Valentine’s Day: the ideal time to show that special person in your life how much you care for them.
While some people are quite dismissive of the whole concept, this is nonetheless a time of year for major spending, with over half of British consumers buying something for the big day, according to British Airways. And top of the list for many will be jewellery: engagement rings, necklaces, bracelets and charms are among the main items purchased in February, seeing jewellers in the UK rack up sales in the region of £500 million for the month.
Jewellery is not only a valuable item in monetary terms, it can have real sentimental value, too. For these reasons, ensuring that any items you buy are appropriately insured is of real importance. And there are potential problems here – some more obvious than others.
- Ensuring the correct level of valuables insurance cover is in place
Many home contents policies will specify an inner limit on the amount of jewellery and valuables you will be insured for. This is usually a percentage of the contents sum insured or a nominal inner limit is applied (e.g. maximum total Jewellery is £10,000). Therefore, in the event of a claim, if you discover that your jewellery loss is £20,000, for example, then you could find that only 50% of your claim is paid; or even worse, the claim is repudiated due to underinsurance conditions. It is therefore important that your jewellery and total valuables exposure is adequately defined, and appropriate cover is put into place to avoid such risks.Check your insurance policy and see what inner limits are applied under the contents section, and if any adjustments need to be made. If they do, think carefully about how much cover you would require overall, as it may be worth spending a little more money on a tailored, specialist insurance product that will provide you with the peace-of-mind that all your valuables are insured correctly. - Single item limits
Many home contents policies specify a limit to the amount that can be claimed on insurance for an individual item. Often, the most expensive individual item on a home contents policy can be an item of jewellery.
If you have many items of jewellery or other valuable items – such as paintings or fine wine – then a standard contents policy may not be appropriate to offer the levels of cover that you require. With valuations of items fluctuating, the single item limit might be appropriate at one time, but leave you potentially underinsured at a different time.Check your insurance policy to see what single item limits are applied under your insurance arrangements. A specialist insurance broker can help you to obtain a separate policy to cover these items, and will work with you to ensure all items of value – including new items of jewellery – are appropriately covered, at a reasonable cost. - Personal possessions cover
This is a must for any items of value that will leave your home. Watches, necklaces and bracelets are highly visible when worn – and desirable. Again, making sure that you have appropriate cover here is important – if the limit on your personal possessions is lower than the value of the new items you have purchased, then you could be disappointed should you need to make a claim. - Valuations
Of course, you know how much the item you have purchased is worth now – what you won’t know with any certainty is how much it might be worth a few months, or year, or 5 years down the line. The value of precious metals and gemstones can vary massively over time with market conditions, leaving you potentially underinsured – or equally, you may be over-insured, paying for insurance cover that you don’t actually need.Revaluing items on an ongoing basis can be time-consuming, and costly in its own right. Yet insurers may not offer you the full value of an item if it has not been valued recently; they will often refer to the last known valuation point. This is why ensuring that you have receipts for original purchases and ongoing valuations is of real importance in ensuring you have the right level of insurance cover.
Bollington Insurance offers access to a valuation service that monitors market values, inflation, and similar item prices sold (including auctions) and automatically readjusts the value of your individual items on an ongoing basis. This gives you ongoing peace-of-mind that your items will be insured for their true value – and the service is surprisingly inexpensive.
Leave insuring and valuing your items to the experts. Speak to the Private Clients team at Bollington Insurance on 01625 348 038 today about quality insurance for your high-value items.
