Your Homeowner's Policy May Not Cover All Valuables

When was the last time you looked at the policy for your home or renters insurance? When one Dallas viewer looked at hers, she found a surprise that cost her thousands of dollars.

Elizabeth Perkins remembers coming home from a Thanksgiving trip to San Francisco. She walked down the hall to her bedroom and noticed something odd.

"I turned the corner and saw a box kind of tipped over in there," she said.

It was the first indication someone had been in her home. When she walked in her bedroom, she found it ransacked.

"All of these drawers were out and dumped over and everywhere," she said pointing toward her jewelry armoire. It had once contained all her jewelry, precious pieces collected over a lifetime. "I have an opal ring that my aunt that I was named after gave me when I was born."

Actually, she had an opal ring, along with a ring from friends, pearl necklaces and many treasures from her European travels. All were stolen. While she'd rather have the jewelry back, she thought at least she had homeowner's insurance.

"I had a conversation with a claims representative who said, 'I'm so sorry, your jewelry is only insured up to $1,000,'" she recalled. "I said, '$1,000 a piece?'

The claims representative told her no, she would get $1,000 for all her jewelry. She estimates her jewelry was valued at about $16,000.

Page 40 of Perkins' 68-page policy states she would get $1,000 for "loss by theft of jewelry, watches, furs, precious and semiprecious stones." Industry experts say it's standard practice for home insurance policies to cap the coverage for property like jewelry, furs, art and guns.

That's why the insurance trade group, Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, advises you buy additional coverage for jewelry.

"You can get what's called a schedule personal property endorsement, and you can have that item insured for its full value," PCI Director of Personal Lines Policy Chris Hackett said.

Hackett said you can also buy a separate policy entirely.

"Maybe they're going to get a couple hundred bucks for all of this jewelry that means so much to me," Perkins lamented.

Perkins prepared three pages of listed losses she has little hope of recovering, and much of it insurance won't replace.

"I know I'm not the only person who thinks they're insured and isn't," she said.

Officers have told her there is little home of recovering her stolen pieces. So NBC5 Responds has the following recommendations:

  • Consider buying more coverage for your expensive jewelry.
  • Complete a home inventory checklist your possessions. The Texas Department Insurance form makes it easy.
  • If you believe your insurer isn't reimbursing you at a fair rate, complain to the Texas Department of Insurance. You can file a complaint online or by calling 800-252-3439.
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