After we have determined the correct Replacement Cost value for the reconstruction of your home (for the Dwelling Coverage ‘A’), then next most important coverage to focus on is the Homeowners Personal Property Insurance Coverage, or sometimes referred to as Contents coverage (Coverage ‘C’).
Many Insurance companies have a built in limit of 50% of the Dwelling Coverage A, however there are some companies that will let you reduce these limits to as low as 25%.
This can save you money on your total insurance premium, and for many people a full 50% (of the Dwelling) coverage limit is simply too much.
For persons just starting out with perhaps their first home, or others who live simply and don’t collect much clutter, lowering the Personal Property Coverage C limit can be a wise choice.
With the rates continuing to climb in South Florida, many families are willing to accept less coverage for their personal belongings as it can offer a good reduction in overall cost for your Homeowners insurance.
Breakdown of Personal Property Insurance Coverage
A quick and brief answer to the question ‘What is Personal Property / Contents coverage’ would be A) the items that you would move into the house if it were new or B) if you were to turn the house upside down and give it a good shake, the things that would likely fall onto the ground.
While these two sentences offer easy to understand ideas on what the typical ‘Contents’ coverage would include, there are of course items that would not be covered.
Any vehicle such as a motorcycle, boat, jet ski, automobile, scooter etc. would not be covered under your typical HO-6 or HO-3 policies.
Anything illegal such as illicit drugs and the like would not be covered.
Expensive Antiques, Collectibles, Guns and Musical Instruments would only be covered to very basic limits, sometimes as low as only $500 for the entire group or classification.
For such items, you can usually add or ‘Endorse’ these back into your policy coverage via a ‘rider’ or ‘scheduled personal property’ but I will save this for another post – you can contact me with any questions that arise.
Is personal property insurance worth it?
So, we now have a basic idea of what your Personal Property Coverage C will insure, to include common household furniture, dishware, electronics, clothing, and the like.
How do you easily determine their worth??
The Insurance Information Institute has developed a great tool via their website www.knowyourstuff.org.
You can use this handy website tool to keep a permanent, safe, record of the items in each room of your home. They have made it easy to follow, and even post pictures of your items and rooms for quick reference.
I think it is an invaluable tool and should be used by all my customers.
It won’t take too much of your time, and in a big event, say a Fire or Hurricane claim where your home computer may have been compromised, you can easily log in to your knowyourstuff account from any computer and gain access to your Home Inventory records.
Any questions on Personal Property / Contents Coverage C, or any Homeowners Insurance around Boca Raton related questions, please contact me.
“The Florida Insurance Guy”, Keith Royle, Triton Insurance.
k.royle@tritonagency.com 954-486-0299
