I recently visited china with my family and boy what a trip. We saw some amazing things and places such as the Great Wall of China, the Terracotta Soldiers, the Forbidden City just to name a few…click here to see some photos of our amazing experience.
On the trip, we visited some fancy Chinese rug galleries, jade galleries, art galleries and Chinese antique galleries. We saw some amazing pieces related to China’s history that were for sale, some very, very expensive; one couple purchased an eight foot tall jade statue of a terracotta soldier that cost over $100,000 American dollars…not my taste but hey, as long as they liked it, right? But how do you insure these items? What about other regular pieces that you have gathered over the years? How does your current homeowners insurance policy respond (or not respond in many cases) to protect these assets? Whether you realize it or not, these are assets and a loss would reduce your total asset portfolio value that you have worked so hard to obtain over the years. Continue reading to find out more.
You see, many homeowners (maybe yourself) are often confused and perplexed because they see where they have, for example, $350,000 of contents coverage. Enough for the items above, right? Wrong. You see, many, if not all homeowners insurance policies provide very little coverage for items such as those described above. Oftentimes, under a standard homeowners insurance policy you are limited to $1,500 to $2,500 max, maybe $10,000 if an endorsement is added but not enough to cover a loss to a $100,000 Chinese antique and certainly not enough for a $250,000 piece of art. So how do you ensure yourself that these items are covered properly?
The best way to insure your high valued items and collections properly is by insuring them under a separate policy called either a valuables insurance policy, articles insurance policy, or specifically endorsing them to your homeowners insurance policy. But what is the best way to insure?
The simplest way is often to just insure under your homeowners insurance policy but you are limited to the homeowners coverages with maybe a few broader coverages. By insuring your valuables and collections under their own valuables or articles policy you can receive superior coverages that are worldwide, and most often, includes coverage for loss of flood (which you will find is not included if you endorsed these items to your homeowners policy and drastically underinsured under the flood insurance program policy).
The best thing to do to make sure your assets are protected properly is to do your own evaluation. I recommend that if you have anything (any one particular item) valued over $1,500 and it falls into the jewelry, fine arts, wines, antiques, collectible a category then you should highly consider taking action to insure separately. These policies are EXTREMELY affordable and are the best place for coverage. I am not saying you have to insure every item separately, but if you lost it would you miss it? You decide.
To discuss this topic further or to have assistance with reviewing your current insurance policies to make sure you are properly covered then give our office a call at 843.763.4200 or email Andrew at Andrew@mappusinsurance.com
