Personal Property Insurance

What is "personal property insurance"?
Personal property insurance is very distinct within your homeowners policy, from what is required to cover the home if it is damaged in a fire, in a natural catastrophe of some sort. Personal property could extend from your furniture, it could be your clothing, it could be your personal electronics like a laptop computer, it could be collectibles, like wine, art, stamps for example. All of these things go into personal property protection. Standard items like your furniture can be pretty easily replaced under homeowners policy, but if you have anything out of the ordinary for instance instead of a winter coat you have a fur coat of some sort that has a very very high value, that should be brought to the attention of the insurer, so that it can be independently appraised and added on separately onto your policy.

Do I need personal property insurance?
If you have enough personal property to make it worth your while to protect, I would think you definitely need personal property insurance. Even if it's as simple as thinking, "All I have is a TV, and a couch, and a bed, and a dining room table," think for a minute if all that was taken away from you overnight and you had to replace it out of your own pocket. How much did that TV cost you? How much is that La-Z-Boy chair that you love so much? How much was that dining room set that you just bought, or the bedroom set you just got out? These things can really add up in a hurry, and before you know it you reach twenty or thirty thousand dollars worth of property. It can be very valuable, and in that case personal property insurance is a very important protection.

How do I get personal property insurance?
Personal property insurance is handled through the home owner's policy. Most of it is pretty standard. The homeowners insurer is going to assumethat your home is going to require all the basics. It's going to require living room furniture like a couch, the chairs and TV, the bedroom set, things of that nature.They'll assume that you have clothing, whether its shirts, ties, pants, shoes, coats,for various seasons. If you have anything out of the ordinary that requires special attention such as a rare painting, a stamp collection, a 1968 Mickey Mantle baseball card that's worth a thousand dollars. These types of things should not be taken for granted. They should be brought to the attention of the agent and the insurer when you buy your policy, independently appraised, added on as separate endorsements.

How do I determine how much personal property insurance I need?
To determine how much you need for personal property insurance, you should take an inventory of your possessions: what kind of furniture you have, what you might need to replace in case there's a fire or a disaster of some sort. If there's anything out of the ordinary - for instance, rather than a winter coat a fur coat or rather than baseball cards a very rare baseball card - these things should be brought to the attention of the agent and the insurer when you buy the coverage. They may need to be independently appraised so that you both can agree on a figure as to how much it's worth and then it has to be added into the policy as a special endorsement. This way there's no problems if there's a claim that's going to be filed, at least as to how much you're owed under the policy.
Do I need personal property insurance if I already have homeowner's or renter's insurance?
Personal property insurance is usually part of homeowner's or renter's insurance. It's one of the essential pieces of those policies. However, if you do have any sort of specialized types of property, like a very rare piece of jewelry or art, or some collectible that's worth more than you can imagine, these types of things need to be identified up front, independently appraised and added specifically onto the policy as endorsements. This way you're sure to get full value if they're lost.

What happens if my property is damaged or stolen while I'm on vacation?
If you're travelling and you lose property, there's a good chance that your homeowner's insurance will kick in to cover some of that, but that's very good question to ask if you're about to go on a big trip. Double check with your agent or broker, especially if you're taking along with you anything that's very hard to replace like special jewellery, for example. You also might want to consider purchasing additional coverage under travel insurance which will protect the loss of or damage to possessions while you're in the course of your trip. This is, again, a question that should be raised with your insurance agent. You may have some coverage under your homeowner's insurance policy. There maybe a deductible involved which means there may be certain levels $250, $500 or so that you might have to cover out of your own pocket. These types of gaps in coverage could be cover by a travel policy. So, it's a good question to ask before you make your trip.

What kind of documentation will I need to make a personal property insurance claim?
To make a claim for the loss of any personal property, the more documentation the better. If you have a very valuable piece of property, like a fur coat, or a special painting that's irreplaceable, chances are you should have cleared that up with the insurance company beforehand and had an independent appraisal. That appraisal serves as the documentation of what that piece of property is worth. For standard pieces of property, like your television set or your couch, the insurer will propbably be pretty reasonable. But, if you've made any sort of a special purchase, like instead of just a 19" TV, you've bought the super-deluxe, flat screen wall-mounted television -- if you have a receipt for that, keep it offsite in a safety deposit box. Try to keep copies of any sorts of receipts of recent purchases. In a worst-case scenario, if you've lost all your documentation in a fire, you might be able to fall back on credit card records, cancelled checks that can be acquired from a third-party banking institution, a credit card company, things of that nature.

What do I do if my personal property insurance claim is denied?
If your personal property insurance claim is denied, the insurance company itself usually has an appeals process that you can pursue. Perhaps there was some documentation missing to put the value at what it should be, or there is some other misunderstanding that can be cleared up on appeal. Should that fail, the individual could seek legal counsel to get a second opinion as to whether or not the policy language should or should not have covered your particular loss. If your lawyer agrees that the loss should have been covered by the insurance company, a lawyer's letter might spur the payment of the claim and if not, there's always the chance you might have to sue. Last, but not least, you could file a complaint with your state's insurance department: these are the people that regulate insurers, and if there's a history on the part of an insurer of denying these types of claims that might fortify your own claim against the insurer.