VIDEO: Insuring Those Expensive Christmas Gifts

GOLDEN TRIANGLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Christmas is over, but the gifts are still fresh and bringing enjoyment to people.

Some of those gifts are high-priced items and would be a big loss if something happened to them.

Jewelry, electronics, you name it. Those are the hot items many people receive during the holidays.

Although the pricey gifts come with a big price tag, they don’t come with insurance.

Insurance companies advise people to go ahead and get those items covered, to cover all of the risks that come with them.

Christmas is a busy time of year for shoppers and businesses, especially jewelry stores.

Many couples get engaged and jewelry is popular item on Christmas lists.

J. Parkerson Jewelers owner, Jamie Parkerson, highly recommends getting those new, shiny items insured.

“If you’ve got something that’s got a value of say, $250 dollars or more, I would get some insurance on it,” says Parkerson.

Parkerson has been in the jewelry business for three decades and has witnessed what happens when people don’t get their diamonds insured.

“I had some lady call me up one time, years ago, and was like, ‘yeah, I had this ring,’ and you know, she’s giving me a description of it and everything, but didn’t have any documentation what so ever. No receipt, appraisal, or anything,” says Parkerson.

To make sure you don’t go through this, Parkerson says this is the first step in getting your new bling covered.

“If anybody purchases something from me, I am going to give them a free appraisal on it. Most of the insurance companies require an appraisal to be able to do an insurance policy on the item,” says Parkerson.

Different insurance companies have different policies.

Account Associate at Rob Naugher State Farm Insurance, Drew Lance, says many people believe their higher value items are already covered under their current insurance policies, but that’s not always the case.

“A lot of people think that, you know, a homeowners policy covers, you know, all of your personal property and it does to a certain extent, because you have your deductible and then certain items like, jewelry, guns, furs, silverware, you know, computers, all of that. They have limits on it,” says Lance.

That’s why Lance stresses the importance of a personal articles policy for those special items.

He says the policy is inexpensive, has a broader coverage, and also covers each item to the fullest, if something happens to it.

“Special stuff like that is important to people. It has more value than other stuff and you do want to have, if you lose it, or break it, or you know, it’s stolen, something like that, you want it replaced, and so that’s why it’s important to do a policy like this,” says Lance.

Lance also advises checking your homeowners policy documents to see exactly what it covers.

He also says you can set up a State Farm personal articles policy with no deductible.