Jewellery valuation re home insurance

emslondon

I have just found, and bought, a quote for home insurance which was £50 cheaper than my renewal premium. Both quotes include cover for an item of jewellery I had valued about 5 years ago. However, in the email they sent to confirm, it says I will need to send them a valuation of this item (as it's worth more than £2,500) which has to be from within the last 3 years. Now I think the cheapest I could get a new valuation for would be about £60, so that would outweigh the money I've saved. Is there any way round this? Are they likely to accept an older valuation? Does it mean I have to spend £60 every three years getting this piece valued or else stick with the same insurer for ever? I haven't worn it since my wedding day - too scared of losing it!

Which reminds me, I should really have added cover for my wedding/engagement rings...

Thank goodness for 14-day cooling off periods!

dacouch

They would not normally want it revalued every three years as they will index link the sum insured. However each time you change Insurer the new Insurer will often request to see a valuation dated within the last three years (The value of jewellery items they require valuations for varies though).

If you have cover for unspecified personal possesions cover away from the home it will normally cover items up to £1500 without them needing to be specified so I assume your wedding ring will be covered within this amount (Check with your Insurers)

gem_man

A little after the event but .......

It is not unreasonable to expect an Insurance Company to have a good idea of what it is they are taking on risk. They, quite rightly, feel the most effictive way to achieve this is to have a reasonably up-to-date appraisal and valuation, as this will not only state the replacement value but make comments on condition etc.

My advice would be to save yourself a lot of potential upset in the event of a claim and get yourself a good appraisal and valuation from a respected valuer. This gives both you and the Insurance Company a solid starting point.

Dacouch is quite right in stating that most insurance companies index link the sum assured to try and keep on top of current replacement values. The only problem with this, is that jewellery doesnt conform to any particular index linking efforts and within a few years you could be paying excessive premiums or be hopelessly under-insured. Either, is not good news. Remember that diamond, gemstone and jewellery values can go down as well as up depending on all sorts of criteria.

Most professional jewellery valuers will update your valuation for a nominal fee only as all the time and work was done in the first instance.

So, get a good valuation, update it regularly and most importantly, start weraing and enjoying your jewellery (which is the whole point of having it in the first place).

Sticking to this plan, in the long run, will save you money and heartache.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards
Adrian

lisyloo

I have a single item limit of £5K with LLoyds tsb and I have not been asked for valutions.
I always keep receipts for expensive jwelery and cameras.

I also have a safe (hotel type £20 from screwfix) installed in my home that hidden and bolted to the fabric of the house.
Many of the insurance bods will say that it's worthless, but personally I think in 99% of burglarys that are opportunistic and take a few minutes, the safe would be unlikely to be found and taken due to the time required to seperate it from the fabric of the building.

gem_man

Many Insurance Companies have a high single item limit for unspecified items on the policy (although, this has to be one of the highest I have heard of).

The danger of relying on receipts only is that they rarely contain sufficient detail to facilitate a satisfactory settlement. This is not so bad for branded goods but most jewellery is not branded. A WidgitCompany camera model #1234 on risk if lost can easily be replaced or if no longer available the spec of th original is documented. Jewellery is not like that.

The other problem is that if an item is non-specified under a single item limit, in the event of a claim the question "where in the range of £0 and £5000 is it worth?" Ultimately, without some form of documentation, you stand to be the loser.

I realise as a professional jewellery valuer, I have a slight vested interest in promoting having items of jewellery properly valued but I genuinely believe it is the safest route. All to often, I am called in to try and sort out a sometimes heartbreaking mess resulting from the insurance company, not unreasonably asking for some sort of proof to substantiate the policy holder's claim.

Regards
Adrian

weeowens

Try Hiscox as they seem good for high values