Jewelry Insurance InfoOMG - I lost my Rings! Now What? Panic sets in. Breathing becomes difficult. Your mind racing a million miles an hour. Wait a minute... you ask yourself, "do I have jewelry insurance?" When Your Wedding Rings are StolenIt's terrible, but unfortunately theft happens. We're busy working, shopping, talking - living our lives. And when you least expect it, it happens. Somebody breaks into your home and steals your jewelry, maybe even your cherished wedding rings. It hurts. You feel violated. But you'd feel ten times worse if you didn't have the money to replace them. What If You Lose Your Rings?How many times have we misplaced or lost something in that familiar black hole - also known as our home? Here are some common scenarios that could happen to you:
Sad to say, jewelry is particularly prone to this kind of "mysterious disappearance." And mysterious disappearance is not covered by a home owner's or renter's insurance policy. Then, there's an entirely different scenario we may encounter. When we know exactly how our ring went missing.   "It Will Never Happen Me"We never imagine that we're going to be the one it actually happens to. Ask anyone who has ever lost or had their rings stolen. They'll tell you. They felt the same way. We may reason that we never take our rings off. So how could we lose them? But it happens. Sometimes in some pretty crazy ways. Other times just plain heartbreaking. It can happen to us too in the blink of an eye. And by the time we realize it, our rings are gone. Once in a blue moon, we hear the happy stories of rings being found and returned. But more often that is not the case.  When a Break-In Happens To YouA 2012 crime report says that in the U.S. burglaries happen every 14.6 seconds. Yikes! That means nationwide about 1 in every 36 families will be victimized. Your chances of being one of those families varies depending on where you live. In metropolitan areas, your chances are a whopping 1 in 20 of being victimized. In a more rural setting, the odds drop to about 1 in 50. How could you lose your wedding rings in a robbery when you wear them everywhere? Here are a few scenarios:
And now your ring's at home and you're not. Home burglaries usually happen during the day - when you are gone. A thief can break into your home in 60 seconds or less. On average, a burglar will spend no more than 8-12 minutes in a home. They get in and out as quickly as possible. So, they head directly to the place we're most likely to keep out most valuable possessions. The bedroom. Where do you keep your jewelry? Right. In your bedroom. We put it there because we feel like it's private and protected. Thieves know this too. Thieves also know jewelry can quickly and easily be converted into cash. The typical loss due to a home robbery is $2,119. According to Dept. of Justice statistics 70% of all personal property loss sustained in a home burglary is jewelry. This means the average jewelry loss is $1,483.30! The average arrest rate for burglaries in the U.S. is only 13%. So, if your home is broken into, the chances of recovering your stolen possessions are small. And even if they do catch the bad guys who robbed you, that doesn't mean they still have your jewelry. Home Owner's or Renter's Insurance typically only covers a maximum of $1500 for stolen jewelry. That's not per piece of jewelry, that's total. So it doesn't matter that your wedding rings were worth $3,000. It doesn't matter that your diamond earrings or tennis bracelet that you got for your anniversary was taken as well. All you're going to get from your basic home owner's insurance typically is $1500.    Jewelry Insurance To-Do:The reality is that it's easy for your ring to slip off your finger without you even realizing it. The fact that every 12-14 seconds a family is a victim of a home robbery is a part of life. The unfortunate truth is that we can easily be distracted for only a moment, and have our purse, wallet or bag taken from under our very nose. It's just the world we live in right now. We can however take measures to protect ourselves. At the very least, we might be able to help ourselves, have what was lost or stolen, restored to us. Here's how you can accomplish that:
Lisa's StorySometime over Memorial Day weekend 2012, Lisa lost the engagement ring she'd worn on her finger for 15 years. The diamond had been in her husband's family for decades. Upon their engagement it was given to Lisa as a gift from mother in law. She had it set into a gold and platinum wedding band, custom designed by both Lisa and her fiance'. In many ways, Lisa's ring was one of a kind. Lisa first realized the ring was missing while running errands after the long holiday weekend. She hoped she had simply left it on her bed stand, and was sure she would find it when she returned home that night. When it was not there, Lisa began to worry. Her ring did not turn up, and panic was setting in. After tearing apart the couch, the sideboard, and the bookshelf next to her bed, her wedding ring was still missing. Lisa retraced her steps to the department store she'd visited over the holiday weekend. Maybe she had absent mindedly removed her ring while sampling hand lotion at the counter. She hurried to the store, but nearly a week had already past. While the employees were exceptionally kind, her ring had not been turned in and was nowhere to be found. Turning to Craigslist, she posted about her lost ring. If her ring had been found, maybe that person would read her post and contact her. She even offered a reward for its return. But Lisa heard nothing, her ring was simply gone. She hadn't mentioned her missing ring to her husband. Finally she asked him. She hoped he'd found it, perhaps had it all along, and was playfully trying to teach her a lesson. But he knew nothing about it. Somehow Lisa already knew that. It had never been in her husband's nature to play that kind of trick on her. Instead he held her in his arms as she cried. Comforting her that no matter what happened, they would be OK. Nadia's StoryNadia, a medical student, was over the moon when her boyfriend proposed. He asked her to marry him with a platinum and diamond ring that had been passed down through four generations of his family. But a chance visit to a coffee shop after her shift at the hospital changed everything. Nadia had taken off her ring that morning during her hospital rotation. Then after work, settled in for an afternoon of studying at a nearby coffee house. Her engagement ring, still in her bag where she had carefully stored it earlier in the day, sat next to her. Momentarily distracted, in an instant her bag was gone, stolen, along with the family heirloom that had been entrusted to her. Nadia was devastated. "I got to be the one to have it and I just can't digest that I was the one who lost it. I didn't see my life possible after that point. I just wanted to melt and go in the ground. It was bad, I just want it back." Both Nadia and her fiancé are med students, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, so investing in another ring is not in the cards at this point. While police are investigating and have requested surveillance video from that café, chance are small of having the ring returned. If you like this article and think it would be helpful to your friends and followers, |
