What is the total value of all your possessions? Chances are you have many belongings – all of which should be protected by personal property insurance. Without coverage, you are at risk of losing those items to fire, theft, and other loss-inducing events. Fortunately, personal property coverage is a part of most homeowners, renters, and condo-owner’s insurance policies. However, it should be reviewed and updated periodically to ensure you continue to be fully protected against potential loss.
Understanding Your Coverage
Personal property coverage is subject to the deductible and coverage limits you select. In the case of condo-owners and renter’s insurance, you may need to determine your limits on your own. With homeowner’s insurance, the insurance may include personal property coverage worth up to 50 percent of the structural coverage by default. However, you can increase these limits if you wish, and you should increase them if the value of your possessions exceeds your existing coverage caps.
Taking a Home Inventory
A home inventory can be a valuable resource if you ever experience a loss event. In those situations, it can be difficult to recall everything you owned and lost. An inventory offers easy reference and documentation to help accelerate the claims process. It can also help you calculate how much coverage you need to protect your belongings.
You can start a home inventory by listing all your items room by room and sorting them into categories like apparel, furniture, electronics, and jewelry. Don’t forget the things you keep stored elsewhere other than inside home. It may help to take pictures of your belongings, write down serial numbers, and keep track of any receipts you have for your purchases. The Insurance Information Institute recommends recording your inventory in a cloud-based system for easy access from any Wi-Fi enabled device.
Adding It Up
Personal property coverage usually has one total limit and several smaller subsidiary limits for certain categories of items like firearms and jewelry. It is important to consider not only the total value of all your belongings but also the total value of your belongings in those special coverage categories. If you think you are underinsured for those items, an agent at our office can help you add scheduled coverage to your policy that better suits your needs.
Next, verify the type of personal property coverage you have. An unendorsed homeowners policy will likely have actual cash value coverage by default, which only covers the depreciated value of your items. If you are a Philleo Agency customer, you can rest assured knowing that we nearly always add an endorsement to your policy that will increase your coverage to include full replacement cost for items of the same or comparable value.
However, if you have a collection of guns jewelry, or other collectibles, there are likely limitations on your coverage. To ensure your collectables are properly covered, check with your agent.
If you haven’t updated your home inventory or reviewed your personal property insurance lately, there is no better time than now to get started. Give us a call at our office for more information about how you can better insure your personal belongings for 2018 and beyond.