Damage to your possessions equals money lost. You can often use your homeowners insurance for reimbursement. Still, maximizing contents coverage means verifying the value of your belongings. How do you make sure you have enough protection?

Contents coverage can help replace almost any home’s belongings, yet the key is getting a high enough value with this protection.

What is Personal Property coverage?

You can insure the house and its contents with insurance. Dwelling coverage pays for damage to the building itself. Possessions and contents inside the home have protection under their own coverage.

Let’s say a fire rips through your home. It could damage clothing, electronics, furniture and any other items in its path. If you have personal property coverage, you can get funding to replace these items. However, you’ll need to make sure you have enough money within this coverage to replace damaged items.

Determining the Value of Your Possessions

To receive full compensation from possessions insurance, you’ll need adequate policy limits. That means determining the value of your possessions.

Keep receipts and photo verification on the value of certain possessions. This can help prove to the claims adjuster that they should pay you certain amounts for certain items. You also might not realistically need to include certain items on your appraisal. For example, easily-replaced clothing might be something to leave off. It could save you money on your overall premium.

Remember, even with adequate coverage, restrictions on your personal property coverage might apply.

• Some policies base the personal property limits on a percentage of the structure coverage. If you have $1 million structure coverage, you may only receive 20 percent of that for possessions. That’s $200,000 in this example.
• Policies might also place limitations on certain items. For example, they might only pay a maximum of $2,000 for lost electronics. Therefore, if you lose a $3,000 TV, you can get $2,000, maximum, to replace it. That’s $1,000 that will come out of your pocket.
• Certain policies will exclude certain items. For example, many won’t insure priceless art or jewelry. You would need to add policy endorsements or get separate coverage for these items.
• On some policies, you may only be able to get cash value on items instead of the full replacement cost. Cash value will pay a depreciated amount for an item. You can often choose which type of coverage you want. Ask your insurance agent which protection works best for your unique situation.

Talk to your insurance agent at 410-312-7800 about the different elements of your personal property coverage. We can help you better understand the limits of your policy. With the right guidance, you can choose the appropriate coverages for your policy.

Also Read: Protecting and Insuring Your High-Value Jewelry