Help Make Your Policy Match Your Stuff

Some Property is Categorized

Having a good claims experience can start with getting the right coverage. Your total property limit may give you the impression you have plenty of coverage, but you may find that your category limit on computers isn't nearly enough to replace all of the computers in your home.

For example, your policy might have limits in categories like these:

• Money, bullion, bank notes and coins.
• Property for use in a business while the property is away from your home. This doesn't include computers, drives or other storage media.
• Property for use in a business, including property held as samples, while the property is at your home. This doesn't include computers, drives or other storage media.
• Trading cards, subject to a maximum amount of $250 per card.
• Accounts, bills, deeds, evidences of debt, letters of credit, notes other than bank notes, passports, securities, tickets and stamps.
• Manuscripts, including documents stored on electronic media.
• Watercraft, including their attached or unattached trailers, furnishings, equipment, parts and motors.
• Theft of jewelry, watches, precious and semi-precious stones, gold other than goldware, silver other than silverware, platinum (other than platinumware), pewter (other than pewterware) and furs, including any item containing fur that represents its principal value; subject to a maximum amount of $1,000 per item.
• Any motorized land vehicle parts, equipment or accessories not attached.
• Theft of firearms.
• Theft of silverware, pewterware and goldware.
• Computers, drives or other storage media, whether or not the equipment is used in a business. Storage media will be covered up to the retail value of the media.
• Theft of rugs, including, but not limited to, any handwoven silk or wool rug, carpet, tapestry, wallhanging or other similar article whose value is determined by its color, design, quality of wool or silk, quality of weaving, condition or age; subject to a maximum amount of $2,500 per item.

Keep in mind these are just examples and may vary by policy. Talk to an Allstate agent about your specific policy.

You can adjust the personal property coverage of your policy at any time. Since you are spending time now to learn about property insurance, it's also a good time to take a good assessment of your personal property coverage needs (use our free Home Inventory Tool software).

Really Nice Stuff

When you walk around your home, look for things that you spent a lot of money on, or that have appreciated in value since you got them (family heirlooms, your diamond jewelry). You will need to make a decision about how to insure them so, if they ever need to be replaced, the standard limits will not pose a problem.

• If it is only one or two items in a category, such as a diamond necklace
• Ask your agent about a Scheduled Personal Property endorsement
• If it is a category with many items of higher than normal value, such as an extensive computer network
• Ask your agent about an Optional Coverage

Insuring High Value Items

A common item in a category covered by your policy, such as a watch, may be worth $25 or $5,000. Because this category of common items can vary so greatly in value, your policy may set a per item limit for these items. If one item exceeds those limits, ask your agent for a Scheduled Personal Property endorsement to properly protect it.

For example: There may be a $1,000 limit per piece of jewelry and a $2,500 limit for all jewelry as a group. If you own a couple of inexpensive watches, you're in great shape. If you own a watch that is appraised for $10,000, you have an option to cover that specific watch at a higher amount. A Scheduled Personal Property endorsement can be used for jewelry, individual furs, oriental rugs, fine artwork and a variety of other items.

Insuring Groups of Valuable Items

You can use an Optional Coverage to raise the group limit on a category covered by your policy, such as computers — or you can use them to insure an entire category of items that are not covered by your policy because they are less commonly owned.

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When it comes to taking out second property insurance the first thing you have to remember is that it varies a great deal from the type of insurance that you will have taken out to cover your home. It will also depend on what you intend to do with the property you are buying. For example if you are going to turn the property into a holiday home let then you will need more extensive cover than had you bought the property for the intentions of it just being your own holiday home.

Second property insurance includes many different components, some of which you will already know about while others are more complex. The standards of any insurance policy should be included and the most obvious of these are of course the contents and buildings, however if you have such as a swimming pool then this will have to be taken into consideration and should be covered. If you need second property insurance for a holiday let then this is even more extensive, along with the usual components of the insurance you will also need to think about taking insurance that covers you for such as liability to tenants and any staff that you hire to run the holiday home.

One big problem for those who know very little about insurance is the fact that within policies there can be many exclusions, which means if you haven’t noticed them due to not reading the small print then when you come to make a claim it could mean you are turned down. Very often insurers will state in the small print that you have to meet certain requirements when the property is left empty, most holiday homes will be empty for periods during the winter months and this is when factors have to be taken into consideration, which include such things as the risk of flood due to burst pipes.

In order to get the best second property insurance deal then it is essential that you go with a specialist broker, you will be putting a lot of money into the venture and of course want the best possible chance of success. A broker can provide you with the essential information that is needed when it comes to your needs and can also save you a lot of time and money by shopping around for you to make sure you get the best possible deal for your second property insurance. Along with this you will be able to ask any questions regarding anything you are not sure about concerning your second property insurance.

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Property designates those real or intellectual goods that are commonly recognized as being the rightful possessions of a person or group. A right of ownership is associated with property that establishes the good as being "one's own thing" in relation to other individuals or groups, assuring the owner the right to dispense with the property in a manner he or she sees fit. Moreover, these days, the term property is something, which initiates family dispute, quarrels and relation break-ups. But again, under the laws of some land, property insurance has become very common as well as mandatory these days.

The protection against most risks to property, such as fire, theft and some weather damage is what is known as property insurance. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance or boiler insurance.

There are two main ways of property insurance - open perils and named perils. Open perils cover all the causes of loss not specifically excluded in the policy. Common exclusions on open peril policies include damage resulting from earthquakes, floods, nuclear incidents, acts of terrorism and war. Named perils require the actual cause of loss to be listed in the policy for insurance to be provided. The more common named perils include such damage causing events as fire, lightning, explosion and theft and also in the case of catastrophes like fire, explosion, theft, or vandalism, property insurance helps cover an individuals costs - whether it's to repair damaged property or replace what he or she have lost.

Now, when we are discussing about property insurance, it is very obvious for a person to ask, what all are covered under this type of insurance. Now, the way an individual is covered for property insurance varies from policy to policy in two main ways:

• The property that is actually insured.

• The type of events that lead to the loss.

In terms of property, some policies cover basic equipment (building structure, furniture, inventory, equipment, and supplies); others insure money and securities, such as lost revenue or cash on the premises, and hard-to-replace records, such as accounts receivable, from damage or loss.

Events that do damage are known as perils or causes of loss, and include weather-related events such as lightning strikes or hail, or human causes such as robbery or vehicular accidents.

Again, there are two types of policies available to cover perils: a named-perils policy, which covers losses resulting from only those perils the policy names, and an all-risk policy (a.k.a. special form coverage), which offers coverage for all perils except those specifically named. These days, a large number of companies are providing the service of property insurance to their customers. The missions of these companies are:

a. Assure stability in the property insurance market

b. Make sure basic property insurance is available for all qualified properties

c. Encourage the maximum use of licensed insurers

d. Provide for the equitable distribution of risk to all licensed insurers

With the aim of fulfilling their missions and to attain their objectives, premium payments in the form of credit cards are also being accepted by these financial institutions. The Insurance Services Office provides insurers with basic premiums incorporating a number of factors to determine the basic risk of your property. The primary factors in setting property insurance premiums include the type of building structure, the presence or absence of protective safety measures, and the proximity of your property to other high-risk areas.

This basic rate is then further adjusted at the discretion of the insurer, who credits or debits based on claims history or specific loss-control measures. In states where rates cannot be adjusted, dividends are commonly used as a way to reduce premiums.

But certain things which must be kept in mind before going out blindly after the schemes offered by the companies. Those check points are:

1. Keep a close eye on renewals

An individual must not get stuck in a pattern of renewing whatever coverage he or she may have had the year before. Your needs may have changed, and you could end up renewing coverage for something you no longer use, lease, or own.

2. Review any exclusions

Carefully read over the policy and make a special note of any exclusions, such as flood damage for example. Depending on your individual business and its location, you might want to purchase coverage for these exclusions.

3. Consider construction

For new construction, it can be a worthwhile investment to consider concrete, brick, or steel for building materials since these are less inclined than a structure made of wood to suffer total destruction in a fire.

Last but not the least, always make sure that the bases are covered by the policy. The following are the general guideline when thinking about what type of property to insure.

1. Buildings and other structures

2. Any outdoor property such as signs or fences

3. Mobile property such as construction equipment or automobiles

4. Machinery

5. Furniture, equipment, and supplies

6. Inventory

7. Leased equipment

8. Computers and other data processing equipment

9. Records, valuable papers, books, and documents

10. Money and securities

11. Intangible property such as trademarks and logos

Thanks.

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