Insurance for Jewelry Restoration Service
Owners have some connection to their jewelry. It might be because the piece was given by someone as a gratutory gift, romantic gift, congratulatory gift, or as a keepsake. So aside from monetary value, jewelry also has sentimental value for their owners. And so, many opt to get restoration service when their jewelry becomes damaged or noticeably old.
To make more money, jewelry shops employ jewelry craftsmen and offer restoration service to customers. Restoration service can range from putting a new gem to a jewelry, replating it, or removing any imperfections.
However, due to mistakes at work, craftsmen might end up scrapping a piece instead of restoring it. And when this happens, clients can file a lawsuit to demand money from the jewelry store.
Products and completed operations in jewelry store insurance is the coverage that will take care of lawsuits resulting from failed restoration. With this insurance, it’s easy to pay if the aggrieved clients ask for reimbursement equal to the value of the damaged jewelry. In addition, products and completed operations will also provide for any additional damages and their cost.
Will Insurance Cover Fake Jewelry Lawsuits?
The event of selling fake jewelry or being accused of selling fakes is rare among jewelry stores. When this happens, jewelers can use their general liability insurance. However, this is only possible if the aggrieved client files a complaint by reason of false advertising.
If using general liability isn’t the option, a jewelry store can turn to fraud coverage as an alternative. This is a specialized policy that only AON offers.
In the case the accusation of fraud resulted from an honest mistake, then professional liability coverage can help. A good example of this is when a jewelry store sells a ring with lab grown diamond to a client and forgets to disclose that it is so.
What Insurance Covers Jewelry Store Crimes?
Aside from legal issues, jewelry store owners also have to think about the social risks associated with their business. Jewelry is a “hot” item. It still sells expensively at high prices even when bought as a stolen item. And unlike cars, most pieces of jewelry don’t have serial numbers which makes tracking impossible. Burglary, robbery, or theft can end everything for a jewelry store, especially if it's new. These examples provide this point:
Long Boat Jewelry in San Francisco loses 250,000 after a successful burglary
Stephen’s Jewellers in Titusville, Florida loses an estimated $8,000 - $12,000 after thieves stole several pounds of sterling silver jewelry
A jewelry store in Falls Church loses $300,000 after armed men ransacked its products
Nuggets and Carats, a family owned jewelry store running in Orange County for 3 decades, lost all of its stocks amounting to several million dollars in a burglary heist
Finding a jewellery shop insurance policy offering coverage for theft, burglary, and robbery is very important. The number of jewelry store crimes increased from 1,438 in 2018 to 1,718 in 2020, and 89 out of 1,000 jewelry stores may experience them. So, it’s important to ask, “what coverage will provide support for jewelry stores after a robbery, burglary, or theft successfully happens?”
Jewelers block policy is a stand-alone jewelry store insurance that takes care of financial losses and damage stocks after theft, burglary, or robbery happens. As its name implies, this is a special policy with terms that’s designed for jewelry stores, jewelry suppliers, and jewelry online retailers.
Jewelers block consists of compulsory and optional protection to the policyholder. Majority of carriers make it compulsory for their jewelers block coverage to take effect when fire, explosion, lightning, riot, strike, malicious acts, burglary, housebreaking, theft, robbery, or hold-up causes damage or loss of jewelry inside the jewelry shop. Note that jewelers block won’t provide coverage for all stocks. It only accounts for the destruction or theft of:
If the policyholder decides to for it, jewelers block will also cover for the damage or loss that happen when the above mentioned objects are:
The policyholder can also decide for their jewelers block policy to cover the jewelry store building, it’s fixtures, and other associated property. A policyholder will enjoy the protection of the jewelers block for 12 months and may renew it upon the carrier’s decision.
Jewellery Business Insurance Cost
If you’ve never looked for jewelry store insurance, then you may be wondering how much it’s going to cost you. Unfortunately, it can often be difficult to get an idea of how much your insurance will cost because of different factors.
For example, your jewelry store’s size will play a huge role in determining the cost of your coverage. A larger jewelry store will automatically be more expensive to insure because you’re more likely to see more clients over the course of a month, meaning that there’s a higher risk of needing to make a claim.
Speaking of making claims, if you have a history of making several then expect to have higher insurance premiums. This is because insurers don’t quite trust that you won’t be filing any more claims in the future.
We’ve gathered the following numbers from some of the top carriers of jewelry business insurance. To get the numbers, we’ve used a medium-sized jewelry store that has no history of making prior claims.
| Company | Cost per month | Cost per year |
|---|
| Hiscox | $51 | $612 |
| AmTrust | $56 | $672 |
| Progressive | $55 | $660 |
| Average Cost | $69.66 | $835.92 |
As you can see, the average cost of jewelry store insurance tends to hover around $69.66 per month, coming out to an average total of about $835.92 per year for general liability coverage.
But we know that you’re not here just to know the cost of general liability, and so here are other jewelry store insurance cost of the coverages we mentioned:
The cost of jewelers block insurance is $84 a month or $1,008 a year on average for starting and continuing jewellery shops
The cost of general liability, with products and completed operations as an option, costs $70 a month or $840 a year
The cost of professional liability insurance for jewelers is $62 a month or $744 a year
Business owners' policy for jewellery stores is $138 a month or 1,656 a year
Insurance for Small Jewelry Business
If you run a smaller jewelry store and you’re wondering how much you can expect to pay for your coverage, you can expect to pay less on your insurance policy.
One thing to remember is that jewelry businesses (even small ones) are considered high-risk for insurance companies. And so, it’s best for starting jewelry stores to work with carriers that specialize in insurance for small jewelry business. Good examples are Next and Coverwallet.
