With a great ring comes great responsibility! No one wants to experience that heartstopping moment when you look down at your engagement ring and see a missing stone…or realise it isn’t on your finger at all. Such a sentimental treasure deserves its own security team, but that’s a touch over budget for most of us. This is where contents insurance comes in!
Today our guest author Jessie Petterd from iSelect is demystifying the (rather confusing) lingo of contents insurance policies to help you determine what type of cover is right for you and your engagement ring.
Congratulations! We see that brand new bling. But what happens now?
While it’s easy to think, “Plan the wedding, of course,” there’s one important task to take care of first: engagement ring insurance.
Before you fall asleep from pure boredom, we’ve made the process easier by gathering some handy info about contents insurance and how it can help protect your engagement ring.
Contents Insurance Limits
The first thing to note about contents insurance is that most providers will generally set a limit on the amount you can claim for a piece of jewellery. This means you could get caught out if your engagement ring is damaged, lost or stolen, as you may only be able to claim on a set figure or it may not be covered out of the home.
Don’t fret though! With most policies, you can take out additional cover for a higher premium and specify the amount you want covered for the ring.
Listed & Unlisted Cover
There are usually two options when it comes to insuring your engagement ring on a contents policy: listed and unlisted items.
If you don’t tell your insurer about the ring specifically, it will be treated under ‘general contents’ which usually has a limited amount you can claim.
If you want more coverage for your ring, you may decide to opt for listed cover, which means you’ve explicitly requested to be covered by your insurer for a set amount. Some insurance companies will need to sight the valuation certification to identify the jewellery you want insured and work out the value of the insurance and premiums, so keep this documentation handy.
Portable Contents Cover
If your engagement ring is unlisted, you may need to take out additional portable contents cover if you’d like it to be covered in some scenarios away from the home. Some insurers have a limit on where and how long you can travel with them so it’s best to confirm this with your provider.
If you plan to take the rock on tour and travel overseas with your ring, but don’t have portable cover in your home and contents insurance, consider taking out a comprehensive travel insurance policy to help protect it against loss or damage abroad.
Engagement Ring Insurance Claims
Let me start off by saying that insurers generally don’t cover wear and tear like deterioration, rust, corrosion or bacteria. So you still have to look after this precious piece of jewellery like you would your first born!
Should you ever need to make a claim in the case of damage, loss or theft, you’ll need proof of ownership such as a receipt, valuation or even photographs of the ring in your home and a police report of the incident.
Reading up on what you can and can’t claim through your provider, what documentation is required to make a claim and how to lodge a claim will help streamline this process should the worst happen.
Thanks to iSelect for this great intel! If you’re confused about contents insurance for your engagement ring, their comparison service can help you compare policies from their range of insurers*.
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*iSelect General Insurance disclaimer: iSelect General Pty Ltd ABN 90 131 798 126, AFS Licence Number 334115. iSelect does not compare all home and contents insurers in the market. The availability of policies may change from time to time. Not all policies made available from iSelect’s providers are compared by iSelect and due to commercial arrangements, area or availability, not all policies compared by iSelect will be available to all customers. Some policies are only available from iSelect’s call centre or online. We receive a commission for each policy sold through iSelect.
Any advice provided by iSelect on this website is of a general nature and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You need to consider the appropriateness of any information or general advice iSelect gives you, having regard to your personal situation, before acting on iSelect’s advice or purchasing any policy. You should consider iSelect’s Financial Services Guide which provides information about our services and your rights as a client of iSelect.