Engagement ring insurance

January 14, 2007 1:10 PM

Help me insure my future fiancée's (I hope) engagement ring!

Insurance requirements:
-Covered in both USA and Europe (Ruling out Jeweler's Mutual)
-Standalone (No homeowners or renters insurance to put a rider on)
-Sensible premiums for a ring that will cost me ~$3k (appraisal info below)

Insurance Desires:
-Cash replacement policies are awesome. I would rather pay premiums on an appraisal near my purchase price and buy my own replacement if the ring is lost than have to pay premiums on an artificially inflated appraisal and get whatever poorly cut gem the insurance company can buy for cheap and give me.

-I would love a Chubb policy, but I keep getting responses from Chubb agents saying that they have a $250 minimum premium. This seems to conflict with the $50 minimum premiums offered by Bluenile.com. Does Bluenile have some sort of special deal? Should I just be talking to more agents further and further away from home?

-I'm buying this from a Jeweler friend who owns a little shop in town and will provide an appraisal ranging from near what I paid to the ridiculously inflated appraisals most of the chain stores provide, depending on what I want. I would love to be able to purchase a replacement ring through him, should the need ever come up. This would be an acceptable alternative to a cash value replacement policy. (If I could specify which Jeweler I want replacements to come from, and no, he doesn't have any insurance companies he regularly works with)

-The diamond is a 0.74ct, D, SI1, Round, Ideal Plus cut, EGL cert. It's a beautiful rock and I'm concerned about making sure any policy would replace it with a gem of equal quality (And that *must* include cut quality).

What do I do now? Who do I talk to? What companies offer the things I'm looking for?

posted by anonymous to shopping (3 comments total)

Had a similar thing crop up once, and the answer was 'Ask a jeweller.' Hours of calling brokers got nothing; one call to the store did. If not your friend -- try a large and expensive-ish jewellery store.
posted by kmennie at 2:10 PM on January 14, 2007

My jeweler recommended state farm saying that they may be a little bit more than the competition, but they were excellent about replacing lost/stolen jewelry.

My family's always been with state farm anyway and in fact my parents had a lost ring replaced by them once with no hassle.

I bought a similarly priced ring to yours and they insured it for $30/year (I don't know if that was discounted because I have auto insurance through them too, but I can't imagine it'd be much more than that)
posted by chndrcks at 2:32 PM on January 14, 2007

Insuring an engagment ring w/appraisal in the 15K range for 10K costs me $100/year on top of my home policy. Carrier is Amica. Sounds conisistent with chndrcks estimate.

It took a month or two to set up. I had to have an appraisal. I paid a lot less that what I have it insured for, fortunately, but it's an antique from famous Art Deco era jeweller, Raymond Yard. If we lose it, it's not particularly replaceable, otherwise, I don't think I'd insure it.
posted by FauxScot at 2:41 PM on January 14, 2007