Insuring high value items on your home, condo or tenant insurance policy

If you have home, condo, or tenant insurance, most of your belongings are covered under your policy’s contents limit. This means that if an insured loss occurs (for example, your house burns down), your belongings will be replaced with new ones. There are some exceptions to this coverage, usually reserved for expensive items like jewellery, furs, antiques, and collectibles, but also musical instruments, sporting equipment, and artwork.

These items usually have specific limits of insurance, or a maximum amount your policy will pay out for these items. If you have these items and they’re worth more than the limit listed in your policy documents, you are on the hook for the difference. To make sure you have the proper coverage in place, you have the option to increase the limit for these special items by adding an insurance floater to your policy.

What is an insurance floater?

When you add high-value items to your property insurance policy, they are called floaters or scheduled items. Usually a recent appraisal or receipts are required in order to determine the value of the item insured.

Items that typically have special limits of insurance

While each policy’s limits will vary, you can expect to have a maximum payout allowed on the following types of belongings:

Antiques
Watercraft
Lawn mowers, snow blowers, garden tractors, golf carts
Spare automobile parts
Jewellery, watches, gems
Fur or garments trimmed with fur
Coin and stamp collections
Computer equipment
Medical equipment, including hearing aids
Collectibles, including sports cards, memorabilia, and comic books
Musical instruments
Firearms
Sports equipment including bicycles
Fine arts, paintings, prints, sculptures

Why should I add a floater to my insurance policy?

Adding high value items to your policy makes sure you aren’t at a financial loss if you have a claim. For example, if you own a guitar valued at $6,000 and your policy’s limit for musical instruments is $2,000, you will not be paid the full value of the guitar if it is stolen or lost in a fire. This is where a floater comes in! For a small premium, you can add the item to your policy as a floater, guaranteeing it will be insured to its full agreed-upon value.

Common insurance floaters

Musical instruments

Most policies have a limit on the payout for any musical instruments. And if you use your instrument professionally (i.e. for paying gigs), any claim arising from that usage is typically excluded. There are options available to add instruments to your policy that will cover them for both personal and professional use.

Fine arts

It is tricky to determine the value of a piece of art if it is lost or damaged in an insured loss. An appraisal is always a good idea, but adding your art collection to your policy as a floater is the best way to ensure you are fully covered. Whether the art is displayed in your home, kept in a storage unit, or traveling to a gallery exhibit, there are options available to keep you covered.

Jewellery

The most common high-value item insured on property policies is jewellery. Your policy likely comes with a jewellery limit between $2,000-$6,000, and sometimes this isn’t enough to cover all of your fanciest items. Insuring your rings, watches, necklaces, or gems separately gives you peace of mind that the items that are priceless to you are covered for their full market value.

CHEEP TRICK: Floaters are typically covered for “all risks”, which usually includes mysterious disappearance. So if your diamond engagement ring is insured as a floater on your policy, and it simply vanishes, you are typically covered.

Examples of floater prices

While prices to add high value items to your home, condo, or tenant insurance policy vary between companies, the following gives you an idea of what you might pay annually to insure those specialty items. Please note that these are examples only – your policy limits and floater premiums will be listed on your policy documents and vary by company.

$10,000 diamond ring – $150
$6,000 musical instrument – $115
$5,000 painting – $20
$3,000 camera – $45
$2,000 bicycle – $100

Do you have high value items you’d like to add to your policy?

If you’re a Cheep Insurance client and you have high value items you’d like to add to your policy, give our friendly service team a call at 1-866-92-CHEEP or (902) 463-1675. We’re happy to review your insurance needs with you and provide advice about the process for adding floaters to your policy. Trust us, it will feel great to have piece of mind that the things you value most are properly protected!

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