Personal Property Insurance

Think about the items you have in your home – furniture, electronics, appliances, clothes, and jewelry. 
Now think of how hard it would be to replace those items if they were lost. Whether you’re a homeowner 
or renter, you should have personal property insurance to cover damages you receive to your property 
after a fire, theft, or other catastrophic event.
Actual Cash Value vs. Replacement Cost Coverage
When you choose personal property insurance, you’ll have to choose between actual cash value 
coverage and replacement cost coverage. Actual cash value
coverage will pay for your items based on 
their depreciated value or the cost of a comparable used item. Replacement cost coverage, on the other 
hand, covers your items for what it would cost to purchase them brand new. Take a television for 
example, that you purchased three years ago for $1,000. Actual cash value coverage might reimburse 
you $600 for the television, while replacement cost coverage would give you $1,000.
Maximum Coverage Limits
Some homeowners insurance policies automatically include personal property insurance up to a certain 
percentage of the home’s insured amount. For example, if your home is insured for $300,000, your 
personal property might be insured for 50% or $150,000. You may be able to lower your insurance 
premium by lowering your coverage amount. But, make sure you don’t go too low. You should base your 
coverage limit on the cost to replace your property based on today’s prices. Since replacement 
properties change, you may need to renew your coverage limits periodically as your household items 
depreciate and as you accrue more property.
Insuring Valuable Items
Many insurance companies allow you to add an endorsement to your policy to
cover high value items whose replacement coverage might be limited under
the standard policy. For example, your policy might limit the reimbursement
for jewelry to $1,000 per item. So, if you lost a piece of jewelry worth at
$3,000, the standard policy would not cover it completely. To provide
maximum protection, your insurance agent may be able to itemize that
particular piece of jewelry or other valuable goods.
Personal Property Insurance Exclusions
Your personal property insurance policy may have some exclusions. For
example, some items, like antique, rare, or outdated items might not be
insurable at all. Illegal items are typically not covered. Coverage may not be
extended to personal property that’s in storage or in transit.

Your items may only be insured in certain types of losses:

• Earthquake
  
• Fire
  
• Forced Entry Theft
  
• Lightning
  
• Smoke
  
• Vandalism
  

It may cost more to insure your items in a weather related event like a
tornado, flood, or hurricane.
Take Inventory of Your Items
Though it’s a tedious process, it’s a good idea to know what things you have
inside your home. This will make it a lot easier and faster to have a claim
processed. You might come up with a list of each room in your home and the contents in each. Taking 
pictures of the items in each room could decrease the amount of work you have to do. Write down the 
model, serial numbers, and any other identifying information about the items you have in your home. It’s a 
lot easier to make this list while you still have the things in your home rather than try to remember once 
they’ve been lost.
Making a Claim
When something has happened to your personal items, contact your insurance agent as soon as 
possible to submit a claim. Your policy may have a limit on the amount of time you can make a claim. 
Calling early ensures you receive coverage for your lost items.

You make be subject to a deductible. That’s the amount you have to pay before the insurance company’s 
coverage begins. If the value of the loss is less than the deductible, you might consider replacing the item 
yourself rather than making a claim. Often, your insurance premiums increase after you make an 
insurance claim.
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