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Insurance Q

calalum
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All-I am thinking of buying insurance for some or all of my collection (and maybe for some of my wife's jewelry). I reached out to the guys who created a program with EWC but am not sure if I am asking the right questions. I have a lot of watches and some high value items, and they generally are at the bank other than when I am wearing one piece or another. My home policy does not cover much in terms of watches or jewelry. I can get a rider but I might need appraisals and other into, which I don't think the EWC program requires. Their premium seems to be around 1% of the insured value.

Any thoughts or advice to share? I am not in a high risk location in general but my house was broken into once and we lost some items.

Thanks.
 
Canuck
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Talk to your insurance company. Items that are typically household (such as furniture, appliances, etc.) are covered under household goods and all you need is lump sum coverage. Items that are NOT typically household (jewellery, watches, furniture, fur coats, paintings, coin collections etc.), you need to assess the types of risk of these items. For items that are not household but never leave the house, you may get by with a personal property floater. A floater will likely cover you for fire and theft, without having to schedule the items and pay high premiums. These floaters may not cover you for “mysterious disappearance” or theft if the items (watches, jewellery, camera equipment, etc.) that you may take with you on vacation. Likewise, a fur coat that is stolen from the cloak room if you are out at a fancy soiree. It’s pretty well up to you to decide how you design your coverage. Premiums on scheduled items cost you a lot more than the premiums on a personal property floater. If you are paying premiums on scheduled items that will be difficult or impossible to replace, you may end up having to take a cash settlement at a considerable discount. You may decide to schedule the really important items, but put the bulk on a floater. You have to decide, but talk to your insurance broker.
 
Evitzee
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Insurance is there to protect you, or your family, from catastrophic harm. That's why we have health, liability, house, auto and life insurance. But your watches and wife's jewelry? Would that cause you catastrophic harm if a burglary or loss occurred? Probably not. In that case you self insure. That's my philosophy on things like that. As always, your personal situation matters, do you live in a high risk area, or more likely, in a low risk area?
 
Dan S
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My biggest fear would be a fire. If I were going to insure my watches, I'd prefer my own insurance company because I'm familiar with how they handle claims. I just have no idea what would actually happen if I made a claim through a policy I bought from EWC or Hodinkee. Maybe your insurance company has some sort of coverage that wouldn't require appraisals. Like paying to increase the overall lump sum limit on jewelry. 1% sounds ok, but also overkill if most of the watches are in the bank.

That said, I have some of my wife's jewelry on a scheduled rider with my homeowner's insurance company at about 1%. It seems like it would be pretty easy for a diamond to fall out of a setting.
 
Speed2Sea
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These days, it’s probably best not to insure your watches through your homeowners policy. If you have to file a claim for a watch or piece of jewelry, they’re apt to cancel your policy after they pay your claim. They will look for any and all exuses. For that reason, I would use a separate insurer.
 
Larry S
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calalum calalum
All-I am thinking of buying insurance for some or all of my collection (and maybe for some of my wife's jewelry). I reached out to the guys who created a program with EWC but am not sure if I am asking the right questions. I have a lot of watches and some high value items, and they generally are at the bank other than when I am wearing one piece or another. My home policy does not cover much in terms of watches or jewelry. I can get a rider but I might need appraisals and other into, which I don't think the EWC program requires. Their premium seems to be around 1% of the insured value.

Any thoughts or advice to share? I am not in a high risk location in general but my house was broken into once and we lost some items.

Thanks.
I put a rider on my home policy. Had to have only one appraisal done.
 
Donn Chambers
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Evitzee Evitzee
Insurance is there to protect you, or your family, from catastrophic harm. That's why we have health, liability, house, auto and life insurance. But your watches and wife's jewelry? Would that cause you catastrophic harm if a burglary or loss occurred? Probably not. In that case you self insure. That's my philosophy on things like that. As always, your personal situation matters, do you live in a high risk area, or more likely, in a low risk area?
I’m in the same boat. If I had something very expensive (say with a value north of $50k) or particularly rare, I might insure it. But I don’t. So, if something were to happen, I would have to use my savings to rebuild the collection - or choose to only get one nice piece and be happy with that. Ultimately, watches are just things and if I lost all of them, I can live without them!
 
vbrad26
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Larry S Larry S
I put a rider on my home policy. Had to have only one appraisal done.
This is what I (well, my wife) did as well.
Don't ask me how much it costs or how it works...that's her department lol.
 
Dan S
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Speed2Sea Speed2Sea
These days, it’s probably best not to insure your watches through your homeowners policy. If you have to file a claim for a watch or piece of jewelry, they’re apt to cancel your policy after they pay your claim. They will look for any and all exuses. For that reason, I would use a separate insurer.
Oh, that's a good point and a scary idea. Because of wildfires here, several insurers are not offering new policies and dramatically cutting back customers. That happened to my neighbor.

Edit: Sometimes they are requiring people to do expensive upgrades, like new roof and siding.
Edited:
 
Speed2Sea
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Dan S Dan S
Edit: Sometimes they are requiring people to do expensive upgrades, like new roof and siding
Absolutely. My sister-in-law had to re-roof her home to keep her insurance policy. I switched my insurance company a couple of years ago, and my new insurer contracted with a drone operator to perform an aerial survey of my property. I raised my deductible to $5,000 because I'm only going to file a claim if I have a significant and sizable claim. It's nuts!
 
Larry S
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Dan S Dan S
Oh, that's a good point and a scary idea. Because of wildfires here, several insurers are not offering new policies and dramatically cutting back customers. That happened to my neighbor.

Edit: Sometimes they are requiring people to do expensive upgrades, like new roof and siding.
Yep two years ago my co left Illinois and I had to buy a roof to get insured at all. Insurance co these days will drop you if you look at em funny.
 
Speed2Sea
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Larry S Larry S
Yep two years ago my co left Illinois and I had to buy a roof to get insured at all. Insurance co these days will drop you if you look at em funny
On the other side of the equation is the rising cost of auto insurance. I was talking to my insurance agent and he said the cost of auto parts and bodywork has increased dramatically. Meanwhile, if a vehicle is totalled in an accident or stolen, the replacement cost is significant with rising auto prices. My brother had his pick-up truck stolen last year and his insurance company had to pay out $120,000.
 
Walrus
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Larry S Larry S
Yep two years ago my co left Illinois and I had to buy a roof to get insured at all. Insurance co these days will drop you if you look at em funny.
So true I had 14 years without a claim one freak flood I was dropped almost had to go with Loyd’s of London. We pay insurance not to use it. I just got penalized as my car was stolen last year luckily the new policy holders decided to have mercy on me.
 
Speed2Sea
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Walrus Walrus
We pay insurance not to use it
Isn't that the truth. God forbid you have to file a claim. Back to my main point, insure your watch and jewelry with a separate company.
 
Evitzee
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I hit a deer last January, car's book value was $12,500, final estimate came in at $8,200 including a new airbag that had gone off, they thought about totaling the car because of the cost but I prevailed upon them to repair it because the car was in perfect condition before the deer strike and I couldn't really replace it (discontinued model). General policy is to total the vehicle if repair cost is more than 75% of the book value. Anyway, they paid the collision shop promptly, after my deductible, and I went on my way. Just got my policy update for the next six months, just a $22 increase in the premium so I wasn't dinged much for the claim. Insurance is there to be used, but I never sweat about the small stuff.
 
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