Be Sure You Have the Right Insurance for Your Stuff!

You need homeowners or renters insurance to protect where you live from devastating financial loss should something bad happen to your home. Within your home, however, your personal property is likely what you cherish most. Protecting your possessions from loss is financially and emotionally important. You must make sure that you have the right amount of coverage for your belongings and the right type of coverage.

How Much Personal Property Coverage Do You Need? 
The sheer number of items within your home or apartment, and how much emotional value you place on many of them, may make it seem difficult to quantify how valuable your personal property is. Your insurance policy can provide personal property coverage for loss or damage to your personal belongings including clothing, furniture, appliances, electronics, and most other items in your home. This coverage gives you the ability to receive financial reimbursement for those items that may seem irreplaceable. Most home insurance policies start coverage for personal property at approximately 30% to 70% of the amount of coverage you have on the structure of your home, but only you can determine if this is  sufficient.

Do you need more personal property coverage? The best way to determine this is to prepare a personal property inventory, or a detailed list of everything you own and how much each item would cost to replace.  If you take your home or apartment and turn it upside down, anything that falls out is considered contents and needs to be counted for your coverage. a quick video of each room and closet is a good way to start a record.

Insurance companies typically group like items into categories and assign maximum limits for those categories. For example, your insurance policy might limit jewelry coverage to $1,000 per piece of jewelry and $2,500 for all of the jewelry in the household. If you have a piece of jewelry that is worth more than the maximum, the basic coverage provided in your policy is inadequate.

If appropriate, you can increase the “special limits of liability” for the categories in which you have more valuable items, or you can use a scheduled personal property rider to increase the coverage limit for a certain item or items. This is also advantageous because these riders typically provide all-risk coverage, which means that the scheduled items are covered for all risks, not just the basic “covered perils” outlined in the main insurance policy, and is typically not subject to the deductible that applies to all other losses.  Be sure your read your policy or ask your insurance agent how the coverage works.

Replacement Cost Coverage vs. Actual Cash Value Coverage
Like the dwelling coverage in your homeowners insurance policy, your personal property coverage can be based on your property’s actual cash value or replacement cost. Actual cash value policies pay to replace your possessions minus a deduction for depreciation. Replacement cost policies reimburse you for the actual cost of replacing the items with no deduction for depreciation. Replacement cost policies offer the best protection and ensure that you will be able to replace your possessions with similar ones at today’s process. 

Do you have sufficient coverage for your personal property? Do you have a significant amount of valuables, or just a few valuable pieces of jewelry or art? Do you have a home full of cherished, beloved possessions? We can help you determine how to approach coverage for your personal property and ensure that you will be properly reimbursed if you have a loss. Call us today to understand more about the importance of having the right amount of personal property insurance.


We are your LOCAL Trusted Choice Advisors, SouthGroup-Gulf Coast http://www.southgroupgulfcoast.com ,  SALES AND SERVICE AGENTS: Angelyn Treutel Zeringue, Tammy Garfield, Tammy Hogue, Brittany Eagle, Denise Russell, Melissa Moran, Alex Treutel, Anne Gillam, Tracy Arnold, Ashlie Moody, Mark Strickland, and Whitney Zimmerman at SouthGroup Gulf Coast. You can reach us by snail-mail or in person: 412 Hwy 90, Suite 6, Bay St Louis MS 39520, email: info@southgropugulfcoast.com , phone: 228-466-4498 fax:888-415-8922,  FaceBook www.facebook.com/southgroup.gulfcoast, or Twitter www.twitter.com/atreutel ! 

We have 2 Gulf Coast locations to serve you - 2505 Pass Road - Biloxi and 412 Hwy 90 Suite 6-Bay Saint Louis, MS. We write coverage in 40 different states and can assist you with Mississippi insurance, Louisiana insurance, and Alabama insurance and many other states. 

Insurance is stressful, but we make saving easy.  We help you save money on insurance!

#southgroup   @stateauto  @libertymutual @TRV_insurance @safecoinsurance @progressive #savemoney @atreutel