When you rent an apartment, house, condo, or room, renters insurance protects your personal property and liability. Most of your everyday items will be covered by your renters insurance policy, meaning if they get stolen, destroyed, or damaged due to a covered peril then your insurer will reimburse you the cost to replace or fix them. Renters insurance is a relatively inexpensive way to protect your belongings and liability, costing an average of $16 a month.
Basic renters insurance policies are broken down into three types of coverage: personal property coverage, which covers your belongings when they are destroyed, stolen, or lost, both on and off your property as defined by your policy; personal liability coverage, which covers your financial risk if someone gets hurt in your home and sues you or requires medical treatment and expenses; and loss-of-use coverage, which will pay for your accommodation if your rental becomes uninhabitable.
When it comes to expensive items like wedding or engagement rings, other jewelry, or collectibles, renters insurance will only cover up to your policy’s limit. And most policies have sublimits for specific categories of items, like jewelry. This means if your wedding ring costs over your coverage’s sublimit for jewelry, which is usually around $1,500, then you might need to look into additional coverage.
In this article:
When does renters insurance cover wedding rings?
Renters insurance will cover all or part of the price of reimbursement for your personal belongings. This is true even if they are not on your property at the time they get damaged or stolen. For example, if your wedding ring gets stolen while on vacation, your renters insurance policy will still pay out up to your policy’s limit for your ring, despite you not being in your rental at the time. Depending on the cost of your ring, you should be able to file a claim for at least some of the value of it if the ring gets stolen or damaged in a covered peril.
If you don’t know how much your wedding or engagement ring is worth, you should get a professional appraisal. Once you know the value of your ring, your renters insurance provider will be able to determine the replacement cost value. This will help you decide how much additional coverage you might want to purchase.
What perils are covered?
When it comes to personal property damage, renters insurance covers perils like fire, falling objects, damage from riots, theft, and more. That being said, if you’re trying to insure expensive jewelry, most providers will only consider theft a covered peril. This means if your wedding ring gets damaged by a fire, your renters insurance policy probably won’t cover it. Some insurance providers will reimburse you up to your policy limit if you lose your wedding ring due to a covered peril, but not all. This all depends on your policy, so you should check with your provider before adding any additional riders or coverage.
What are the coverage limits for wedding rings?
Renters insurance includes a certain amount of coverage per loss. The maximum amount of this coverage is called your coverage limit. This is the limit the insurer is liable to cover you. So say for example, you purchase $20,000 in renters insurance, you will be covered only up to $20,000 in total losses.
High value items like wedding or engagement rings have separate limits called sublimits. Most insurers will offer sublimits for jewelry in the $1,000 to $1,500 range. This means if you have a jewelry sublimit of $1,000 and your wedding ring costs $5,000, you will only receive $1,000 towards reimbursement for a covered claim.
If this doesn’t seem like enough coverage for your wedding ring, don’t stress out. As with most renters insurance coverage, you can always purchase additional riders to cover more perils.
How to insure a wedding ring with renters insurance
There are a few steps you can take to protect your wedding ring with renters insurance.
Put the policy in the name of the recipient of the ring
An important first step is to put the policy in the name of the recipient of the wedding or engagement ring. The renters insurance policy for the ring must be in the name of the person who owns the ring. Initially, it can be in the purchaser of the rings name, but after you give the wedding or engagement ring to the recipient you must change the name on the policy.
Add additional coverage and riders
Like we mentioned, most insurance providers limit coverage for jewelry at about $1,500. This means you will need to add additional coverage if your wedding ring exceeds that amount. You can do this in a few ways.
Scheduled property rider: Scheduled property riders allow you to increase coverage for a specific item. This means you could increase your renters insurance coverage for your wedding ring. You can also add riders for a specific peril that is not covered in your policy, for example, you can add a rider to make sure your wedding ring is covered from other perils, like if it gets lost in a flood or earthquake.
Increase your coverage limits of all your jewelry: You can purchase a rider increasing the amount of total coverage you have for all jewelry. Hypothetically, this means you could increase total coverage to cover most of the value of your wedding or engagement ring and the rest of your jewelry, depending on the price of each item and your insurance provider.
Replacement cost rider: Replacement cost renters insurance policies pay out the value of an item as if it were bought new. However, you might have an agreed-value policy, which will pay you the depreciated amount of your item in the event of a covered claim. If this is the case, you can add a replacement cost rider so you can get paid out this way instead. Replacement cost riders usually mean higher premiums, but you’ll be reimbursed for your ring as if it were brand new, up to your coverage limits.
Purchase a separate jewelry insurance policy: Many insurance companies offer jewelry insurance, which would be a totally separate policy from your renters insurance. However, many times the amount of coverage offered by a jewelry insurance policy can cost more or less the same as it would to add additional riders to your renters insurance policy, so you should talk to your insurance provider to see if it is worth it.
How to file a renters insurance claim on a wedding ring
In the event that you do need to file a claim for your stolen or damaged wedding ring, you’re going to want to get started on the process right away. If your wedding ring has been stolen, you should call the police before filing a claim.
You should call your insurance company as soon as possible to report the claim and to make sure your wedding or engagement ring is covered by the policy. Many insurance companies have a deadline for when you can file a claim, which is typically between 48 to 72 hours since the incident. To make the ordeal smoother, you should have these things handy:
Your policy number
Details about the damage or theft, including the last time you had the ring on you
A police report recording the theft
A phone number where you can be reached easily
Documented photos or videos of the damage if possible
You will then need to fill out a claims form to file your claim. Once you submit your claim, your renters insurance company will begin their investigation process. Some claims take longer than others, so you should ask your provider to give you an estimated timeframe.
When does renters insurance not cover wedding rings?
Even if you purchase additional coverage and riders, there are still some circumstances that will be excluded from your policy and won’t cover your wedding or engagement ring.
Gradual deterioration: Your renters insurance will not reimburse you or replace your wedding ring from gradual wear and tear over time.
Insects or vermin: If somehow your wedding or engagement ring gets destroyed by pests, your renters insurance will not consider it a covered claim.
Destruction because of government quarantine or custom laws: Although probably a rare occasion, your renters insurance wouldn’t be able to reimburse you or consider government quarantine a covered claim.
Mechanical breakdown: If an aspect of the jewelry itself causes the damage, your renters insurance will not cover it.
