How to insure your engagement ring

There are a few common ways that engagement and wedding rings – among many people’s most important possessions – can get lost or damaged. Whether your ring is covered in any or all of these scenarios can depend on your insurer and the details of your policy

Luckily, you can insure your rings both in and out of your home with Suncorp Insurance.

The biggest enemies of your engagement and wedding rings

Understanding engagement ring insurance options

Covering your engagement ring at home

At home, your engagement ring can be covered under a contents insurance policy, such as a Suncorp Contents Insurance policy as part of your overall contents cover. When you take out Contents Insurance, to avoid underinsurance consider contents sum insured that is high enough to cover your belongings. The contents sum insured is the maximum amount Suncorp will pay for all your contents combined if they’re damaged by an insured event.

However, it is important to note that Contents insurance includes a per item limit for jewellery, which varies depending on your level of cover (under our Classic level, cover for jewellery and watches is limited to $2,000 per item or set, up to a total of $4,000 for all items and sets). If your engagement ring will cost more to replace than the jewellery limit for your level of cover, you are not fully covered. If your ring is worth more than the policy limit, you can ask us to insure it as a specified item for its full value. Your ring will then be insured up to the amount shown on your certificate of insurance. Specified contents are only insured at your insured address.

What events are covered at home?

When your engagement ring is insured as part of your contents at home, it’s covered for insured events, like fire, storm and theft, in line with the policy terms. For extra peace of mind, you can also add Accidental damage at home (or if you have Classic Extras or Classic Advantages level of cover, Accidental damage is included). This optional cover protects your contents including jewellery like engagement rings against sudden and accidental loss or damage at the insured address.

Examples include:

• Accidentally dropping your ring down the sink and being unable to retrieve it.
• Accidentally damaging your ring while doing renovations at home.

Accidental damage at home cover is available whether or not your ring is a specified item. However:

• Standard jewellery item limits apply if your ring is not specified.

If you want your engagement ring covered for accidental damage and while you’re out and about, you’ll need to add Personal valuables cover as an optional cover to your policy.

Cover away from home

If you want cover for your engagement ring when you’re away from home you can consider adding optional “Personal Valuables cover” on your policy, for an extra premium.

Personal valuables – unspecified items

This option covers eligible valuables (including jewellery) away from home, with a $1,000 limit per item.

• You don’t need to list individual items
• Each item, pair, set or collection is covered up to $1,000
• An extra premium applies

Personal valuables – specified items

If you would like to insure your engagement ring away from home for more than $1,000, you will need Portable Valuables – specified items cover.

To do this, you let us know:

• You want the ring listed on your policy,
• You want cover away from home, and
• The value you want it insured for.

If we agree, the ring will be shown on your Certificate of Insurance and covered up to its specified value. An additional premium applies.

This option gives you confidence that if your ring is accidentally lost or damaged at or away from home, it can be covered up to the amount you’ve chosen.

Consider a proper valuation for your ring

It may be difficult to value a ring that wasn’t purchased recently, such as an heirloom passed down from parents or grandparents. In cases like that, it may be worth having a professional valuer or jeweller examine your ring and provide a certificate of value.

This can be used as a basis to decide the amount you want to have it covered for, and can provide supporting documentation in the event of any potential claim.

This isn’t just for heirlooms – the value of certain items can change over time. So you may want to consider having your engagement ring looked at every few years to make sure it’s valued, and covered, appropriately.

Need to make a claim

If you need to make a claim for a ring, you should have a few documents on hand to help establish its value and prove it’s yours. These can include:

• a receipt from the time of purchase
• a certificate of value from a jeweller
• photographs of your ring taken from different angles (or, better yet, a 3D scan), and/or
• a copy of a police report if you suspect your ring has been stolen.

To be extra safe, consider asking a family member or friend to keep copies of these documents in digital or paper form as a backup.

Make a claim

Bespoke replacement

If your ring is unique and you’ve specified its value on your policy, and it’s been lost or damaged in an insured event, Suncorp Insurance may offer you the option of a bespoke replacement.

If you agree to this offer, we’ll ask a jeweller to assess your claim and suggest a solution. If your ring can be reproduced bespoke, the jeweller will either recreate it using:

• a 3D scan (if available)
• existing moulds, or
• from scratch.

It can also be useful to have photographs of your ring, taken from different angles, to assist the jeweller – especially if they’re recreating it from scratch. You’ll be consulted at each stage of the design process to make sure it’s going well.

Read more:

• Five ways to reimagine your home to create more space
• Making an insurance claim without receipts?
• Why do my premiums change?

Insurance is issued by AAI Limited ABN 48 005 297 807 trading as Suncorp Insurance. Consider the Product Disclosure Statement before making a decision about this insurance. The Target Market Determination is also available. This advice has been prepared without taking into account your particular objectives, financial situations or needs, so you should consider whether it is appropriate for you before acting on it.

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