Does My Home Insurance Cover All My Valuables?

It is really important to understand your homeowner’s policy when it comes to personal items. Most people including myself think that as part of their homeowner’s policy all of the items in the house are fully covered by that policy. I recently sat down with Mark Slepak from State farm Insurance in Scottsdale Arizona and found out that this isn’t correct. “Personal items like jewelry, guns, coins etc. need to be insured by a completely separate policy to get replacement value coverage. For example if you have a watch that is worth $5000 your current homeowner’s policy might only cover $1500 of it. In order to get the full replacement value you will need to have a personal items policy”.

One of the good things about a personal items policy is you list every item and the value of each item and that total is the total value of the policy coverage. You can then pick out the amount of deductible you want and that determines how much you will need to pay per month for that policy and coverage.

There are some other requirements that may be needed in order to get you the full amount of coverage on your personal items policy. For example if you are insuring larger items like golf clubs, musical instruments etc. you may want a
home alarm to possibly get you a reduction in your policy premium. If you are
insuring smaller items like watches, jewelry, guns etc. you may be asked to
purchase a safe to get the full value of coverage. It is my recommendation that
you contact your insurance company to find out if you need a personal items
policy. Also be sure to ask them if you will need to purchase a safe to get your full value of coverage.