Everything you need to know about jewellery insurance

Jewellery can be precious. Many of us have a favourite piece like a wedding or engagement ring, an antique necklace, a gift from a special event like a graduation, or even an old gold band left to you by an uncle.

Whatever the item, having the right jewellery insurance can provide cover in case your precious piece is lost, stolen or damaged, either at home or while out and about.

While GIO doesn’t offer a specific jewellery insurance product, a GIO Home and Contents Insurance or Contents Insurance policy can help ensure your favourite pieces are covered.

What items can be covered by insurance?

With GIO Home and Contents Insurance, you can relax knowing that the things in your home will be covered.

When you take out a policy with GIO, you will be asked how much you would like to insure the contents of your home for. This contents sum insured covers things like:

• clothes and furniture
• watches and jewellery, like wedding rings, engagement rings or precious stones
• unfixed electrical goods like home computers, printers and electronic tablets
• unfixed electrical appliances not housed in a cabinet
• carpets, rugs, internal blinds or curtains, and
• floating wooden floors in a unit.

Contents items are split into three categories:

• General contents
• Contents with fixed limits
• Contents with flexible limits

There are also certain items that are not covered under contents insurance. For further details, read through the PDS.

Explore GIO Home and Contents Insurance

Add jewellery to a home inventory list

Keeping a record of any jewellery’s value is an essential step to making sure they’re covered, and a home inventory list is a good method of organisation.

A home inventory list details every item in your home, along with its value. It can be a digital file or a collection of documents in a folder – just as long as it’s organised. Keeping it in a drawer or folder means you can store supporting documents like warranties and receipts with the inventory list, and know that all the info you need is in one place.

This is also the best method of calculating your contents sum insured and ensuring that it is as accurate as possible. That way, you’re not over or under-insured.

Get a valuation of your jewellery

There may be some cases where you don’t have access to any documentation of ownership, value or proof of purchase. For example, the jewellery may be:

• a family heirloom
• an inherited item, or
• an antique piece with a purchase value that may not accurately reflect its actual value.

It may be worthwhile taking the item to a jeweller or professional valuer and obtaining a certificate of valuation, as there may be a discrepancy between the valuation and the sale price. If the item is particularly important or valuable, consider doing this every few years to reflect the changing value of precious stones and rare metals.

Consider taking close and clear pictures of any jewellery you include in your policy. If you can, consider capturing a short video or 3D scan of the piece. Try to get it from as many angles as possible. Include any distinct features and marks if you can, such as a jeweller’s mark, as this can indicate value and authenticity.

Record important information

Keep all the important information somewhere safe. If it’s a physical list, store it in a safe and secure location, like a lockbox. If it’s a digital list, back it up on a cloud storage system, or a hard drive which should then be stored somewhere safe.

If possible, consider having a family member or trusted friend keep a copy of your important documentation, just in case.

Insure your jewellery at home

You can check whether your jewellery is insured while at your home by referring to your policy documents. The PDS offers general information that applies to all policyholders, while the certificate of insurance contains specifics about your policy, such as your sum insured.

If you find that your jewellery is not insured, don’t panic. You may be able to update your policy details.

If you’re a GIO customers with Home and Contents or Contents Insurance, you’ll have one of three levels of insurance. Each level, from Classic to Platinum, has a flexible limit per item, with Platinum having the highest.

So, let’s say that you have Classic Extras cover and a diamond ring worth $8,000. At that level of cover, the limit for jewellery and watches is $3,000. You can request for us to cover the full $8,000 and then pay an extra premium. It will be shown on your certificate of insurance as a ‘specified contents item’ and will be covered so long as it’s at the insured address.

Insure your jewellery away from home

If you want to make sure that the jewellery you wear wherever you go is also covered, you may be interested in portable valuables cover.

Unspecified portable valuables cover is automatically included in Classic Extras and can be included in Classic cover for an additional cost. Platinum-level coverage is included under Platinum Contents, which is similar but separate to portable valuables.

Portables valuables ensures that select items are covered for accidental loss or damage anywhere in Australia and New Zealand. For jewellery and watches, there is also cover anywhere in the world for 30 consecutive days, as long as they’re being worn by you or in a secure safe.

For a full list of covered items and a complete breakdown of the differences in cover, refer to the PDS.

Unspecified items

Each level of cover has a limit on the portable valuables sum insured, but you can choose to increase this sum insured up to $10,000 and pay more on your premium. With Classic Extras, the cover limit starts at $4,000 and can be increased if desired.

This limit covers unspecified items – that is, items that aren’t individually listed on your policy – with a limit of $1,000 per item, pair, set or collection. For anything that exceeds this value, unspecified cover may not be the most efficient method of coverage.

Specified items

If you want to cover a certain item in particular, then you can specify it on your policy – just like the diamond ring example mentioned above.

By paying extra on your premium, this specified item and any others listed will be insured to their full value.

Note that if you have already listed a piece of jewellery (or any other item) on your policy for extra cover at home, you have to list them again for portable valuables cover – that way, they’ll be covered when you’re away from home.

You can specify an item when you take out a policy, renew a policy, or by simply logging in to your account and updating your policy details.

Update Your Details

Claiming lost jewellery

If you have to make a claim – for example, if you lose your wedding ring or have a necklace stolen – you can do so online or through the GIO App. You can help speed up the process by having the following information on hand:

• A description of what occurred, including the time, date and location of the insured event.
• Proof of ownership and value.
• A copy of the police report if the item you’re claiming has been stolen.

This is also when having photos is helpful, especially in the case of bespoke jewellery. That way, if a replacement is needed, the jeweller can attempt to remake it to the best of their ability.

An excess will generally apply to all jewellery claims. Be sure to check your PDS for your policy’s minimum proofs for a claim and portable valuables excess.

What happens if you find your jewellery after claiming

This can sometimes happen. A piece thought lost can show up from under the fridge, or out from the depths of the couch.

If you’ve already lodged a claim, there are two options:

• If the item hasn’t been replaced yet, you can simply keep the original and let us know you found it.
• If it has been replaced, you can swap the item for the original. If you’d like to keep both items, you may be able to purchase the replacement.

Read more:

• How to insure valuable items you find in the attic
• Tips to reduce your home insurance premium
• How to insure your smartphone

Insurance issued by AAI Limited ABN 48 005 297 807 trading as GIO. Read the Product Disclosure Statement before buying this insurance. The Target Market Determination is also available. This advice has been prepared without taking into account your particular objectives, financial situations or needs, so you should consider whether it is appropriate for you before acting on it..