What is Classed as a ‘Valuable’?
Most insurers make a distinction between ‘valuables’ and other ‘items’ in your home. Jewelry, watches, works of art, and items made of precious materials like gold are often classed as valuables. But, other items like musical instruments, audio equipment, and computers might also be valuable to you, as well. However, such might not be classified as ‘valuables’ unless you tell the insurer otherwise.
Generally, an item ought to be considered valuable if its cost of replacement exceeds the cover limit applied to your home contents’ insurance. In such a case, you can ask your insurer to cover that item separately, which will prompt for an additional cost.
If you have a home contents’ coverage, you should look into it and check its limits. You might find that there’s a limit for ‘valuables’ that’s separate to the limit applying to the contents coverage. It’s also likely that the insurance company has a limit on how much they would pay out for any one item. This is often referred to as the ‘single item limit’.
Sometimes called insurance ‘floaters,’ California Jewelry & Valuables Insurance is an additional coverage, designed to cover your fine art, jewelry, antiques, wine, coins or nearly any collectible with limits above and beyond what your homeowners policy can offer. These are for individual items of significant value. You can list each item and the amount you need to insure it for. Appraisals might be required to determine value of these items.
A good idea is to go through all rooms in your house, listing the contents and giving them a respective value. This will help when you buy your New York Jewelry & Valuables Insurance policy. Pay careful attention to fine artwork, jewelry, and high-value technology items. Remember, you should calculate each item’s replacement value.
Of course, it might not be possible to get a replacement for the exact item in some cases. For instance, it’s impossible to replace sentimental, valuable items such as jewelry gifted to you or family heirlooms. In such instances, the insurance company may offer cash settlement, instead.
What Does New York Jewelry & Valuables Insurance Cover?
Believe or not, your homeowners insurance policy has limits on the type amount coverage for your valuables. Not only that – if you file a claim, you will have to pay a deductible and it will count as a claim against your home policy and can increase your premium for years to come. That’s is why you should consider a New York Jewelry & Valuables Insurance policy.
Following are some items that can you can get ‘floater’ or increased amounts of coverage on, beyond the limits of your homeowners policy:
- Jewelry & engagement rings
- Silverware, china & crystal
- Antiques
- Cameras
- Computers
- Musical instruments
- Golf Equipment
- Furs
- Guns
- Fine art
- Stamp & coin collections
- Bicycles
- Trophies
- Sound equipment
- Sports equipment
Most of these polices offer a zero ($0) deductible option, which means your are not out of pocket for anything for a covered loss. They can also extend coverage for different types of losses, like if the diamond in your engagement ring falls out of the prongs and you don’t know where it went.
What New York Jewelry & Valuables Insurance Doesn’t Cover
New York Jewelry & Valuables Insurance typically does not cover intentional damage or destruction of property.
How Much is your Jewelry Really Worth?
The price of precious metals, like gold and silver varies hugely. Case in point, the price of gold has risen by over 150% in just the past 10 years. Art, antiques, and other collectibles vary in value, as well, according to the prevailing economic and market conditions.
It makes sense to get such valuables appraised every few years. Outdated values can end up costing you more if you jewelry is over valued, and if undervalued and you file a claim – you might not get back the items full value. Upon valuation, you might realize that the replacement cost of a treasured piece of jewelry exceeds the single item limit. Getting your valuables valued prior to taking out an insurance policy will help ensure that they’re insured for the correct amount. It’s highly advisable that you have expensive jewelry appraised after every two years by an accredited jeweler.
How Much Does New York Jewelry & Valuables Insurance Cost?
How much does New York Jewelry & Valuables Insurance cost? The average price of New York Jewelry & Valuables Insurance is usually very affordable. The premiums vary depending on the company and their underwriting rules, and it depends on the amount coverage selected.
The cost can vary, depending on several factors. These include the value of what you’re insuring, the insurer you consult, and where you reside. But, the cost of coverage may be as little as 1-5% of the item’s value.
Jewelry & Valuables Insurance Quotes
Request a New York Jewelry & Valuables Insurance quote in Anaheim, Bakersfield, Chula Vista, Concord, Corona, Elk Grove, Escondido, Fontana, Fremont, Fresno, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Glendale, Hayward, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Lancaster, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Modesto, Moreno Valley, Oakland, Oceanside, Ontario, Orange, Oxnard, Palmdale, Pasadena, Pomona, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, Roseville, Sacramento, Salinas, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santa Clarita, Santa Rosa, Simi Valley, Stockton, Sunnyvale, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Vallejo, Victorville, Visalia and all other cities in .
The New York Department of Insurance
The Dept. of Insurance is the regulatory agency behind the insurance rules for the state of New York . If you want to understand these rules, then this is definitely the agency that you need to focus on. Let’s start with limits within the state.
New York Minimum Insurance Limits
- For auto insurance, New York requires $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident.
- For life insurance, there are certain regulations in place to determine how someone is able to get or offer life insurance, but there are no limits listed.
- For commercial insurance, insurance agents may offer broker or casualty insurance as well as covered property insurance, covered causes of loss, specified perils and open perils along with a number of coverage forms like builder’s risk, legal liability, building ordinance, glass, peak season, inflation guard and peak element.
Insurance Regulations
As for regular insurance regulations there are a lot of things that New York provides that you can look up. For example, there are deadlines for the insurer to pay the claim or deny it, deadlines for submitting paperwork to prove a loss for insurance reimbursement, specific information your insurance company is required to give you and regulations on what information you have to provide to your insurance company.
One of the New York regulations calls for you to be treated by your insurance company in good faith. This means that your insurer must be considered of your needs and must communicate completely and honestly with you about your policy and everything that you need to know about it in order to make a good decision. In turn, you are legally obligated to be honest and cooperative with your insurance company when it comes to your claim.
You should also be aware that your insurance company is required to offer prompt, honest and complete communications. The company and all of its representatives must respond to your communications within 15 calendar days with a complete response based upon the facts that are known.
Finally, be aware that your insurance company is required to have a fair claims process. Unless it is specified in your policy, you do not have to use the forms that are provided to you by your insurance provider in order to make a claim. You can create a list of losses on your own if you need to. In addition, insurers are not able to ask for unreasonable proof of loss. If you provide photographic evidence or video of items that you lost, insurers are not able to ask you to provide additional information.