Page 28 - Delaware Medical Journal - February 2018
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Protecting Valuable Items with Best-in-Class Strategies
Kathleen Kennelly
Homeowners’ insurance policies typically have limitations on coverage for valuable items
silverware, and memorabilia.
While some homeowners’ policies insure
often little-to-no coverage for stolen or lost items.
Unfortunately, many people discover this critical coverage gap in the most desperate insurance claim. For individuals who
own valuable items, including avid
collectors, such occurrences often mean thousands of dollars in uninsured losses in addition to the stress of losing items of sentimental value.
At USI Insurance Services, the personal risk services team has been advising clients on ways to mitigate these closely with their clients, the team limits within the homeowners’ policy for valuable items, creates inventory, and
sets values for all collectibles eligible for scheduling. In addition, the team designs coverage for collections and recommends methods to mitigate potential losses in the event of a claim.
ITEMIZING VS. BLANKETING
Scheduling or itemizing is commonly used by USI clients to insure valuable collections.
Compared to blanket coverage, which covers a group of items, scheduling
“schedule” of valuable articles, and itemizing the replacement cost and description of each piece to be insured within the collection.
For policyholders, the itemized coverage option allows them to determine the value of each item
and insure those items to that exact amount. This allows the policyholder to segregate the high-value items that exceed the homeowners’ sub-limits while obtaining broad coverage with items. The idea here is to conserve limits needed to cover other high-value personal property that would otherwise be depleted or exhausted under the contents limit in the homeowners’ policy following a total loss.
APPRAISALS AND KEEPING VALUES CURRENT
Typically, insurance companies will require appraisals to validate the item,
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Del Med J | February 2018 | Vol. 90 | No. 2
