Did Jewelers Mutual raised their rate by close to 100% ?

[kapaoke]

Hi,
I have had insurance with Jewelers Mutual for about 2 years. We paid about $160 for jewelry insurance at our current address.
After i added two small items to insurance like two wedding bands, i noticed that they insurance quote went up from 160 to 298.
I thought it might be a mistake so went to their website and checked insurance quotes based on the state and as matter of fact .. price went up by TOO MUCH !!
Does anyone have any info about it? I never got any informational letter from Jewelers Mutual explaining such high jump. I was hoping they would lower rate since we have been with them not first year but not raising it by close to 100%.

Now jewelers mutual rate seems to high for me.. what are my other options?

Regards

 

[atp223]

We recently researched Jeweler's Mutual and Touchstone (as well as USAA) to insure my new e-ring (well, my BF is calling it HIS "mid-pinky ring" till he decides propose, but I digress...). JM was a not-insignificant amount higher than Touchstone. I was looking at insuring something for 30k (not what we paid, but what I figured the cost of replacement would be), and I know Touchstone was 1% per year with no deductible (so 300 per year for 30k), but less than that with a deductible. I want to say JM was closer to 330 or 360, but I can't remember exactly. And USAA, my general insurance provider, was only 237 per year for 30k, but they replace the stone themselves and after essentially interrogating one of their representatives, I decided the chance of obtaining another AGS 0 from the vendor we got our ring from would be next to impossible if anything were to happen to our ring. To me, if you are looking for an AGS 0 and an eye-clean SI1, it is better to be able to choose the replacement yourself...so we ended up going with Touchstone because it was the cheapest "replace your own" policy that I could find.

So, in sum, try Touchstone?

 

[Dreamer_D]

Did you choose to have a deductible? It makes a huge difference.

Also, more items means more pieces to potentially get damaged and would likely mean a higher premium than if you have a single item of the same value. Premiums are all about risk.

Anyways, I have not seen a premium change.

 

[jstarfireb]

Did you choose to have a deductible? It makes a huge difference.

Also, more items means more pieces to potentially get damaged and would likely mean a higher premium than if you have a single item of the same value. Premiums are all about risk.

Anyways, I have not seen a premium change.

Neither have I. My premiums were substantially higher when I lived in Philadelphia than the Bay Area, though. So it also depends on where you live.

 

[ame]

Also keep in mind that 1)metal and diamond costs have gone WAY UP in the last year and 2) they no longer have "real competition" in their industry. You can get a rider through homeowners, but the only real competition they have for jewelry is Chubb and Chubb just changed a lot of rules on their policies, and limited who they will write one for. Probably because of fraud. So they no longer have to remain competitive to get business.

 

[denverappraiser]

Overall I think they're about the same as they always have been and are in the neighborhood of 1.25% of the declared value per year. This varies a LOT depending on your address. Some, like Manhattan New York are many times more than others, like Manhattan Kansas. The rules do seem to vary quite a bit from one company to the next so just because one outfit thinks you live in a high risk neighborhood doesn't mean that they all will.

Competiton in the 'stand alone' jewelery insurance business is bit sparse but I know of a few. Jewelers Mutual, JIBNA, and Gemshield come to mind as catering to us normal folks and, in the high end, Firemans Fund, Chubb and Lloyds of London would love to talk to you.

 

[TimMD]

We recently researched Jeweler's Mutual and Touchstone (as well as USAA) to insure my new e-ring (well, my BF is calling it HIS "mid-pinky ring" till he decides propose, but I digress...). JM was a not-insignificant amount higher than Touchstone. I was looking at insuring something for 30k (not what we paid, but what I figured the cost of replacement would be), and I know Touchstone was 1% per year with no deductible (so 300 per year for 30k), but less than that with a deductible. I want to say JM was closer to 330 or 360, but I can't remember exactly. And USAA, my general insurance provider, was only 237 per year for 30k, but they replace the stone themselves and after essentially interrogating one of their representatives, I decided the chance of obtaining another AGS 0 from the vendor we got our ring from would be next to impossible if anything were to happen to our ring. To me, if you are looking for an AGS 0 and an eye-clean SI1, it is better to be able to choose the replacement yourself...so we ended up going with Touchstone because it was the cheapest "replace your own" policy that I could find.

So, in sum, try Touchstone?

I actually have USAA and whereas they "prefer" to try to replace the stone for you, they also will give you cash equivalent. After spending a day allowing them to jibber jabber over replacing a previous stone for me (was about 15k value), I demanded cash and to my surprise after just one stern request, they said "ok" and I had the money in my account like 48 hours later. And no deductible and I pay slightly over 1%. Just thought I would share because I was under the impression it would be more difficult to get cash replacement but it was quite easy and they actually gave a VERY fair amount.

 

[atp223]

Tim - thanks for the heads up!! I think the first year has already been paid for with Touchstone, but we will definitely reevaluate come next year!

 

[denverappraiser]

USAA is a good company but they do handle jewelry claims rather differently from everyone else in the industry. They own a jewelry store outright and you not only get replacement offers from THEIR store and appraisals written by their employees, you'll get advertisements to shop with them even when you don't have a claim. There's an obvious conflict of interest here but they seem to handle it reasonably well and it's up to you to decide if you want to put up with it. If you don't care for it they've got plenty of competitors in all of these areas.

 

[lknvrb4]

I just renewed my policy through JM and it was the exact same as the previous year.

 

[kapaoke]

I am 100% positive that rate went up close to twice . Last year in Jan 2010 we were quoted 156 but this year it's 298 .. and we didn't do any changes to deductible.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I am 100% positive that rate went up close to twice . Last year in Jan 2010 we were quoted 156 but this year it's 298 .. and we didn't do any changes to deductible.

What are the values of the three items you now insure? As I said, he per item insurance cost is likely higher than insuring a single item of same value. You added two items (how little?) so it will increase. Have you called to complain? Might help.

 

[SB621]

We recently researched Jeweler's Mutual and Touchstone (as well as USAA) to insure my new e-ring (well, my BF is calling it HIS "mid-pinky ring" till he decides propose, but I digress...). JM was a not-insignificant amount higher than Touchstone. I was looking at insuring something for 30k (not what we paid, but what I figured the cost of replacement would be), and I know Touchstone was 1% per year with no deductible (so 300 per year for 30k), but less than that with a deductible. I want to say JM was closer to 330 or 360, but I can't remember exactly. And USAA, my general insurance provider, was only 237 per year for 30k, but they replace the stone themselves and after essentially interrogating one of their representatives, I decided the chance of obtaining another AGS 0 from the vendor we got our ring from would be next to impossible if anything were to happen to our ring. To me, if you are looking for an AGS 0 and an eye-clean SI1, it is better to be able to choose the replacement yourself...so we ended up going with Touchstone because it was the cheapest "replace your own" policy that I could find.

So, in sum, try Touchstone?

I actually have USAA and whereas they "prefer" to try to replace the stone for you, they also will give you cash equivalent. After spending a day allowing them to jibber jabber over replacing a previous stone for me (was about 15k value), I demanded cash and to my surprise after just one stern request, they said "ok" and I had the money in my account like 48 hours later. And no deductible and I pay slightly over 1%. Just thought I would share because I was under the impression it would be more difficult to get cash replacement but it was quite easy and they actually gave a VERY fair amount.

I had a similar experience with USAA. They couldn't find a diamond that I liked (after I lost mine) so they just gave me the amount we ensured it for to hunt for and purcahse my own diamond. Money was put into our account within a day or two. Very easy to deal with.

 

[JessicaV]

I don’t blame you for being surprised by the dramatic rate increase, Kapaoke, but Denverappraiser is correct. Your rate can vary considerably based on where you live and the amount of risk that has been determined for that particular area. Which is why if you input different zip codes into the free-quote engine on the Jewelers Mutual website, you could see differences from one city or region to the next. As others have mentioned, adding jewelry to your policy will also have an impact. That being said, there are ways to help bring the premium down. One is to choose a deductible. You may also receive other discounts, such as if you have an in-home security system. The important thing to remember is that you’re keeping your jewelry safe and if it becomes lost, damaged, stolen or disappears, you’ll have the peace of mind that it will be repaired or replaced with the same kind and likeness as the original. If you have additional questions, I recommend calling Jewelers Mutual so they can address your concerns.