insurance. The reason being is that it’s much more comprehensive than your renters or homeowners insurance – even if you get an additional jewelry “rider” on those policies. Standalone insurance is not much more than adding a rider, which isn’t even as comprehensive. The typical annual premium for standalone is around 1-3% of your jewelry’s appraised value.
When it comes to jewelry, many people think their homeowner’s or renter’s insurance will cover their jewelry in full for any loss, theft, or damage. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. The truth is, most homeowners and renters policies have low caps on jewelry coverage. It’s typically between $1,500 to $2,500! This means that if your engagement ring is worth more than that, you will be responsible for paying the difference. And to add insult to injury, you’ll also be on the hook for whatever your policy’s deductible is. Standalone jewelry insurance covers the full appraised amount, and can regularly have low to no deductibles.
Another factor to consider is that relying on your homeowners or renters insurance, even with a rider, is tying your jewelry coverage to everything else. So if you file a claim for your ring only, your whole policy’s premium is likely to increase. With a standalone policy, a claim doesn’t impact any other premiums.
Furthermore, homeowners and renters policies, even with jewelry riders often have more restrictive coverages than specialized jewelry insurance. This means you may not be covered for certain damages or losses that you would be on standalone jewelry insurance.
Summing it all up
If you’re holding a ring (or even just the diamond) before you propose, be sure that it’s covered. Buying standalone jewelry insurance is the most thorough way to ensure that you are.
If possible, you will also want to see if you can add your future spouse to the coverage when you purchase the insurance. Because when you propose (and effectively give away the ring) another interesting situation occurs. By nature of the ring not being in your possession, your policy, if it’s only in your name, will not cover a loss, damage or theft that occurs when it’s in your fiance’s possession. So make sure to get your future fiance’s name on the policy if possible. If not, as soon as you propose, you should call up the insurer and have the name switched from you to your fiance.
Getting the ring and proposing is a really cool time in your life. Be sure you’re covered if something happens to it!
Who sells it? If you’re looking for standalone insurance companies, you’re going to hear different names. Names that you’re not as familiar with in the insurance world. Well known jewelry insurance companies are: Jeweler’s Mutual, Brite.co, Lavalier, Gemshield, Wax, Chubb, JIBNA, and Zillion. If you’d like more information on these insurers, you can visit their sites, or check out Treasure Protect’s blog article: Which companies sell standalone jewelry insurance? Understand that not all of these companies deal directly with consumers. Some you may run across through independent brokers or agents, or even jewelers that sell them.