Do I Make an Insurance Change

[Jaybird180]

I got an excellent deal on the ring I used to propose to my wife. It was custom made by a jeweler that has family ties to my father's common-law wife. Based on all the numbers, the price I paid was far less than it should have been. He's also a certified appraiser and included an appraisal if I wanted to add the ring to my insurance policy. He told me that the appraisal was purposely low to make it easier to insure. It was this document that I used to price the insurance policy and provide replacement value.

I had some nagging misgivings, so I paid for another opinion about 9 months ago. The appraisal came in higher than the jeweler said it was worth but for different reasons.

I've been on the fence about providing my insurance company the 2nd appraisal (or even getting a 3rd opinion). There are variations in the 3 C's (cut, color, carat).

Yesterday, my wife mentioned that women in her profession have a high incident rate of losing centerstones, removing and replacing latex gloves throughout the day. My wife also misplaces things at a higher rate that I do. I tend to put things in the same place, she does not. Our daughter also likes to go through mommy's jewelry box and mom sometimes takes the ring off.

What would you do?

 

[wabower]

Buy a fake CZ stone and mount it in the ring. Put the real stone in the gun safe.
Don't tell anybody.

I got an excellent deal on the ring I used to propose to my wife. It was custom made by a jeweler that has family ties to my father's common-law wife. Based on all the numbers, the price I paid was far less than it should have been. He's also a certified appraiser and included an appraisal if I wanted to add the ring to my insurance policy. He told me that the appraisal was purposely low to make it easier to insure. It was this document that I used to price the insurance policy and provide replacement value.

I had some nagging misgivings, so I paid for another opinion about 6 months ago. The appraisal came in higher than the jeweler said it was worth but for different reasons.

I've been on the fence about providing my insurance company the 2nd appraisal (or even getting a 3rd opinion). There are variations in the 3 C's (cut, color, carat).

Yesterday, my wife mentioned that women in her profession have a high incident rate of losing centerstones, removing and replacing latex gloves throughout the day. My wife also misplaces things at a higher rate that I do. I tend to put things in the same place, she does not. Our daughter also likes to go through mommy's jewelry box and mom sometimes takes the ring off.

What would you do?

 

[Henning]

Buy a fake CZ stone and mount it in the ring. Put the real stone in the gun safe.
Don't tell anybody.

Probably the best real world advice, either that or quit wearing the ring daily.

Turn in the new appraisal to your insurance man. Read the policy closely regarding jewelry, there are typically limits on total combined value. Jewelry riders are available at often very low premiums, sometimes nothing. It's really about preventing fraud until you get into the real high dollar stuff.

 

[PPC1052]

Agree with Henning. If your appraisal during the underwriting is too low, it may limit the amount of coverage you have if something happens.

 

[Henning]

Also when things are underinsured by more than 20% you can run into coinsurance issues in many states, doubt if this would get caught up in that mix though.

 

[Bob Noel]

Do the right thing....provide an honest appraisal not one that is deliberately low.

 

[JB1842]

Call you insurane agent. They can tell you best what to do. But if you do get a higher appraisal and get the higher coverage, and file a claim, it may raise some fraud issues.

 

[Henning]

Do the right thing....provide an honest appraisal not one that is deliberately low.

With Jewelry above a certain value it's more like airplanes in that it's a stated/agreed value issue. The person who loses by it being underinsured is the owner. Insurance is there to 'make you whole' in the event of a loss. This means if the value of a declared value item goes up, if you don't reappraise at the new cost, you will not get the new value to replace the item with. With the premium attachments for beyond minimum limits on jewelry on Homeowner's and Renters policies being pretty low cost for the rider, it doesn't make much sense to not declare the correct value.

 

[Jeff Oslick]

If you lost it, how much would you be willing to pay to replace it? If you would intend to replace with something that cost the same, then insure it for what you paid, otherwise you're just paying a higher insurance premium unnecessarily.

The most important thing is to make sure it is in a strong mount, and have the mount checked annually, at least, so the stone doesn't come loose.

 

[Henning]

Call you insurane agent. They can tell you best what to do. But if you do get a higher appraisal and get the higher coverage, and file a claim, it may raise some fraud issues.

Nope, not without evidence.

 

[Henning]

If you lost it, how much would you be willing to pay to replace it? If you would intend to replace with something that cost the same, then insure it for what you paid, otherwise you're just paying a higher insurance premium unnecessarily.

The most important thing is to make sure it is in a strong mount, and have the mount checked annually, at least, so the stone doesn't come loose.

You can't always replace something for what you paid for it, that's why we use appraised values.

 

[JB1842]

Nope, not without evidence.

True. Something like this probably won't get an investigation (unless the ring is lots of money. My wife just wrote a policy for a doctor who got his wife an $85,000 engagement ring), but it will still be flagged in the system. In claims, they will look at the history of the policy. If they see raising the value of something and then putting in a claim, they will pay the claim, but could then turn around and drop your coverage.

 

[Bob Noel]

With Jewelry above a certain value it's more like airplanes in that it's a stated/agreed value issue. The person who loses by it being underinsured is the owner. Insurance is there to 'make you whole' in the event of a loss. This means if the value of a declared value item goes up, if you don't reappraise at the new cost, you will not get the new value to replace the item with. With the premium attachments for beyond minimum limits on jewelry on Homeowner's and Renters policies being pretty low cost for the rider, it doesn't make much sense to not declare the correct value.

The OP wrote "It was this document that I used to price the insurance policy and provide replacement value."

So your comments about being underinsured are not applicable in this case.

 

[Henning]

The OP wrote "It was this document that I used to price the insurance policy and provide replacement value."

So your comments about being underinsured are not applicable in this case.

Incorrect, it's exactly in an RC (replacement cost) policy where the 80% co-insure rule lives, because they have to REPLACE the item which means they need the proper value declared to set the premium by. As I said, this is very limited with jewelry and furs because they have a cap value above which requires an agreed value rider to exceed.

This can catch people in rapidly rising housing markets.

Here's a quick read on how it works.
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Coinsurance