4 replies to this topic

[sam008]

Folks

I need to insure my ring - I have no homeowner's or renter's insurance - possibly will buy a home over the next 6 months though

Should I start off with some company like Touchstone insurance or can someone recommend me their favorite insurance providers? Not sure if all are the same

Thank you

[LaurieH]

I HIGHLY recommend a company called Jewelers Mutual, which specializes in only insuring jewelry. They're good to work with and their policy costs are reasonable. If you do end up getting a house in a few months or whatever, you can always then check with your home insurer to see what coverage for your item would cost (rider, or whatever, depending on how much your ring is worth), and go with whoever is less expensive for comparative policy value. Then again, it might be something that you want to keep as a separate policy so that if anything were ever to happen to it, you wouldn't have to file it as a claim against your house policy, and potentially get a rate hike. That, of course, is entirely on your preferences and however the insurer conducts things after a claim.

In the meantime--for goodness sake--get some insurance coverage for where you live! If the recent tornadoes in various places in the country have taught us nothing else, it's that anything can happen anywhere. Make sure your butt is covered!

[denverappraiser]

Insurance rates vary wildly from state to state, city to city and company to company as well as with the details of your policy. There are considerably more variables than just the premium.

Touchstone is an agent that represents Chubb and Gemshield. Both are good companies although they appeal to rather different markets and they are a fine agency. Gemshield is a rather direct competitor to JM that Laurie is mentioning above and is underwritten by one of the huge multi-nationals. I forget which one but it gives them a stability that you otherwise wouldn't expect from a company you've never heard of. By all means get a bid from them. www.touchstoneinsurance.com.

I"ve been a JM client for years (decades actually) and have been very happy with them.
you can look them up at www.jewelersmutual.com

[sam008]

Guys

Do I have to get re-insured every 2 years? My ring was sold to me for $12k - the store also wrote up an insurance appraisal for $18k. I also went to a NAPA appraiser who put it down at $15k

I wonder if I should go with the higher value one given - I probably don't need to if I am going to have to get an appraisal every 2 years and re-insure because the value won't increase by such a large amount

I also understand that should the ring get lost, the insurance company replaces it with a similar ring and does not pay out in cash

Thanks

[davidelevi]

The most important thing insurance-wise is that the description based on which the insurance company covers the article is as complete as possible. As you note, they won't give you money; they will give you another item of "like quality and kind" based on the description. On the other hand, the premium that you pay will be proportional to the amount you insure.

We know - from your other thread - that the price you paid is competitive with online retailers, and give or take this is what the insurance will be able to pay for any replacement. If I were you, I'd insure for the lower value, and every 3-5 years take a look at the price of similar diamonds and update cover if necessary.