Personal Property Limits and Scheduling Valuables

A homeowners policy with $200,000 in personal property coverage does not provide $200,000 of coverage for jewellery. It provides a much smaller stated amount, and the difference is one of the most common unpleasant discoveries in a theft claim.

How sublimits work

Standard policies apply special limits to categories of property that are easy to steal, hard to value, or both. The categories are consistent across most forms even though the amounts vary:

• Jewellery, watches, and precious stones — usually limited for theft specifically.
• Furs.
• Silverware, goldware, and pewterware.
• Firearms.
• Cash, coins, and precious metals — typically a very low limit.
• Securities, deeds, and tickets.
• Business property on the premises.
• Watercraft, trailers, and related equipment.

What scheduling does

Scheduling — also called a personal articles floater or an inland marine endorsement — lists specific items individually with their own agreed values.

Three things change:

1. The sublimit no longer applies to that item. It is covered up to its scheduled value.
2. Coverage becomes broader. Scheduled items are typically covered on an open peril basis, which usually includes accidental loss — a stone falling out of a setting, a ring lost down a drain. Unscheduled contents under a named peril form are not.
3. The deductible often does not apply to scheduled items, though this varies by insurer.

Agreed value versus actual cash value

Many scheduled item policies pay the agreed value — the amount on the schedule — without argument about depreciation or current market price. That is a meaningful difference from how unscheduled property is settled.

It also means the scheduled amount needs to stay current. Precious metal and stone prices move, and an item scheduled years ago at its then-value may be underinsured today. Most insurers ask for updated appraisals periodically for this reason.

What you need to schedule something

Usually an appraisal from a qualified appraiser, or a recent purchase receipt for newer items. Insurers commonly set an age limit on appraisals — often a few years — after which an update is required.

For items below a stated value, some insurers will schedule on a receipt or a photograph without a formal appraisal. Worth asking, because appraisals cost money.

Working out whether it matters for you

The calculation is straightforward.

1. Find the special limits section of your policy and write down the theft sublimit for jewellery, and the limits for any other category you own.
2. List what you actually own in each category, at replacement value rather than at what you paid.
3. Compare. If your total in a category exceeds the sublimit, the excess is uninsured against theft.
4. Ask your insurer what scheduling those specific items would cost annually.
5. Decide whether that annual figure is worth it against the exposure. That is your judgment, and it depends on the value at risk and your own circumstances.

Blanket coverage as an alternative

Some insurers offer a blanket increase to a category — raising the jewellery limit overall without listing individual items. It usually costs less than scheduling and requires no appraisals, but it typically keeps a per-item cap and a deductible, and does not always extend to accidental loss.

It is a middle option between doing nothing and scheduling everything.

The documentation problem

Even within the sublimit, you have to prove what you owned. A theft claim for jewellery with no photographs, no receipts, and no appraisals is difficult regardless of coverage.

Photographs of each significant item, receipts where you have them, and any appraisals, all stored somewhere outside the house, is what makes a claim provable. That record costs nothing and takes an afternoon.

What we are not saying

We are not telling you to schedule anything. We do not sell insurance and receive nothing if you do.

What we are saying is that your contents limit is not the limit that applies to jewellery, that the jewellery sublimit usually applies to theft specifically, and that most people have never looked up which number governs what they own.