How to get insurance in Canada for the engagement ring

[Ribbon Ring]

Well, I guess the subject explains my question. Help?

 

[grapegravity]

Chubb Canada

 

[btrflygrl23]

Hi Ribbon,

I''m sure other Canadians will chime in soon.
I''m Canadian too and this was my experience. I got my e-ring from WF and initially I attempted to insure the ring with Touchstone insurance through the WF website since they have a policy where if the something happened to my ring I could work with WF to replace it and that option really appealed to me.
However I was unable to do that since there seems to be an issue when it comes to getting stand alone policies in Canada, well at least where I live.
Touchstone was very nice and they tried their best to help me but ultimately I was not able to do it.
I ended up having to add the ring to my FI''s homeowners policy as a separate rider and that''s how I was able to get insurance for my ring.
I''m happy with the amount I have to pay and I pay it monthly so it ends up being very manageable and the policy covers everything...damage, loss, theft, mysterious disappearance etc...
Hope that helps let me know if you have any other questions

 

[Ribbon Ring]

I called Chubb and I was told that in Canada at least they only offer jewellery insurance to the industry not to the consumer. Adding it to my home owners insurance really won't work for me, for a variety of reasons. And if I could get it to work, I noticed that most of them have a per item limit of around $3000; and then there is the deductible on top of that.

 

[shimmer]

Have you tried AMA insurance? They have different levels of coverage (the basic being the $3000 with a deductible, if I remember correctly) and I had the middle one. Now I have Wawanesa and their standard coverage is up to $5,000. I''m in AB if that makes any difference!

 

[Miss_Cupcake]

Yeah, I am having trouble finding an insurer here too (I''m in Montreal). I contacted Jewelers Mutual, and at this time, they don''t insure individuals in Canada, but they are working on it, and are expecting to be able to insure jewelry in Canada by the end of the year.

 

[shimmer]

Date: 5/25/2009 6:00:08 PM
Author: Miss_Cupcake
Yeah, I am having trouble finding an insurer here too (I''m in Montreal). I contacted Jewelers Mutual, and at this time, they don''t insure individuals in Canada, but they are working on it, and are expecting to be able to insure jewelry in Canada by the end of the year.

Great news!

 

[beau13]

I''m in Ontario, I just added it to my home insurance as a rider.

 

[btrflygrl23]

Ribbon sorry about Chubb I should have mentioned that I tried Chubb also and was told the same thing and ditto on the JM policy they are not yet set up to to help individuals in Canada.
I''m not sure what you mean by $3000 dollar limit plus deductible?
Like Beau I added it to FI''s homeowners as a rider separate from the main policy.
I''m in BC

 

[Ribbon Ring]

By that I mean when you add your engagement ring to your list of jewellery for your insurance policy that standard policy typically has a gross and per item limit. If your per item limit is $4000 and your total limit is $8,000 (and this is similar to some policies) then if you lose your engagement ring and it is worth $4,000 you pay the first $1000 (if you have a $1,000 deductible) and they pay the other $3,000. If however, you have a ring worth $9,000 you pay the $1000, they pay $4000 and then the rest, $4000, is uninsured and up to you to cover. Most policies seem to have a low limit for their jewellery coverage. A separate rider may be a different thing, though.

 

[ilovethiswebsite]

We are in Toronto, and got our ring insured by Allstate under an extended jewelery policy added to our homeowner''s insurance. It covers the total cost of our ring as evaluated by the appraisal.

 

[btrflygrl23]

Oh ok I understand thanks for explaining.

My policy isn''t like that so I didn''t know how yours works. Mine has my ring as a rider, insured for the amount of the appraisal I gave them and I will make sure from time to time to give them a new appraisal when I renew so that if the value of my ring fluctuates I can make sure if anything happens I get the proper amount. My deductible is $500 and there isn''t any portion of my ring they won''t cover but yes we would have to pay the $500 but it''s worth it.
Sorry I couldn''t be of more help

 

[CharmyPoo]

You have to add it as a rider on top of your home insurance. This means you have to pay additional premiums per year for it. Your regular home insurance has an enforced limit. I wasn''t able to find any other options but will look forward to JM coming by the end of the year.

 

[Ribbon Ring]

Well, I wish JM was here already, because I don''t have home insurance so I don''t have anything to add a rider to. I could get home insurance, but for my situation I don''t need it. So in Canada right now my I would have to pay premiums for something I don''t need in order to pay premiums on a rider that I do need. In the end it may not be worth it.

 

[mausketeer]

I don''t have anything to add to this except that WHY does everything in Canada have to be FIVE TIMES more complicated than in the States? It makes no sense to me (I''m Canadian - born and raised in Vancouver) This type of thing drives me BATTY!!! I had the same issue but ended up just tacking it on to my home owners insurance. Luckily the value was just under the "jump up" amount ($5,000) or else I would have had a big increase in my payments (I would have had to increase it to $10,000!

 

[chamois]

I tried to get separate insurance for my rings here in Victoria BC. I agree everything is very complicated, and soooooooo slow to change ! Some of the insurance companies I spoke to were surprsied that I was wanting to get my jewellery insured on its own and didn''t understand why I would want to do that, in the end in order to get my rings insured I had to add a rider to our home owners insurance. I wish we had the option of Jewelers Mutual or Chubb ! !

 

[btrflygrl23]

WOW I totally hear you mausketeer and chamois. I went through this whole thing too last year and it was exhausting I mean we are in Canada not like greenland and who knows maybe it is easier to get ring insurance in greenland too geez.
I wish JM and Chubb woudl realize there is a market over here and get going on offering insurance for Canadians.
As it is I believe the only way to get insurance on rings here is to add it to homeowners and that''s not for everyone and it shouldn''t have to be...
Initially people were surprised that I wanted insurance for my ring too and that seemed odd to me but I guess they found me odd I mean the first woman I dealt with at the insurance place asked me why I purchased my ring in the US and did I know that we had jewelers here in Canada???? How rude! I told her that I can choose to get my ring anywhere I please...ring insurance sure is much more simple and available in the US, I want things to get to Canada quicker!

 

[chamois]

Unfortunately for Canada, I buy all my jewellery in the US now. I did try working with Canadian jewellery stores here in Victoria BC but couldn''t get the stone selection/style/workmanship/price I wanted. I went to every store in Victoria for stacking rings and all the sales assistants looked at me as if I was asking for something from another planet !

 

[btrflygrl23]

chamois you said it the stores here haven''t even heard of an AGS certed stone let alone GIA most try to tell me I am out of my mind and that the EGL certs are the best and that I''m talking shop.
Forget price I would never have been able in my area to get my e-ring for the price I paid WF no one has heard of WF over here when I talk about them they also think I''m crazy.
There is a total lack of decent settings/workmanship etc.
I''m not saying this is the case for the whole of Canada but in my area, I am on the mainland Vancouver it is pretty bleak too.
There is Birks but I find the items pretty overpriced and I don''t necessarily think the SAs there are educated in the finer points of cut etc...again not all Birks stores but the one near me for sure.

 

[RevChris]

As a Canadian who has been reading these boards recently I just wanted to Chime in and say that I have had a very similar experience here in PEI as you all have had elsewhere. The B+M shops just don''t have the products, they are Charging F-H , VS, Ideal prices on I-J-K SI3-I, Good stones. And when you request to see their stone options outside the display case they look at you like you have gone mad. And don''t bother asking for a gradeing certificate that isn''t from the store or some lab you never heard of. I gave several places the specs I wanted in the price range I found on JA, WF and BN and some of them didn''t call me back while others just called to say either "no" or " for signifigantly more". Also alot of the local B+M were peddleing 10-12K rings for 18k prices..... Now that we are shopping for insurance we are getting similar wide eyed stares when we ask.

If anyone finds a good solution for insurance in the east let me know!

 

[micmac]

Hello fellow Canadians

My fiance is in the process of trying to get insurance for her e-ring (we just got engaged on May 29th). She called her home insurance broker to find out if an US appraisal is sufficient - of course that would be too easy and convenient for us .. so the answer was no. They said to take it to a reputable and local jeweler.

I have one major concern that requires a quick story:
On Saturday we took a stroll in our city (waterloo) and decided to stop by a local jewelry story. We wanted to know how much an appraisal would be, anticipating that the US appraisal would not be accepted. They said they can do a verbal one for free. The lady said it looks like a F/G VS1-VS2 stone. It is an H, VS2 from Whiteflash (an ACA stone) she commented that the cut is very nice. She then says something like that would sell for roughly $5000 in their store ... oookayyyy .. I almost laughed out loud. I guarantee that if I sent in a friend and told him to ask how much a 0.9ct AGS certified (not that Gem-Scam crap) H, VS2 with perfect hearts and arrows and super ideal proportions cost. They would first loose their mind and then quote him something well over $7,000.

So here is my question:
How can I make sure my insurance company will replace my stone with something as good (super ideal) as I have. All the jewelers here couldn''t tell a well cut stone if it came and bit them in the a**. So I feel that they will under-spec the stone on the appraisal. There is some process to making sure that if something happens my replacement stone will be WF ACA?

Any fellow Canadians have experience with this?

Thanks - Mike

 

[btrflygrl23]

micmac Oh my gosh I hear ya! I tried with my perfectly appropriate US appraisal and the first insurance people we went to acted like I must have stolen my ring! So I had to pay an obscene amount of money to a non-independent appraiser (try finding an independent appraiser in my neck of the woods and I''ll eat my hat)and send my ring out which I did NOT want to do for 5 weeks eek! just to get less insurance than I KNOW my ring is worth should be lost or stolen!
By the way I also have a WF ACA and the appraiser judged my cut quality as "VERY GOOD" only this is for an AGS graded triple 0 H&A patterning stone. They also got my clarity and color wrong and I continue to defer to my AGS cert.
What I ended up doing is getting it added to my homeowners insurance as a rider and our homeowners insurance is through our bank and should something happen to my ring I can opt to take the amount I insure it for as cash. Which is what god forbid if anything happens I will do and then go promptly to WF and find a replacement.
I am insured for everything though I checked theft, loss, mysterious disappearance, damage etc...
To be really clear I would NEVER let my policy try to get me to replace my ring here mainly b/c it would never happen I could never get the quality of what I have for the price I paid.
We saved forever to get my e-ring and we can''t do it again and definitely not in Canada sorry to say and I do hope someday in the future things change but I mean I''m in my late 20s and things are bad so who knows when things will turn around.
By the way I looked all over the place here and did TONS of research and there was no where here for me to get insurance for just my ring in order to insure it I HAD to have homeowners insurance or my ring would have had to be uninsured.
This should not be the case anywhere in Canada geez

 

[RevChris]

Hey,

For anyone that has been following this thread it looks like the advice to add it to your homeowners insurance is not only accurate but the only way to do things here in Canada.

See: http://www.insurance-canada.ca/consinfohome/III-Jewelry-412.php

I''m a little cranky to hear that it is not likely for an insurance company to accept the US appraisel considering I have been unable to find an independent appraiser in PEI let alone the surrounding region. And considering how unlikely it is for me to get a fair appraisel from a local jewlery shop (who seem to be quite fine with selling small , yellowish stone with visible black inclusions for more than I paid). I will post an update when I get our insurance all sorted out.