TL;DR: This blog explains why valuable personal property insurance is essential for protecting high-value belongings that exceed standard homeowners insurance limits—and how to make sure you’re fully covered when theft, damage, or loss happens.
Main points:
- Why homeowners insurance often has strict caps and exclusions for jewelry, art, collectibles, firearms, and electronics
- Real crime and fire statistics that show how common property loss really is
- How valuable personal property insurance works, including broader coverage, fewer exclusions, and lower or no deductibles
- The steps to properly insure valuables: scheduling items, keeping inventories, getting appraisals, and updating policies regularly
- Practical tips for burglary prevention and smart insurance planning to reduce risk and protect your investment
Readers will walk away understanding coverage gaps, common misconceptions, and how to safeguard their most valuable possessions with confidence.
Insuring High-Value Items
High-Value Items Insurance provides coverage for expensive, high-value items you own. People who possess high-value items, such as expensive jewelry, furs, antiques, or firearms, may need additional coverage.
Your Homeowners Insurance Policy provides the first level of protection for lost, stolen, or damaged property. However, it has limitations on the amount and type of items covered. High-value item insurance provides added protection to your existing homeowner’s policy.
Most people don’t think they will be victims of a crime, but crime statistics tell a different story.
Take a look at some property theft statistics.
Why Is High-Value Item Insurance Important?
Theft & Crime Statistics
No one is immune to the possibility of theft or damage to their property and personal belongings. In fact, the unfortunate truth is that these occurrences are much more common than you might think! Here are some statistics:
- Every year in the United States alone, there are between 2.3 and 2.6 million robberies.
- On average, a burglary occurs in the United States once every 23 seconds!
According to reports by the FBI, the six most commonly stolen items are:
- cash
- jewelry
- furs
- vehicles
- electronics
- firearms
Although these facts are alarming, they are not the only factors you need to consider. Crime and theft are only one type of threat to your property and personal belongings. Other events and accidents could cause significant damage to your home and your belongings, from storm damage to fires.
- In 2023, in the United States alone, fire departments responded to 1,388,500 fire alarms.
Hopefully, these statistics help to convince you of the importance of insuring your belongings. But are you as protected as you think?
We often recommend additional coverage above and beyond your homeowner’s policy. Customizing your insurance to fit your unique situation is an important step in getting the coverage you need.
Some think they don’t need additional coverage because they have a homeowner’s insurance policy, but that’s actually a misconception. With that in mind, let’s look at the limits of a typical homeowner’s insurance policy.
Limits of Homeowner’s Insurance Policy
So, you’ve purchased a home or signed a rental agreement and therefore purchased homeowner’s or renter’s insurance. However, standard policies have limits, especially for valuable possessions insurance.
Many homeowner’s policies cap payouts for jewelry, artwork, and collectibles. These gaps are often addressed with valuable articles, insurance, or scheduled endorsements.
Let’s go over a few of these key factors and the important terminology so you have a clear grasp of your homeowner’s insurance policy.
- Covered Incidents: Typically, homeowner’s insurance covers four types of incidents.
- Deductibles: A deductible is an out-of-pocket expense that the insurance holder needs to pay for damage or loss that is covered under your homeowner’s insurance policy. This can take some homeowners by surprise because their policy doesn’t cover the entire cost of the lost or damaged item. Make sure you have a clear understanding of your policy deductible.
- Limits of Liability: This is a crucial component of a homeowner’s insurance policy, especially for individuals with high-value items and assets they are looking to protect. The liability limit is the maximum amount the insurance company will be required to pay a policyholder during a specific period. It’s a crucial homeowner’s insurance policy component, especially for
- Excluded Scenarios: There are a few scenarios that are typically excluded from insurance coverage on most homeowner’s policies. These scenarios fall under what is usually referred to as a Force Majeure clause. Under contract law, this typically covers natural disasters, acts of God, and acts of war. If your property or belongings are damaged in a scenario that falls under this clause of your contract, your insurance company is not obligated to provide coverage.
These points illustrate that, contrary to popular belief, a basic homeowner’s policy doesn’t offer coverage for all loss scenarios. These gaps in coverage are often addressed by policy endorsements such as water backup coverage endorsement or high-value items endorsement.
Your agent can help customize coverage. If you own jewelry, art, antiques, or collectibles, reviewing coverage limits is especially important.
How Does High-Value Item Insurance Work?
Additional protection is usually added through a policy endorsement, often referred to as personal items insurance. These endorsements typically offer:
- Broader coverage
- Fewer exclusions
- Lower or no deductibles
For example, let’s say that you have a beautiful and expensive engagement ring, and one day it mysteriously disappears. You have no idea if you lost it, if it was stolen, or if it fell off your finger when you were at the beach. With a typical homeowner’s insurance policy, due to the mysterious circumstances surrounding the loss of the ring, it is unlikely that you will receive any compensation.
With scheduled valuable possessions insurance, the full insured value may be covered, even if the loss is unexplained.
How Do I Insure My High-Value Items?
Does this sound like the type of coverage you could benefit from? If you’re a collector of antiques, sports memorabilia, or artwork, or your own high-value items like jewelry or top-of-the-line electronics, high-value item insurance is likely worth the investment. The process starts with documentation and planning.
Schedule Your Belongings
To protect the full value of your most expensive valuables with insurance, you’ll need to schedule them. Essentially, this means that you need to take an inventory of the belongings in your home and keep a record of all the relevant information that an insurance company will require to fulfill a claim.
To find out exactly what information you need to collect, it is best to speak with an experienced insurance agent about your unique policy and specific needs. Typically, insurance companies will require a complete inventory of the items under the policy’s coverage, which includes photographs and original receipts or appraisal records. If the item in question is a collectible or an antique, you may also need to provide certification to prove the piece’s authenticity.
This may sound like a big job and, it’s true, it can be time-consuming; however, remember that you’ve spent a great deal of time, effort, and money to acquire these pieces in the first place. So, it’s worth spending the effort to protect your precious valuables. In addition, some useful apps can help streamline this process considerably.
Conduct Appraisals
If you do not have access to original receipts for every high-value item you wish to insure, don’t despair. This doesn’t mean that you won’t seek additional coverage for these items. Rather, it means that you will need an appraisal for those objects.
Consider an appraisal for all your high-value items, especially if they are collectibles or antiques. Appraisals will give you an up-to-date evaluation of each item’s worth. But before, talk to your insurance agent about the specific certifications required.
Just as it is a good idea to keep multiple copies of your home inventory, it is also good to keep multiple copies of the appraisal certificates you receive. So, photocopy your certificates and place hard copies in different locations. Also, keep an electronic copy as a backup.
Update Your Policy Regularly
So, you’ve purchased a home or rented a space; you’ve obtained homeowner’s or renter’s insurance. You’ve done your due diligence and understand the limits of your policy. You’ve then taken stock of the inventory in your home and purchased additional coverage for your high-value items. You’re all set. Well, not quite. Don’t fail to complete the final details required for putting proper coverage in place.
The last step you need to take to insure your property and belongings are adequately protected is an ongoing one, and it involves regularly updating your policy. As you add new high-value items to your home or collection, you’ll need to make sure that your policy reflects these additions.
Get into the habit of regularly reviewing your policy with an experienced professional and scheduling as well as appraising any new items. Coverage needs change over time. Any new high-value purchase should be reviewed and added to your policy.
Protecting your valuable property and belongings properly requires some effort and guidance from your agent about your valuable items insurance. However, it is always better to be safe than sorry. If you need support to understand the limitations of your current homeowner’s insurance policy or add on additional valuable possessions insurance, Colby Insurance Group can help.
6 most stolen items according to FBI property crime statistics
- Cash
- Jewelry
- Furs
- Vehicles
- Electronics
- Firearms
High-value personal item insurance covers items such as expensive jewelry, furs, and firearms. National crime statistics indicate that the average loss per home burglary is over $2,000.00. Consider the value of the items in your home.
Personal property crime rates have decreased nationally over the years, yet New Hampshire has seen recent double-digit increases. Prevention is the best place to start when it comes to protecting your property.
Tips for Keeping Your Home Safe from Burglary
- Install a home alarm system
- Keep the outside of your home well lit
- Let neighbors know when you will be away
- Don’t announce travel plans on social media
- Stop the delivery of mail and newspapers
- Install deadbolt locks
- Set lights on timers so it looks like someone is home
- Make sure all windows and doors are locked
People often feel safer and more secure in their own communities, but property crimes happen in all kinds of neighborhoods. No one wants to think about losing their valuable possessions , but providing proper coverage offers a way to replace what is lost, damaged, or stolen. Security reduces risk, but valuable articles insurance helps when prevention isn’t enough.
5 Tips for Insuring Your Valuables
- Review your Homeowners Policy and get insurance coverage for high-value items if needed
- Keep and maintain an inventory list
- Keep original receipts when possible
- Get valuables appraised and keep records in a safe place
- Update records regularly
Colby Insurance Group Homeowners Insurance experts help provide you with peace of mind and security for your family and your home.
If you have questions about coverage for your cherished items, please give one of the Colby Agents a call. We’re happy to answer your questions.
This post is for informational purposes. The details and conditions of insurance policies vary. We always recommend speaking with an agent to understand the terms of your existing policies and the policies you plan to purchase.
To consult with an insurance advisor, call 800-392-6532 or email .
Frequently Asked Questions About Insurance for Valuables
What is valuable personal property insurance?
It is additional coverage that protects high-value items beyond standard homeowner’s limits.
Is valuables insurance the same as homeowner’s insurance?
No. Homeowner’s insurance has limits, while valuables insurance offers broader, item-specific coverage.
What items need valuable articles insurance?
Jewelry, fine art, antiques, collectibles, firearms, and luxury electronics often need separate coverage.
Do I need appraisals for valuable items insurance?
Most insurers require appraisals for higher-value or unique items to confirm value.
How often should I update my valuable possessions insurance?
Review it yearly or whenever you purchase new high-value items.
