Scheduled personal property – jewelry item
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Scheduled personal property – jewelry item
Hello My bracelet mysteriously disappeared on 04/07/17 in Antigua during vacation. Specific item was scheduled with allstate nearly 10 years ago and an appraisal was provided as well as a detailed description of piece. Allstate has offered a settlement of 4,080 which was the appraisal amount listed in policy at the time item was scheduled. My understanding when taking out the policy was that the piece would be covered on a replacement cost basis. We confirmed with jeweler that exact item is still in production and the current price to replace is 7,405. Agent plans to call us and ask if we’ll sign settlement amount, but I think I may have a case against that. The allstate scheduled endorsement does list an individual item amount of 4,080 but we were never told by agent that we should have regular appraisals and update them with that information. Obviously the value of an item is going to change over time Any advice? Thanks
Asked on April 27, 2017 under Insurance Law, Indiana
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
Generally, you are entitled to the appraised value unless the policy specifically states that coverage is on a replacement cost basis. (If the policy does state that you get the replacement amount, that is what you are entitled to.) Insurance policies are contracts: if in the policy you took out coverage for a $4,080 piece of jewlery, that is the amount of compensation to which you are contractually entitled. It does not matter if the agent told you to periodically reappraise or not: the terms of the policy, as the terms of any contract, speak for themselves. You had the coverage you purchased and was reflected in the policy; if you wanted more coverage than the amount listed, you should have taken the initiative to have the piece reappraised.
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