How Does Ring Insurance Work?

Jewelry insurance, whether it’s general jewelry coverage or specifically engagement ring insurance, works by covering the cost of jewelry repair or replacement in the event your jewelry is damaged, lost, or stolen. It’s pretty simple to purchase and can really provide you with peace of mind, ensuring you’re not out thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars if the worst happens.

“If you’re looking at millennials or Gen Z’s getting married, the engagement ring might be the largest purchase in their life,” says BriteCo founder and CEO Dustin Lemick. “So it makes a lot of sense to have that protected because it’s meaningful and sentimental.”

Need to know more? We’re answering all the basic questions you might have before deciding to purchase engagement ring insurance, including:

1. How does ring insurance work?
2. What does ring insurance cover?
3. How much does jewelry insurance cost?
4. What will your existing homeowners or renters insurance policy cover?

Plus, discover the best protection for your unique needs.

How Does Engagement Ring Insurance Work?

Engagement ring insurance works by giving you the appraised value of your engagement ring if it’s lost or stolen and you need to replace it, or by covering the costs of having the ring repaired at a jeweler’s, if it’s damaged. Engagement ring insurance provides more comprehensive coverage than typical homeowners or renters insurance policies.

Several jewelry insurance companies (including BriteCo) provide financial protection for not just engagement rings, but also wedding rings, luxury watches, antique and vintage jewelry, and jewelry collections overall. However, if you’d prefer to only get a single ring insured, that’s also an option, and you can rely on other forms of protection for your other, uninsured jewelry.

What Does a Jewelry Insurance Policy Cover?

Most insurance companies specializing in jewelry coverage will cover accidental damage, mysterious disappearance, and theft.

BriteCo will either give you your jewelry’s full value, so that you can replace lost jewelry or stolen jewelry at no cost to you, or will cover the cost of repairing your jewelry with your preferred jeweler, again, at no cost to you. Furthermore, BriteCo offers this comprehensive coverage worldwide.

Do I Really Need to Insure My Ring?

Yes, even a careful ring owner runs the risk of loss or damage. Consider the following scenarios:

• You’re going through the airport and, while you make it through security, your engagement ring does not.
• You accidentally knock your hand against a marble countertop and now your ring’s center stone is severely scratched.
• You’re swimming and your hands get cold, causing the ring to slip from your finger, lost to the waves.
• A curious child or pet picks up your ring from your ring dish at home and now it’s mysteriously gone.

“We had some clients who were super responsible, and their dog literally ate the ring,” Lemick recalls. “Afterward, they were monitoring their dog like crazy, if you know what I mean. That was like a $50,000 ring. Once they recovered it, we paid to have it reconditioned and professionally cleaned.”

Accidents happen — and when you have jewelry insurance, you can ensure that when the unexpected does pop up, you can replace or repair valuable items like an engagement or wedding ring, without draining your bank account.

How Do You Get Insurance Coverage for a Ring?

To purchase an engagement ring insurance policy, you’ll want to get your engagement ring appraised and then shop around for quotes. You can get jewelry appraised with your own jeweler, or you can use BriteCo’s convenient online appraisal services. Your appraisal value will in part determine your insurance rate.

At BriteCo, “you go onto our website, you can see the coverage and you can get a quote in 30 seconds,” Lemick says. “And then if everything looks good, the price works, etc., you can buy it right there on the website.”

Once you’ve found a quote for insurance rates that you find agreeable, after the underwriting review, you’ll be able to sign the dotted line and happily rely on your coverage.

As you can see, if you want to get jewelry insurance, the process to insure jewelry is incredibly straightforward.

How Much Does Ring Insurance Cost?

Your ring insurance cost will be 1-5% of your ring’s total value, per year. That means that if you paid $10,000 for an engagement ring, you’ll pay $100–$500 for coverage, every year.

If you purchase jewelry insurance with BriteCo, you’ll additionally receive a discount if you pay for your policy annually versus monthly. However, even if you choose to pay for coverage on a month-to-month basis, you’ll find that you could be spending less than $10 per month!

As is the case with many insurance companies, both within and outside of the jewelry industry, BriteCo updates insurance policies on a yearly basis, so that your coverage remains consistent with your ring’s potentially fluctuating value.

“We have algorithms that every year, annually on renewal, will reassess the item automatically. The system will suggest if you need to increase the value or decrease the value based on market price,” Lemick says. “We are the only ones that do that.”

Will Homeowners or Renters Insurance Protect Jewelry?

Sometimes. You can make a claim on your homeowners or renters policy if your ring is stolen or if the ring is damaged in a covered event, such as in a house fire. However, otherwise, there are some severe coverage limits when it comes to the standard homeowners policy and your jewelry.

Instead, your blanket coverage will only pay out a few thousand dollars to go toward the cost of jewelry replacement. You can buy more coverage specifically for high-value items, with higher limits, but this additional coverage still may not pay out enough to replace a lost or stolen ring with a ring of the same kind.

How Do You Make a Claim on Your Jewelry Insurance?

You can easily file your claim online with BriteCo, after which point we’ll work to get you the funds necessary to replace a lost or stolen ring, or work with a jeweler to get your ring repaired.

“You get assigned a claims concierge from BriteCo who will walk you through the process,” Lemick says. “That’s how you get started. It’s pretty simple.”

You will need to submit a few things when filing a claim, but the entire process still only takes a few minutes. Necessary information might include:

• Photos of any ring damage
• A police report for stolen rings
• A full description of the damaged, lost, or stolen ring

Unlike your homeowners or renters policy, BriteCo will not charge you a deductible when you make a claim. Moreover, “if you have a piece of jewelry and it gets lost, you’re probably going to get dropped from your homeowners insurance or your rate’s going to go even crazier,” Lemick says. But with separate jewelry insurance, your homeowners rates will not go up because you made a claim.

What’s the Best Jewelry Insurance? BriteCo Ring Insurance

The best jewelry insurance for you will vary depending on your needs, but a policy should protect the full value of your piece, provide coverage worldwide, and keep you protected from the most common threats to your jewelry, including loss and damage. BriteCo ticks all of the right boxes.

“We give 125% coverage in order to make sure that our clients are fully covered in case of a loss and the replacement costs more than 100% of the insured value,” Lemick says. “So if your insured value is $10,000, let’s say, and you have a loss and it’s really $11,000 to replace, we will go up to 25% additional. It’s a really nice feature.”.

Get your quick ring insurance quote now.

How Does insurance on an Engagement Ring Work FAQs

Is Jewelry Insurance Worth It?

Yes, when you consider that you’ll only pay 1-5% of your jewelry’s total value per year for coverage that will completely fund nearly all jewelry replacement and repairs, jewelry insurance is very much worth it.

How Does Wedding Ring Insurance Work?

Like any jewelry insurance, wedding ring insurance works by providing you with the funds to replace or repair your wedding ring in the event that it is stolen, lost, or accidentally damaged.

Who Sells Ring Insurance?

BriteCo is one of the top-ranked specialized jewelry insurance companies, but you can find other providers as well, such as Jewelers Mutual and Chubb.

What Does Jewelry Insurance Not Cover?

Jewelry insurance typically doesn’t cover routine maintenance (like if you needed a clasp replacement on a necklace or bracelet, or stone tightening on a ring) and cleaning, intentional damage, or damage or loss that occurs in extreme environments, such as nuclear fallout or war.

What Does Jewelry Insurance Protect?

A jewelry insurance policy protects your financial investment in high-value pieces of jewelry, as well as your jewelry’s sentimental value, so that if a piece is lost or broken, both your wallet and your heart are safe. Your actual policy may vary based on the insurance company you purchase your policy from, as well as other factors, but you can often view a sample policy before you commit.

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