Insured by You, Documented by Us

The schedule is years out of date. The policy covers the collection at home and is ambiguous about commercial storage. And nothing covers the journey between the two. All three are discovered at claim and all three are resolved with one conversation with a broker beforehand.

Transit is also the leg where responsibility is least clear. An item being carried by the owner, by a family member, or by a jeweler for repair may fall outside cover entirely, and each of those is a routine occurrence rather than an unusual one.

• That your policy follows the items into commercial storage.
• That the schedule reflects current values, not purchase prices.
• Whether transit to and from us is covered, and by whom.
• What documentation your underwriter wants from a facility.
• How often appraisals should be refreshed.

Does the policy follow the items into commercial storage. Is transit covered, and by whom, in each direction. What documentation does the carrier want from a facility. How often should valuations be refreshed.

Four questions, one conversation, and they resolve almost every gap that turns up at claim. They are also considerably easier to ask before anything moves.

1. 01Provide item-level schedules, photographs and condition records.
2. 02Document every movement, which supports a claim.
3. 03Give your broker access on your authority.
4. 04Say plainly that the insurance is yours, not ours.

Deal with the transit gap explicitly. It is the most commonly ambiguous clause and it applies at precisely the moment your collection is least protected — in a car, on a road, with somebody carrying it.

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