Personal Property Coverage

If you turned your house upside down and shook it, everything that falls out is considered personal property. Here is how your insurance protects it.

What is Personal Property Coverage?

Also known as Coverage C, personal property coverage helps pay to repair or replace your belongings if they are stolen or damaged by a covered peril (like a fire or windstorm).

This includes items like:

• Furniture and appliances
• Clothing and shoes
• Electronics (TVs, computers, phones)
• Sporting equipment
• Kitchenware and decor

Actual Cash Value vs. Replacement Cost

This is one of the most important distinctions in home insurance. How your policy values your belongings determines how much you get paid after a claim.

• Actual Cash Value (ACV): Pays what the item is currently worth, factoring in depreciation. If your 5-year-old TV is destroyed, you'll receive what a 5-year-old TV is worth today (which isn't enough to buy a new one).
• Replacement Cost Value (RCV): Pays the cost to replace the item with a brand new one of similar kind and quality, without deducting for depreciation. We strongly recommend RCV for all homeowners.

Special Limits on Valuable Items

Standard home insurance policies place "sub-limits" on certain categories of high-value items if they are stolen. For example, a policy might have an overall personal property limit of $150,000, but limit coverage for stolen jewelry to just $1,500.

Categories with common sub-limits include:

• Jewelry, watches, and furs
• Firearms
• Silverware and goldware
• Cash and coins

If you own items that exceed these limits, you can add an endorsement or "schedule" the items individually to ensure they are fully protected.

Creating a Home Inventory

If your home were destroyed, could you list everything you owned from memory? Probably not. We recommend walking through your home with your smartphone and recording a video of your belongings. Open closets, drawers, and cabinets. Save this video to the cloud so you have a record if you ever need to file a claim.