Chubb Insurance questions

[GIJoeCam]

Well, following the advice of another member here, I called Chubb''s national number to inquire about a policy for the e-ring I''ll be presenting soon. They told me that they will only do a individual jewelry policy if the ring was purchased through Blue Nile or Robbins and that, unless I had a homeowner''s policy through them, I was SOL on that front.

Based on what I read, I thought they did policies without homeowner''s insurance.... Guess not?

Tips? Suggestions?

I also got a quote from my current homeowner''s insurance (MEEMIC): $12 per $1000, but I need the details of the replacement policy too...

-Joe

 

[Jensia]

I just called one of their agents myself today. They told me that unless I have a home valued over 500k, they do not do individual items without homeowners or renters. I rent my home and they quoted me 400 dollars a year for my belongings and jewelery.

Jensia

 

[jaz464]

I went with State Farm and am very happy so far.

 

[Mara]

guys do a search on this...it has come up MANY times...almost everyone who calls chubb directly gets that answer.

certain chubb agents will insure your ring without a home. you have to search on here and find out who.

also consider other jewelry companies, chubb is not the only cash out policy..and some people have had bad experiences with them. but many have had good ones.

there is TONS of insurance information on here, just type in chubb insurance in the search up above and off you go.

search is not used nearly enough around here. not like it''s a huge deal to ask again, but when people have already answered that question fifty times before, it gets a little old!!

good luck...

 

[aphisiglovessae]

Yeah, that''s the common answer you''ll get directly from Chubb and some other agents. You really have to do a lot of calling and researching to find an agent that writes a stand-alone policy, but they''re out there.

 

[sistagrl2004]

did you try William Castro at www.totaldollar.com? I heard he will do one for several states. Never used it myself, but directed people there based on this board. Has his policy changed?

 

[Small]

I''ve talked to Mr Castro myself and he is now only awaiting my appraisal to get me the final numbers. He''s a very nice guy and got back to me very quickly. Don''t know if he''s licensed in your state but I''d recommend giving him a call!

 

[RockDoc]

Just call Bill Castro at www.totaldollar.com 800-962-5259

or Mike Sauer at 800-473-6603

Mike is not licensed in every state check with him.

Bill Castro is listed with a lot of states. Check with him to see if he is licensed in your state.

Both will write the standalone policy.

Rockdoc

 

[Modified Brilliant]

This Chubb policy info appears almost every other week.

RockDoc is providing a useful resource...please make a note of these agents.

I know quite a few Chubb agents and many will not write a stand alone jewelry policy....they want ALL of your business. It is up to the discretion of the agent or agency. That''s been my understanding.

It''s great when you find an agent that will help you out but it''s hit or miss.

www.metrojewelryappraisers.com

 

[sistagrl2004]

Im curious.. do these agents only insure your jewelry when it''s a certain dollar amount? If it''s only for 8-9K will they laugh in your face? My friend had an agent tell her they will only do her policy if her ring was over 20k!

 

[aphisiglovessae]

I think that agent is full of it. My ring isn't worth over 20K and I had it insured through Chubb.

ETA: Maybe that's just HIS made up requirement, but I don't see how he could get much business only insuring rings over 20K. I think that more rings are worth less than that, than over that. But that's just my take on it. I suggest she shop around more for an agent.

 

[Chewie]

I went through this ALL day today

I called 9 Chubb agents (as per the "search" list on their website:

4 said they will NOT give me a standalone policy, 3 did not return my calls, 1 agent was out of business and finally one gave me a very high price ($2.42/$100) for the VA insurance.

So, I gave Bill Castro a call (as per the recommendation of RockDoc and many others). He is in NY, but he got me covered in NJ (all in less than 40 minutes) with a new Chubb policy today

FYI. NJ is a HORRIBLE place to get ANYTHING insured!!! It''s just so damn expensive.

 

[RockDoc]

C''mon GUYS !!!!

Pay attention to what I''ve been writing over and over here.


NOT ALL CHUBB AGENTS ARE EQUAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It appears that readers have the "burning" desire to find someone local to them to write the standalone policy.

If you get a quote from an agent with Chubb, Chubb restricts any other agent from writing the policy. Different agents have varying ability with Chubb to offer their products. NOT ALL AGENTS ARE ABLE TO WRITE THE STANDALONE POLICY. The two agents I''ve repeatedly written about are able to get you what you need without buying other coverages, but if you get a quote from another agent, they CANNOT write your policy.

Some have internal policies that you have to purchase a minimal amount of coverage. I know Flather Perkins sort of requires 10K. Others simply don''t want to bother doing a standalone policy without selling you other products, because it takes a fair amount of their time to write a small policy, and the commissions are low for the jewelry standalone coverage products. It takes them several hours to complete the application, get the needed documents from you, get rates and arrange for the coverages.

I had a client who''s diamond I checked out. He lives in the southern midwest area of the country. His stone was worth about $ 30K . His lives in a small area where everyone knows everyone else. Because he didn''t previously buy any insurance from this agent ( even though they knew each other) he would not write the policy. So fortunately that agent didn''t quote him a rate and Bill Castro got him coverage very expediently and without any BS.

There are various reasons why the agents tell potential customers what they do. Here are the most common:

1) The agent is not knowlegeable about the details of the engagement ring standalone policy product.

2) The agency is a smaller agency with less "binding power" than one that is larger

3) The agent wants to write a more valuable policy as the commission earned doesn''t pay for their time to set up a small policy.

4) The agency wants to keep its loss ratio lower, so they will only place policies if they fell certain that there isn''t going to be a loss.


If you know of an agent who will write policies under Chubb for less than $ 10K post the agent''s name here so as to help everyone.

Rockdoc




In addition, most insurance companies give more latitude with writing policies based on their loss ratio.

 

[Chewie]

Well put... I will add one insurance agent who was willing to get me a standalone Chubb policy as well (he called me back after I had decided to go with Mr. Castro):

WACHOVIA INSURANCE SERVICES, INC.
600 WEST CUTHBERT BLVD
WESTMONT, NJ 08108
Phone: 856-833-2400
Fax: 856-833-2401

Agent: Brian Warchall

He was a great guy, but he came in a slight bight higher than Castro. But, your results may vary.

 

[W2W]

I just insured a pair of earrings through a Chubb stand alone policy. I called chubb and told them that I was not able to find an agent who would honor their stand alone policy. I called 5 agents who gave me a variety of excuses. (One agent even said that they would only insure me if I added my engagement ring which I have not received yet). Chubb gave me a number to call and I found my wonderful agent, Ryan. He bound my policy that day and I later sent him a verification letter for my earrings. By the way, I insured $6800 earrings for $127/yr and I live in a somewhat urban area. Unfortunately, his number is in my office roladex. I will try to remember to post his contact info on Monday.

 

[dani13]

There is also an agent (Georgia Moschonas) who works for an insurance co. in the D.C. area( Flather & Perkins)-that is who my FI and I worked with and she was very helpful with our standalone Chubb policy..

 

[GIJoeCam]

In response to Mara specifically, I did search. I figured it was a rather common question, but could not find a clear-cut answer. If I had found the answer, I would not have asked.

(Maybe from now on I''ll just start every one of my posts with "I already searched")

However, thanks to the formatting of the search engine, I don''t have the time to search all 300 listings for the more recent discussions on the subject (attempts to restrict the search to discussions only within the last year were futile... no idea why??). Of the first three pages of search results, only three were last replied to recently (in the last 3 months), none of which addressed the specific question I asked. Most of the posts in those first three pages recommended two things:

--''Call so-and-so who''s in [name the city nowhere remotely near me]''. I noticed that the majority of those posts were a year old or more.
--Call the number for the main office and deal directly with them as they can do it.

So, as I already posted, I chose the second option, based on the recommendation of other users here and received the response above.

[on a side note, I didn''t think I needed to explain all that to ask the question. Apparently EVERYone should already know the answer, since you know the answer. Please recognize the fact that those of us who are new to purchasing expensive jewelry do not yet share in that knowledge and turn to forums like this find the answers members like you hold. We should not be chastized for seeking said enlightenment. If the information was readily available (or posted in the FAQ section) threads like this would end with a simple re-direct to the appropriate information.]

[rant mode off]


Now, as RockDoc suggested and some of you already did, if you know of a Chubb agent that will write a stand-alone jewelry policy, please post it here to help out myself and others.

Admins: Maybe we could start a running list in the FAQ section (the very first place I looked, by the way) of the popular insurance companies that insure valuables as stand-alones. (It would be pretty pointless to list those that only do valuables with homeowners policies because that list is pretty much everyone else)

-Joe

 

[RockDoc]

Date: 3/17/2006 8:07:46 PM
Author: miumi
I just insured a pair of earrings through a Chubb stand alone policy. I called chubb and told them that I was not able to find an agent who would honor their stand alone policy. I called 5 agents who gave me a variety of excuses. (One agent even said that they would only insure me if I added my engagement ring which I have not received yet). Chubb gave me a number to call and I found my wonderful agent, Ryan. He bound my policy that day and I later sent him a verification letter for my earrings. By the way, I insured $6800 earrings for $127/yr and I live in a somewhat urban area. Unfortunately, his number is in my office roladex. I will try to remember to post his contact info on Monday.

As far as the e ring statement by the other agent. Chubb generally "requires" you to insure an engagement ring initially. Once you''ve done that you can add any other items such as necklaces, bracelets, watches and the like to the policy coverage.

Chubb does have several type of policies for jewelry. You may have gotten a policy type that doesn''t require insuring an engagement ring. The engagement ring program they have does vary a bit from the Valuable Articles Coverage type, but I am not aware of the differences, and that is something a licensed agent should explain.

Rockdoc

 

[RockDoc]

Date: 3/17/2006 9:45:13 PM
Author: Dani
There is also an agent (Georgia Moschonas) who works for an insurance co. in the D.C. area( Flather & Perkins)-that is who my FI and I worked with and she was very helpful with our standalone Chubb policy..

I''ve talked with Georgia, who by the way is also a gemologist. She did mention to me she didn''t want to write policies under 10K so since Mike Sauer/Dave Stone, and Bill Castro will make an effort to do this, I''ve sort of mentioned them.

Georgia is very professional, and I have high regard for Flather Perkins.

Rockdoc

 

[RockDoc]

Some new updated information .................



For Chubb agents that are licensed in many of the states, there is sort of a "problem" developing.

Many states only require the agency to be insured in their state, when the agent is domiciled in a different state. A new wriinkle has come about in that some of the states will require the agent to be insured as well ( I could have this "backwards")

But there may be some temporary quirks with some non-resident agents selling in areas where they are not licensed or the license for the agency expires until an agent is licensed as well.

So some Chubb agents who are licensed in all of the states, may have some temporary issues with this.

Rockdoc

 

[familystone]

I just wanted to let everyone know that I just got off the phone with William Castro at Total Dollar Insurance and he couldn''t have been more friendly and helpful.

He was able to issue me a standalone Chubb policy for my fiance''s engagement ring and we live in Hoboken New Jersey.

-Dave

 

[Mara]

FS there is actually another thread from last week which has great information on how to be insured through Chubb standalone...there are a few agents around the US who can do standalones and we hear more about them every week it seems! I got my Chubb standalone policy through Carla Yanese in SF.

 

[sfritz]

Rockdoc posted: Many states only require the agency to be insured in their state, when the agent is domiciled in a different state. A new wriinkle has come about in that some of the states will require the agent to be insured as well ( I could have this "backwards")
-----

An insurance agent must have a resident or nonresident agent license in every state where he or she sells. Insurance is regulated based on the requirements of each state insurance department... all 50 of them. The same is true for admitted insurance carriers. We must be licensed in all states in which we do business.

Sue Fritz
Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company