Personal property is included in the standard insurance coverage of a homeowner. This insurance covers your possessions, such as furniture and clothing, inside of a home, and it will pay up to a certain threshold if these items are stolen or destroyed by a covered danger. For important items, such as jewelry, fine art or musical instruments, you may need to augment your policy with a scheduled endorsement of personal property in order to cover the full value of the item.
What is the coverage of personal property scheduled?
Scheduled personal property is a supplemental insurance for homeowners that covers items with a high value that are separate from your personal property. This is because specific items, such as jewelry, watches, artwork and other items, have a limited amount of coverage under the general personal property policy and may not be completely covered if they are stolen or destroyed in a covered claim. Instead, you can choose to have a passenger or supporter contribute to your home insurance through a rider or sponsorship.
Some homeowners insurance companies provide a package that includes increased coverage that doesn’t require an appraisal. If the fundamental policy includes protection against $1,000 in jewelry, such as coverage up to $5,000 for all jewelry items, you may have the option of increasing the coverage to $12,000 or more to include all of the jewelry items. On the other hand, a scheduled personal property endorsement enables you to document your specific high value property with a specific cost associated with each component. You may need to demonstrate the value of this option through an appraisal or proof of purchase. The scheduled personal property endorsement is not mandatory, similar to blanket coverage, and is an extra cost.
What is the scheduled personal property insurance that covers what?
Despite the fact that specific stipulations and exclusions are different by insurance company and type of policy, the majority of homeowners insurance policies prohibit specific items in the standard policy. For instance, if a high value item is taken, there may be a cap of $500 or $1,000 to replace it, and you could be subject to the homeowners policy deductible. However, if you plan your own property, you’re protected for the full value of it both on and off site.
Another advantage of having a scheduled personal property endorsement is that you would have additional coverage under standard personal property insurance. With personal property that is scheduled, you also typically get:
- Accidental coverage of loss, also called lost identity
- Incidental physical damage insurance
- $0 deductible for personal property that is scheduled to be claimed (unless the policyholder chooses a higher deductible).
If you had just lost or misplaced your wedding ring, you would not have been covered by a homeowners insurance policy. However, if it was scheduled, you may be able to recover the cost without paying a tax deductible. Also covered in the policy is personal property that is scheduled, this includes all loss types except those that are explicitly stated as being excluded from the policy’s documents.
The various types of valuables that are covered by personal property insurance.
This list is not intended to be comprehensive, but rather to represent the most common personal assets that are typically valued at their full potential. After confirming that your homeowners insurance policy’s limits were exceeded, consider scheduling these activities if they are greater than the limit:
- Antiques
- Bikes
- Cameras
- Certain devices (laptops, media players, etc.)
- Purchases (cards, coins, stamps, etc.)
- High-end art
- Firearms
- Furs
- Jewelry
- Medical devices
- Musical instruments
- Rugs and tapestries
- Sterling silver or gold
- Sports equipment
Typically, it’s most effective to schedule an item with a high value that isn’t fully covered by a typical homeowners policy. If you possess your wedding ring and are unable to find the diamond, the policy of homeowners will not be applicable to you. However, scheduling your wedding ceremony could instill that type of coverage. It’s your responsibility and your insurance company’s job to figure out what is beneficial to arrange. Many instances, sentimental items that are less valuable may not be worthy of scheduling.
Does it have to be a scheduled event if I want to have my personal property endorsed?
If you have a high-end bike, expensive jewelry or antiquities that are passed down in your family, you may want to consider purchasing scheduled property insurance. Review the policy’s sublimits for these items in your homeowner’s insurance policy in order to determine if any of the listed items is valued more than the sublimits. If you only have insurance for $1,500 in jewelry, but you have $15,000 in assets, you may want to arrange the more expensive pieces or all of them, if you want the larger coverage that comes with scheduled personal property endorsement.
You can also consider insurance that has a higher maximum coverage. For instance, increasing the amount of jewelry covered in the basic homeowners policy from $1,500 to $3,000 on a blanket policy would only require a small alteration. The expense of blankets may be more significant in the cost of the schedule than the scheduling of specific items. However, talk to your insurance company about the items you want to cover under a blanket policy.
If you choose not to arrange your personal property or ins it with a blanket insurance, the claims will be confined to the same insurance type as your homeowners policy. You will also be subject to the policy of homeowners if you file a claim, which will affect the amount of money you receive to replace or repair the object.
