Do Your Christmas Gifts Need Insurance?
The chestnuts have been roasted, the halls decked, and the presents unwrapped. Maybe you commemorated the holiday season with an engagement, or perhaps Santa was extra generous and left behind a set of pro-level golf clubs.
There will be plenty of time to celebrate and enjoy your gifts with family and friends. But there’s one final step to securing your holiday cheer: getting a special policy to insure your Christmas gifts.
What’s Not Insured?
Often, big-ticket items receive minimal or no coverage under a personal property policy through homeowners insurance, according to Texas Farm Bureau Insurance agency manager Kari Hendricks of Alice. That means if your engagement ring goes down the drain or the new golfing equipment somehow doesn’t make it home from the club, you won’t be able to replace your gift under your typical policy.
You’ll also want to insure items you are still paying for. “You don’t want to be making payments on something that you no longer have because you lost it or it’s been stolen,” Hendricks says.
So, What’s Worth Insuring?
This is up to you! Texas Farm Bureau Insurance agency manager Chanda Moseley of Brownwood says most often, her clients insure gifts like jewelry (engagement and wedding rings, watches, etc.), furs, fine art, and leisure items such as golf clubs.
One thing to keep in mind: Just because a gift is sentimentally valuable to you doesn’t mean it will make good financial sense to insure it. So be careful with your great-grandmother’s worn-but-loved antiques.
What’s the Best Policy for Your Gift?
Depending on the item, Hendricks and Moseley suggest a special property floater policy, which differs from a homeowners or renters policy in its versatility of coverage. This type of stand-alone insurance, also known as an inland marine policy, can cover items for their full value through the receipt or proof of appraisal.
“When you are in doubt if something is covered or not, always check with your Agent,” Hendricks says. “You don’t want to find out something is not covered when it is too late.”
How Can I Get My New Item Insured?
Getting insurance for your Christmas gifts is an easy process.
- Call your Agent to set up an appointment.
- Bring the item, as well as a receipt or proof of a recent appraisal (from within the past three years) to the meeting, and your Agent will give you a quote for the policy.
- After you pay the premium, the policy will go to the underwriting department for closer examination. (The item will be covered during the underwriting process.)
- Depending on the value of the item, the Agent may not be able to bind coverage.
- If the item passes underwriting, the policy will be officially issued.
If the item you want to insure is too large to bring with you, or so valuable that you feel uncomfortable taking it, your Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Agent can arrange a field appointment to your home or wherever the item is located. In some cases, photographic evidence also may serve.
Keep in mind that you can add more than one item to a special property floater policy, so consider including other valuable items while insuring your Christmas gifts.
Now is the perfect time to take stock and update your home inventory for the new year.
Coverage and discounts are subject to qualifications and policy terms and may vary by situation. © 2018 Texas Farm Bureau Insurance
