How did you insure, home owners or private?

[royalasschergirl]

hey everyone! My boyfriend and I have selected a stone and setting (Royal Asscher 2.63 H VS1) and at some point soon it will go into production and hopefully i''ll be receiving it in the next few months. Since it is currently in the hands of the jeweler, we haven''t decided on insurance yet, but know we''ll have to make that decision soon. How have you all handled insurance, and what would you recommend? We initially thought we''d put it on our home owner''s insurance with a policy rider for full replacement, etc., but I thought i saw a post recently about people insuring privately through Chubb or AIG? Is there a special benefit of doing it a certain way, is one way more beneficial? Thanks for your thoughts, this is a big decision!

 

[Regular Guy]

I was deciding between stand alone state farm, or my home owners insurance, Nationwide. I ended up going with the latter largely because it was easy...though I am paying a slight premium to do so. Though with both firms I could have an agent to work with, with homeowners, I could fax the appraisal document from the appraisers office and have immediate coverage. Also, the rider would always be just paid automatically from the money already being automatically paid for insurance, and as I''m bad at monitoring bills and things (using auto pay extensively)...it was easy to do this.

 

[AChiOAlumna]

I have an addedum jewelry policy to my home owner''s insurance just for my ring and my earrings that my husband gave me for my graduation...

 

[mrssalvo]

I too have my jewerely covered on my home owner''s insurance. my policy will cover retail value at the time of loss and let me choose the replacement which is fine with me. I just needed a very detailed descripion of what i was insuring, basically, all the specs on my stone.

 

[fire&ice]

I insure with my homeowners. As Regular Guy states, it''s easier. The reason some choose Chubb is because they have a cash out policy. I have the same arrangement with my insurer. And, if I have a loss, I just want to be made whole again. That''s what insurance is for.

 

[royalasschergirl]

thanks everyone! that''s great - it sounds like there''s not much benefit to going to the trouble of using an outside vendor, you can use your home owner''s and get all the bells and whistles necessary! Thank you!

 

[jellybean]

My homeowners insurance is with State Farm but I elected to get a "personal items" separate policy from them. If I put it on the homewoner''s, it only covered replacement value, where the personal items policy was a cash out policy. It was slightly more (like $10/year) to do it that way but I thought it would be easier. What''s nice about the personal items policy is that it is not just for jewelry, but for computers, etc.

 

[bobswench]

I chose Chubb because they''ll cut a cheque for the appraised value.

 

[Regular Guy]

We can link in Robin & Todd''s complaint, include Fed Ex, and most purposely add in the insurance agents, and add them to the lawyer jokes they have (round them all up and....)

What an ironic job, after all. It''s a product that when you want it/need it the most, your agent might prefer not to know you. Isn''t it in the nature of the product itself? Recall the classic skit on SNL when the guys cued up to provide their claim, and asked whats in their car...after pausing...reported: Golf Clubs.

We''ve heard it reported over & over here with Chubb. Recently, Al spoke reasonably about the need for consumers to shop wisely, asking to discern between cash out versus replacement. In this thread, see reported....

Date: 4/8/2005 11

3:17 AM
Author: jellybean
My homeowners insurance is with State Farm but I elected to get a ''personal items'' separate policy from them. If I put it on the homewoner''s, it only covered replacement value, where the personal items policy was a cash out policy. It was slightly more (like $10/year) to do it that way but I thought it would be easier. What''s nice about the personal items policy is that it is not just for jewelry, but for computers, etc.

When I shopped for insurance, I considered State Farm specifically, calling several agents. One guy...initially I spoke with his assistant...she was mindful of their personal items policy, but he seemed to treat it "uniquely," as though there was a homeowner''s policy in place, with a substantive deductible, cash payment if a loss...and then, when he learned I had a loss, and was now looking to insure my wife''s replacement engagement ring, he knew as much about me as he wanted to know, and refused to "serve me," describing the previous loss as the cause.

Another agent described the "personal items" policy in what I understand as how it is more routinely administered...and only describing it as a replacement policy. There was no indication that a cash out option existed. And, she sent me the brochure on the policy, which was supposed to describe these things, right? I did almost go with this replacement cost policy, but decided not to, for the reasons described above. But, in planning to do so, the way I was going to treat the appraisal was going to be sort of odd, too. We agreed (before having the ring appraised) that the appraisal would be at an amount probably higher than it cost me to replace it for. She said it would be "up to me" how much to appraise it for, understanding that, in seeking a replacement of equal value, I would be constrained by the lowest amount set by the insurance amount...i.e., I should set if for no less than what I paid for it, if I wanted it replaced.

If there''s a question here...it''s...what should consumers look for with insurance, to get what they want, and to make sure in a reasonable way it will be executed consistent with what''s been stated. I suppose if it''s in writing, you can hold your agent to it. It seems like (perhaps reasonably?) the insurer''s agents are charged with sizing their clients up, and acting on behalf of the company to just do whatever makes sense.