Your standard home insurance policy will include coverage for your listed personal property, but it’s not always enough if you have some incredibly valuable belongings. If you have one or more special items that you just can’t bear to lose, then getting extra coverage for those items might be what you need. This is called “listed property” or “scheduled property” (it’s weird terminology, we know!).
What’s the difference? Great question. Let’s start at the top.
Standard coverage protects you against the cost of replacing your belongings. This is called contents insurance coverage. It’s a part of every normal home insurance policy (including tenant insurance).
It protects you against the cost of replacing your belongings from sources of damage such as these:
- Fire or smoke damage.
- Water damage from a burst pipe.
- Theft or vandalism.
- Wind damage (we do get those in Canada!).
- Natural disasters.
However, each policy has a limit to how much you can be reimbursed for your stuff, and this applies to your contents coverage just as it applies to things like coverage for structural damage and your legal liability. Most policies have a contents coverage limit of roughly 30% of the cost to rebuild their homes (not the market price to buy the property). For example, if your house costs $600,000 to build, then most policies would assign a contents limit a little under $200,000 to that policy.
However, some people run into this issue under a few similar circumstances:
- A few highly expensive items could eat up most of the policy’s content coverage.
- Everything else you own might fill up the content coverage limit, leaving nothing for your high-value items.
You don’t want to be left in either situation if valuables or heirlooms are on the line—and that’s where listed property coverage comes into play. It’s one of those home insurance terms you should know before finalizing your policy.
What is scheduling listed personal property?
When the standard limits for your important belongings are not sufficient, it may be a good idea to consider “scheduling” an item on your insurance policy. By doing so, you’re paying an additional premium in order to insure the particular item up to its actual value above the standard limit.
For example, let’s say that you have an engagement ring that’s valued at $10,000 and your home insurance policy provides coverage up to $4,000 on jewelry as a standard limit (with total coverage being $50,000). If you were to schedule this engagement ring, you would be entitled to claim for it’s full value at $10,000—an extra $6,000 in coverage for that particular item above and beyond the rest of your belongings.
That’s just an example for scheduled jewelry insurance, but it can apply to other items as well. The same goes for:
- Athletes with racing bikes or high-end gear.
- Families with a precious heirloom.
- Gearheads with a vintage car that’s almost irreplaceable.
- Gamers with customized PCs or entertainment systems.
- Super fans with (nearly) priceless collections.
- Photographers with high-end cameras.
- Lifelong collections of watches or jewelry.
Keep in mind that you cannot increase your contents limit with all-risk insurance, which only adds additional coverage for the home itself, not the belongings inside of it. Similarly, it’s usually not possible to schedule a piece of business equipment if you need insurance for a home-based business. You’d need a dedicated business insurance policy for that.
The 3 benefits to scheduling listed personal property
Scheduling specific items makes sense when their value clearly exceeds:
- Your policy’s normal payout value
- The value of your other contents
It may be worth scheduling the item if it holds sentimental value as well. Think about how to protect yourself financially with these three benefits on your prized possessions.
Avoiding sub-limits
Certain categories of personal valuables like jewelry usually have a “sub-limit.” Just like in the example above, your jewelry limit could be $4,000.00. Any loss of jewelry over that limit would not be covered unless it’s scheduled onto the policy. The things that matter the most to you will be covered in their full value, giving you peace of mind.
No deductible on covered property
If there is a claim on an item that is scheduled on your policy, you’re usually not required to pay a deductible on that item. That’s important to consider when you think about the financial value of your belongings. Double-check with your insurance company regardless, and be sure to ask about this when scheduling any listed personal property.
Agreed value
Avoid the debate of how much your valuable is worth by scheduling the limit with proof of a recent receipt or a professional appraisal. Having this information on record before any kind of damage occurs will work wonders for a speedy claims process.
Not sure which belongings should be scheduled? Give your insurance broker a call to discuss what’s worth scheduling. They’ll be able to provide you with everything you need to know!
