What is Scheduled Personal Property?

Well folks, it’s already February if you can believe it.  The dust has officially settled from Christmas, and the reality of more weeks of “winter” has set in.  As you prepare for Valentine’s Day, and potentially a new purchase for your significant other, one important decision is to be made: to schedule or not to schedule?

Example: a new pair of diamond stud earrings for your wife (she’ll love them) that have an approximate value of $4,500.

To schedule or not to schedule?

You purchase them and give them to your wife.  Good news!  At this time, they are already included in your current personal property limit (coverage C) on your Homeowners policy just like your clothes, electronic, and other personal property in your home.  With that however, that new piece of jewelry is also subject to the same deductible as those items.  If they were to be stolen or go missing, you’d be subject to say $500 or a $1,000 before being compensated for that value.

Also, and more importantly, that item is going to be subject to reasonable depreciation.  Lastly, if you had other items of jewelry that were stolen many Homeowners policies have a cap or maximum limit that will pay out in the event of multiple losses.  Could be $10,000, could be more, but more than likely it’s not enough.

But with scheduling these higher value items on a Personal Articles, or Inland Marine, policy, you are providing yourself with much more coverage.

First off, if you have a schedule of jewelry in place, there no deductible to apply in the event of loss.  Secondly, depending on what option you select (stated amount or repair/ replace) depreciation won’t come into play once the appraisals (or recent bill of sale) are provided.  Lastly, these items that are scheduled are only capped by what you have personally scheduled.  Depending on the carrier, you’ll be able to schedule up to much higher limits than provided underneath the coverage provided by Homeowners “unscheduled jewelry” limit.  That limit on Homeowners policies can be anywhere from $1,500 per item/$2,500 per occurrence, and in the case of the newly purchased earrings, you’d be best off getting those scheduled.

If you have purchased or are thinking about purchasing something special in the coming weeks (or haven’t done it since Christmas gifts were exchanged), please contact us here at CBM Insurance to discuss options on making sure if something was to happen you won’t end up in the DOG HOUSE.