Personal Collections Insurance protects your special items like:

• Jewelry
• Guns
• Silverware
• Fine arts
• Cameras

Homeowners policies restrict coverage for these special items, so if you own more than a small value for any of the above items (often, coverage is restricted to $1500 or even less).

You may be able to buy additional coverage on your Homeowners policy, but if not, you can purchase a separate insurance policy, called a Personal Collection Floater.

The Insurance Information Institute’s report shows that theft is a very common cause of losses for home owners. Due to the fact that special personal collections have restricted coverage, it’s important to address this exposure by purchasing additional limits on your homeowners policy or purchasing a separate floater policy.

Schedule vs Blanket

The most important concept to understand when buying Personal Collections Insurance Floaters is the difference between scheduled and blanket coverage. If your items are scheduled on the policy, this means you have detailed descriptions and values assigned to each individual item.

Scheduling your coverage is the best practice to follow, as it ensures you receive the correct value for your loss and scheduling also provides lower rates than blanket coverage. Furthermore, blanket coverage usually has a “per item maximum” which could severely restrict coverage if you have individual items worth more than the per item max.