If you’re fortunate enough to own property that’s has considerable value, you should make an effort to carry adequate insurance. Personal possessions such as jewelry, paintings, antiques, or collectibles are worth a great deal of money, and some items may be impossible to replace. Having adequate insurance coverage is 
important, but that doesn’t mean you have to pay an excessive price to get it. Following are a few tips on how to insure your valuables for less.
Homeowner’s Insurance
Traditional homeowners insurance probably won’t cover items of great value–you will have to stipulate that you need the additional coverage in order to ensure you’re completely covered. Each policy will have limits built in, so you’ll need to take out extra coverage for expensive items like expensive jewelry, one-of-a-kind paintings, or a collection of antique figurines.
Get an Appraisal
It will probably be necessary to have an independent appraisal done for each item or items that are part of a collection. Keep in mind that the way an insurance company looks at valuables may differ from an appraiser. Because the cost of precious metals continues to rise, your antique pocket watch that was handed down from your uncle could be increasing in value not only because of its age, but because the metal itself may be worth more now than it was in the past. You need to make sure your insurance policy will cover each item’s actual worth, which means carrying a replacement value policy.
Travel Insurance
When taking out a personal possessions policy, sometimes called a PAF or personal articles floater, find out if the items in questions will be covered while you’re traveling. If you take a vacation overseas and wear your expensive jewelry, you will want to make sure you’re still covered. If your present policy doesn’t cover you, you may want to consider taking out an additional travel insurance policy.
Determine Your Needs
After you’ve determined the value of your possessions, you need to decide the extent of coverage you’ll need. If you’ve been collecting valuable coins, stamps, or antiques, their value could fluctuate according to the market for that particular item, so you should carry adequate insurance to protect against their loss or damage. Make sure your policy will cover additions to your collection, as well. Since these items are more than likely not covered by your regular policy, there will be an additional premium charge. The object is to make sure you’re adequately covered without paying outrageous prices.
High Deductibles
As with any other type of insurance, the cost of personal possession floaters can be alleviated somewhat by raising your deductibles. It is standard practice within the insurance industry to lower your premiums as you raise your deductibles. Because the items you’re insuring are considered to be extremely valuable you should use caution if you decide to take this route, because the deductible could be excessive. Having a high deductible policy will mean that if you need to file a claim because your collection of rare baseball cards was damaged in a fire, you will be required to pay the deductible before your insurance policy will kick in. It would be a good idea to open a savings account designated strictly as an emergency fund. If you deposit money into this account on a regular basis, it will accrue interest and be available if you need to pay a deductible–providing you exercise the necessary will power and avoid tapping into the account for non essential items.
Shop for the Best Price
Because the insurance industry is extremely competitive, you should shop for the best price on insurance coverage. This is true for any type of insurance, but extremely important for additional coverage such as a personal possession floater. Because this is additional insurance made necessary due to the value of the items it’s designed to protect, it probably won’t be cheap. Shopping for the best price could begin by gathering quotes from online insurance companies. Use these quotes for comparison when you call on the more traditional brick and mortar insurance companies. Tell the agents you talk to what items you’re looking to insure and ask them for their best price. Also ask if you qualify for any discounts. If you already do business with an insurance company, make sure you tell them the best price you’ve been offered. If they want to keep your business, they will make every attempt to match or beat the price.
Guest post from Bailey Harris. Bailey writes about free insurance quotes for InsuranceQuotes.org.