Diamond Ring Insurance

[sclawrenc]

Hello PriceScope community. I am looking to switch my insurance company and my potentially new insurer doesn’t offer jewelry coverage so I’m shopping around.

I know GemSafe is no longer valid, and I spoke with Ralph C who used to sell GemSafe, and he said AXA, Gemshield and Chubb are now good choices.

Anyone have any suggestions or feedback? I looked at jewelers mutual and they were very expensive.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ctsamg]

Jewelers mutual and lavalier

 

[sclawrenc]

Jewelers mutual and lavalier

Thanks. Jewelers mutual and lavalier were both the same price which was about double my home insurance scheduled property.

Anyone have experience with the three Ralph mentioned?

 

[denverappraiser]

Depending on your location and value, Chubb is typically about twice Jewelers Mutual. Last I checked, they would not write stand-alone jewelry policies. Every AXA policy I've seen has also been significantly more than JM although they have very loyal customers who feel they are worth it.

 

[sclawrenc]

Depending on your location and value, Chubb is typically about twice Jewelers Mutual. Last I checked, they would not write stand-alone jewelry policies. Every AXA policy I've seen has also been significantly more than JM although they have very loyal customers who feel they are worth it.

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate the insight.

Anyone have specific experiences with GemShield? There quotes online were 30-40% less than Jewelers Mutual.

 

[Dmndsr4evr11]

I just went with JM. It is more expensive than what my agent quoted to go on my homeowner’s by $41. I opted to have the standalone than getting attached to my homeowner’s. Plus, I wouldn’t have the freedom to choose my own jeweler for replacement if I went with my homeowner’s.

 

[sclawrenc]

I just went with JM. It is more expensive than what my agent quoted to go on my homeowner’s by $41. I opted to have the standalone than getting attached to my homeowner’s. Plus, I wouldn’t have the freedom to choose my own jeweler for replacement if I went with my homeowner’s.

Thanks for your response. I might contact JM for a quote over the phone to see if there is anyway they can get the premium down a little.

I’m still interested if anyone has any experience with Ralph and/or GemShield.

 

[Lykame]

Hi!

I have also been going through the process of trying to find insurance for the ring I will be getting. I cannot help with the company, as I am based in England, but I've realised a few things as I've been going through companies that is helping me weed down the choices. I'll share some of my thoughts with you, sorry if you've already identified them. If anyone has similar thoughts for me then I'm willing to hear them! Some of the things I want are very important to me and make me forgive higher premiums.

So for example:

• I spent a lot of time looking at the list of exclusions and talking with the customer service about them to ensure I fully understood them.
• There are times when I want to be able to wear my ring on a necklace - some insurance companies flat out say that the only place a ring should be is on your finger or in a safe - that excludes them.
• Some say the safe MUST be bolted down, and also needs a specific cash rating - I don't have that issue but I imagine for some people that's maybe a deal breaker (or perhaps means a new safe!).
• Are any of the items you wish to insure a set? Some companies won't cover sets in a way that is favourable to you.
• Some companies won't do a cash payout if they can't find you an appropriate replacement. If any of your jewellery is branded, will they cover that? What does their 'like-for-like' actually mean? How specifically will they meet your requirements?
• What sort of proof do they need? How often must the pieces be valued? By whom?
• Is there an excess?
• Where will you be covered?

I also am influenced by the customer service before I've even bought the policy - if they're going to be rude and challenging even beforehand, then why would I dream of using them?

In England there is also Companies House, which allows you to look up companies and their financial information, which is open to the public. I don't know if there's something like that in America but it was nice to check out some of the smaller companies on there and reassure myself that they're legitimate and not imminently about to collapse.

Sorry I'm sure many of those things are obvious, but they're things I've learnt in the last few days so figured I would share.

If anyone fancies adding any other useful points please feel free!

 

[sclawrenc]

Thanks a bunch for the detailed and helpful suggestions.

I would like to go with GemShield due to the cost being lower, but I wanted to verify they were legitimate and would actually approve a valid claim if I happen to have one.

Looking to hear from anyone that might have used GemShield successfully or unsuccessfully.

 

[Johnbt]

"for a quote over the phone to see if there is anyway they can get the premium down a little."

The easiest way to reduce any insurance premium is to assume more of the risk yourself => take a larger deductible. Instead of a $100 or $200 deductible (or whatever), make it five or ten times as much.

It works with cars, houses and boats, too. After a few years you've saved enough in premiums to cover the loss of one item. Of course, if we lose my wife's engagement ring it's going to cost me $5,000 and the insurance company $15,000 or $16,000 or so to replace the diamond at Whiteflash. (Or maybe the insurance company gets it whotesale. I dunno, not my problem.)

 

[sclawrenc]

Yes, I agree about the deductible, and thanks for your response.

I was planning on having a $1000 deductible to reduce my premium, but it was still double what my scheduled property coverage currently is. I was playing with the numbers at JM, and it's strange how they calculate the premium. If I put in $30,000, I am quote about $430 with a $1000 ded. If I move it up to $31,000. It goes up $100. Strange...

 

[Dmndsr4evr11]

I am new to JM and mine has 0 deductible. I wonder if I should change it to $1000 deductible. Curious what most people have for deductible.

 

[sclawrenc]

I think it depends on the value of the item being insured and whether or not you could come up with the $1000 quickly if you needed to.

For me, I usually go with the highest deductible possible since it usually works out to my favor through the years unless I have string of bad luck.

I'm talking with GemShield now via email, and so far they seem legitimate.

 

[coda72]

I would rather have a policy with $0 deductible, because if I’m paying premiums and experience a loss, I don’t want to worry about having a deductible. I just purchased a policy through Ralph Cohen and he got me an AXA policy for $360 for $24k coverage. I also got a cash value policy, so that if I experience a total loss, I just receive a check from the insurance company.

 

[Dmndsr4evr11]

I would rather have a policy with $0 deductible, because if I’m paying premiums and experience a loss, I don’t want to worry about having a deductible. I just purchased a policy through Ralph Cohen and he got me an AXA policy for $360 for $24k coverage. I also got a cash value policy, so that if I experience a total loss, I just receive a check from the ins
urance company.

Cash policy sounds good. I don’t think many insurance companies have that as an option.

 

[sclawrenc]

I would rather have a policy with $0 deductible, because if I’m paying premiums and experience a loss, I don’t want to worry about having a deductible. I just purchased a policy through Ralph Cohen and he got me an AXA policy for $360 for $24k coverage. I also got a cash value policy, so that if I experience a total loss, I just receive a check from the insurance company.

How was your experience with Ralph Cohen? I am a bit leery going with an individual online that I do not know much about, but he was very nice via email.

 

[coda72]

He was good to deal with, he’s an insurance broker so he can get you a policy through a number of different companies depending on what type of policy you want and how much you want to spend on a policy.

 

[Lykame]

The easiest way to reduce any insurance premium is to assume more of the risk yourself => take a larger deductible. Instead of a $100 or $200 deductible (or whatever), make it five or ten times as much.

It works with cars, houses and boats, too. After a few years you've saved enough in premiums to cover the loss of one item. Of course, if we lose my wife's engagement ring it's going to cost me $5,000 and the insurance company $15,000 or $16,000 or so to replace the diamond at Whiteflash. (Or maybe the insurance company gets it whotesale. I dunno, not my problem.)

I was planning on having a $1000 deductible to reduce my premium, but it was still double what my scheduled property coverage currently is. I was playing with the numbers at JM, and it's strange how they calculate the premium. If I put in $30,000, I am quote about $430 with a $1000 ded. If I move it up to $31,000. It goes up $100. Strange...

I am new to JM and mine has 0 deductible. I wonder if I should change it to $1000 deductible. Curious what most people have for deductible.

I think it depends on the value of the item being insured and whether or not you could come up with the $1000 quickly if you needed to.

For me, I usually go with the highest deductible possible since it usually works out to my favor through the years unless I have string of bad luck.

I would rather have a policy with $0 deductible, because if I’m paying premiums and experience a loss, I don’t want to worry about having a deductible. I just purchased a policy through Ralph Cohen and he got me an AXA policy for $360 for $24k coverage. I also got a cash value policy, so that if I experience a total loss, I just receive a check from the insurance company.

Hi all.

This is a really interesting series of comments about whether to pay an excess (deductible) or not.

So with my previous ring I investigated insurance and (for me, in England) it was disproportionately expensive at that time. I have to be honest - I didn't insure it for the period of time I owned it (~eight years ish). I can definitely say I saved more than $5k by not having insurance, but it was a risk. I figured if I had the ring for however many years, I would have gathered up the money in a 'pot' and I'd either have that available to get a new ring or I would never need it and that was a pot of money I'd saved to be used on something else. If something had happened in the first year or two I would have been a bit stuffed really and I was lucky nothing ever did. And realistically I didn't actually put aside that money into a 'pot' anyway so where I would have got the money from if something had happened I don't know.

I'm now getting a new ring and I don't have the same attitude - there's no way on earth I could afford to get a new ring if something happened to this ring. I think I would vomit. My new ring is going to be around $21k ish. Equally the insurance I've found and really like is about $300 a year. It has a cash payout if they cannot meet my requirements and covers me worldwide, etc etc. There's no excess.

Not including the fact I'm sure the premium will go up each year with inflation, if I put aside $300 a year for my ring without paying insurance, it would take me 70 years to get the full value of the ring again. Having said that, if I have the insurance for the rest of my life (surely less than 70 more years by now) that's a lot of money I lose. But regardless, I don't think I would enjoy my ring as much if it's not insured so I think I have to take the loss.

However, having to pay an excess - I don't know, if you're already going to pay $300 a year on your insurance and THEN pay an additional $5000 on your excess, that seems really painful. That is so much money lost! I don't know how big a difference in premiums it is and how much you save over time? Would you actually save more than that $5k? Obviously if you never need to claim you've saved something... but how much?

Sorry for my ramblings but I think this is a really interesting topic and I'm interested in what everyone thinks about this.

 

[Dmndsr4evr11]

I don’t know what the right answer is. I never insured my original e-ring. I do now under my homeowner’s after I purchased my first upgrade and converted my original e-ring to a pendant. I plan to move it to JM too along with my other jewelry pieces. I stayed being insured through my homeowner’s with my second upgrade and now this most recent one, I decided to go with standalone. It is expensive, for sure. I have always been careful with my jewelry and have never lost or damaged one and never really thought if insurance in the past. Now, that my current ring is much more expensive than my original e-ring , I feel I better be safe than sorry. I am thinking of adding a deductible though. It will save me about $61 in premium if I change it to $1000 deductible but still on the fence about it.

 

[Dancing Fire]

IMO, Jewelry insurance is a big rip-off. I would cost me like $260 per $10K worth of coverage, and you would need to hire an appraiser to update the policy every 3 yrs?

 

[Lykame]

IMO, Jewelry insurance is a big rip-off. I would cost me like $260 per $10K worth of coverage, and you would need to hire an appraiser to update the policy every 3 yrs?

Yeah it's interesting huh, I also think it's a rip-off. Perhaps my opinion towards getting it is being swayed by the number of posts on here regarding people needing to claim on their insurance. I know the population in here is skewed and that is not representative of normal population information.

At least with things like my car, it's the law to insure and so despite that being a huge money sink (that so far thankfully I've never needed!) there's better competition between companies.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Yeah it's interesting huh, I also think it's a rip-off. Perhaps my opinion towards getting it is being swayed by the number of posts on here regarding people needing to claim on their insurance. I know the population in here is skewed and that is not representative of normal population information.

The money I save from insurance in the past 15 yrs I can easily buy me a very nice 1.5ct stone, and where do I draw the line? should I insure all my watches? I can only wear one watch at a time.

 

[Lykame]

The money I save from insurance in the past 15 yrs I can easily buy me a very nice 1.5ct stone, and where do I draw the line? should I insure all my watches? I can only wear one watch at a time.

Yes it's impossible. I had that attitude with my previous ring. But now if I lost the ring I'm about to get - it would be many years before I could replace it. So I'm equally annoyed at the prospect of the waste of money insurance will be and yet trapped into feeling I currently require it. I suspect that's an issue for most.

 

[Rockdiamond]

My experience with Jewelers Mutual has been exceptional in taking care of their clients.
I think the type of jewelry being insured is very important in this discussion.
If one is insuring a simple four prong solitaire, there are a lot fewer considerations than a high-end pavé ring.
Of course in both cases, protecting the value of the main diamond is crucial- but in the case of expensive pavé, reliable repair is sometimes impossible- requiring an enirely new ring to be built.
We've had many experiences where clients have damaged their DBL high end pavé- in some cases saving their finger when it was closed in a door!
Jewelers Mutual has given the clients the freedom to choose where to fix the ring- and the budget to have the correct remedy to be performed- so we highly recommend them

 

[Dmndsr4evr11]

Yes it's impossible. I had that attitude with my previous ring. But now if I lost the ring I'm about to get - it would be many years before I could replace it. So I'm equally annoyed at the prospect of the waste of money insurance will be and yet trapped into feeling I currently require it. I suspect that's an issue for most.

Agree. That’s how I feel exactly.

 

[SimoneDi]

Ditto what @Rockdiamond said about JM. They are pricey, but excellent to work with.

 

[kmoro]

The money I save from insurance in the past 15 yrs I can easily buy me a very nice 1.5ct stone, and where do I draw the line? should I insure all my watches? I can only wear one watch at a time.

Yes, but you can only say this because nothing happened in 15 years, right? And would be like 15 years of savings ... dear god some of us don’t have that much time left, lol ... it’s a long time.

Yes it's impossible. I had that attitude with my previous ring. But now if I lost the ring I'm about to get - it would be many years before I could replace it. So I'm equally annoyed at the prospect of the waste of money insurance will be and yet trapped into feeling I currently require it. I suspect that's an issue for most.

That’s certainly my situation. I think for me, the decision to insure or not depends on two things 1) how much the item cost and whether I would be able to replace it immediately, and 2) the likelihood of damage or loss.

For example, I have what I consider to be a very expensive diamond in a four prong setting ring that I wear all the time. It would take me eons to part with an equal amount of money should something happen, and if I wear it all the time, who knows what will happen.

I have stud earrings that I wear all the time and could replace immediately if lost, but they’re still not cheap and they are earrings ... I have a good track record of not losing things, but when I do, it’s usually an earring ... especially if they’re the ones I wear all the time.

I have other rings and earrings that are valuable but not insured other than through my homeowners’ insurance. It makes sense to me because the main risk to those items is theft.

Anyway, that’s my thought process when it comes to insurance.

 

[denverappraiser]

IMO, Jewelry insurance is a big rip-off. I would cost me like $260 per $10K worth of coverage, and you would need to hire an appraiser to update the policy every 3 yrs?

This varies with your address and things like claims history, security procedures and total amount of coverage on the policy. Around here, Colorado outside of the county of Denver, rates are closer to $100 for $10k worth of coverage on most items. Denver is a little more but still on the order of half of what you described. The frequency of required inspections will vary with the value of the property. Higher values require more frequent inspections. I think their median is closer to every 5 years than 3. I've seen them stretch to a decade (although I don't recommend this. Much of the appraisal process protects you, not just the insurer). That still may not be a deal you want, and yes they're making a profit on it, but it's usually not as bad as you're describing.

 

[matt_k]

I would rather have a policy with $0 deductible, because if I’m paying premiums and experience a loss, I don’t want to worry about having a deductible. I just purchased a policy through Ralph Cohen and he got me an AXA policy for $360 for $24k coverage. I also got a cash value policy, so that if I experience a total loss, I just receive a check from the insurance company.

Is that an all risk policy? What are the exclusions?