Birthdays, anniversaries, or “just because”—all great reasons to give a fabulous gift to that special someone in your life. After the initial excitement wears off, don’t forget that if you give (or receive) a valuable gift, you will likely need some special insurance coverage to protect it from loss, theft or other damage.

In order to make sure that your valuable gift is covered, you need to evaluate two things. First, do you have the right amount of coverage (is your coverage limit sufficient to replace your valuable item)? And second, are all of the potential risks, or causes of loss, covered?

Personal property is typically placed into certain categories of coverage within your standard homeowners insurance policy. And each of those categories has a standard coverage sublimit within your policy. Jewelry, for example, often has a sublimit of around $2,000. If you get a new valuable piece of jewelry and combine its value with items you already have, you likely need jewelry coverage that is in excess of that standard sublimit. What would happen if the new item or any other pieces were lost or destroyed in a fire? Would you have enough coverage to replace all of your jewelry, or even one individual piece?

Standard personal property coverage does not cover all risks. Normally accidental loss or breakage of jewelry will not be covered under a homeowners insurance policy. The policy will likely cover losses due to fire, lightning, wind, theft and vandalism. But what if you lose your item, or accidentally break it? Chances are you would not have insurance coverage? Then what?

To make sure that you have the right coverage for your new valuable gift, consider scheduled personal property coverage, also known as a personal property endorsement or rider. This special coverage allows you to increase the coverage limit on a specific item or category of items to their full-appraised value. It also allows you to add coverage for additional causes of loss such as breakage, accidental damage, accidental loss, and more.

You can use a scheduled personal property rider to protect all kinds of valuable belongings and gifts such as furs, antiques, artwork, rugs, collectibles, electronics and any items that would be more costly to replace than the coverage provided by your standard homeowners insurance coverage limits.

Don’t shy away from giving those valuable gifts! Scheduled personal property coverage adds a minimal amount to your insurance premiums, and is well worth the extra expense should something happen to one of your high value belongings. Protecting your new gift with insurance is just as important as taking good care of it and keeping it under lock and key in a safe place.

You have several coverage options for your valuables! Talk to us to find out what is best for your needs. Have you given a valuable gift lately? Did you remember to have it insured?