Most jewelry pieces hold more than a sentimental value. Antique watches, rare gemstones, wedding bands, engagement rings and family heirlooms such as an intricately crafted diamond brooch passed down through generations are also high-value assets that can pose a significant financial challenge to replace when lost. If you own such a valuable jewelry piece, you must implement proactive measures to safeguard its security and integrity.
A jewelry insurance policy is your best approach in this scenario. Jewelry insurance typically operates similarly to other types of insurance coverages, offering you financial protection in the unfortunate event of loss, theft or damage to your memorable or expensive piece of jewelry. However, many insurance companies don’t typically offer standalone jewelry policies. Instead, they provide limited coverage via a rider.
So, you should consider a specialist jewelry insurer for more comprehensive jewelry coverage. This is where Jewelers Mutual Insurance comes into play. Established by jewelers 110 years ago, Jewelers Mutual understands your unique risk as a jewelry owner and provides comprehensive coverage at flexible pricing to help you safeguard your precious personal adornments. With Jewelers Mutual, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that your treasured piece is protected against potential risks such as loss, theft, damage, disappearance, natural disasters and worldwide travel.
The company provides replacement-only policies, ensuring the repair or replacement of insured items with those of similar kind and quality, covering up to 100% of the appraised value. Jewelers Mutual boasts fast claim processing that allows you to use your local jeweler, robust educational resources to enhance your understanding of jewelry insurance and comprehensive customer support, which is evidenced by its excellent reviews across multiple platforms. Is Jewelers Mutual the ideal insurer for your beautiful piece of jewelry? Find out from Benzinga’s constructive review of the company.
- Well-established and reputable specialists with over 100 years of experience and expertise
- Offers comprehensive and worldwide protection against multiple risks encompassing damages, loss, theft and mysterious disappearance
- Streamlined claim processes that let clients use their local jeweler
- Will cover regular wear and tears, inflation protection, natural disasters and loose gemstones
- Affordable annual insurance pricing with periodic payments available
- Provides different deductibles to minimize or offset the cost of insurance
- Robust educational and research resources to expedite learning and clients' understanding of jewelry insurance
- Highly efficient and responsive customer service across multiple channels
- AM Best A+ rated jewelry insurance policies and BBB accredited with A+ rating
- Ideal for one-of-a-kind pieces, encompassing high-dollar custom watches as well as luxury pieces adorned with aftermarket stones
- Although customizable, premiums might be relatively higher for high-value or unique pieces.
Jewelers Mutual Insurance Ratings at a Glance
Jewelers Mutual Insurance Product Offering
Jewelers Mutual provides specialized insurance solutions to meet diverse needs. For individuals, the insurer aims to protect their personal jewelry. For professionals, including jewelry store owners, the company helps secure their assets, safeguarding them from unforeseen risks. Jewelers Mutual's core personal offering is engagement ring insurance. In contrast, the business offering is more encompassing, including Jewelers Block and Business owners policy. Here's a complete breakdown of the service offering.
Personal Offering: Engagement Ring Insurance
Insuring your engagement ring is a gesture that transcends mere practicality; it's a vow to protect the tangible symbol of your love story. Beyond the romance, it safeguards the essence of that precious moment, ensuring that the enduring symbol of your commitment remains shielded no matter what twists life may hold. Most people confuse a "ring's warranty" with insurance. A warranty primarily addresses manufacturing defects, including structural issues like an improperly placed prong, but lacks protection against real-world risks such as accidental damage, theft or loss.
Those who understand this difference and wish to insure their engagement rings often believe that including it in their homeowners or renter's policy is the best option. However, the reality is that these policies offer limited jewelry coverage, often between $1,000 to $2,500. So above, $2,500 you may need to pay out of pocket unless you have a rider policy, which still involves a substantial deductible. Additionally, these policies often lack coverage for common risks, including disappearances and loss or damage to your jewelry. The claim process is complicated and often characterized by inconvenient and time-consuming estimates from different or insurer-designated jewelers.
Jewelers Mutual safeguards your engagement ring from every imaginable risk. Besides theft, loss, damage and mysterious disappearance, the insurer covers regular wear and tear, worldwide travel and protection from natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes. Jewelers Mutual goes even further to include complimentary Insurance Value Adjustment (IVA) services. So, should your ring appreciate due to inflationary pressures or market shifts, the company will adjust its value to help minimize the impact of a potential loss.
Jewelers Mutual delivers a fast and streamlined claim process. Thanks to its $0 deductible option, you needn't pay any out-of-pocket expenses in the event of a claim. The company offers "same kind and quality" replacements that more closely match your original item, unlike homeowners insurance, which typically provides "like kind and quality" replacements or cash payout alternatives so you can do it yourself.
Business Insurance Services
Jewelers Mutual prides itself as the only company that insures the jewelry industry. The Jeweler Block Policy (insurance for jewelry stores) is the most significant portion of its portfolio. This policy aims to safeguard your inventories, stock on memo or consignment, raw material and customers' property entrusted to you from potential risks, including crime and fire. You can also protect your non-jewelry inventories, business personal property, buildings, business income and other expenses from liability-related threats via Jeweler Mutual's Businessowners Policy (BOP).
Through its Commercial Umbrella Liability Policy, you can safeguard your business from extraordinary liabilities that may exceed the limits of standard BOP or other liability policies. This ensures comprehensive coverage for risks like bodily or personal injury, providing an extra layer of security for businesses. The company offers numerous add-on coverage beyond its core policies, guaranteeing business owners peace of mind.
For instance, appraisal liability covers errors in written jewelry appraisal, employment practice liability protects you from the financial consequences of employment-related lawsuits and stock disappearances protect your business from unexplained losses beyond those discovered during inventory or from packages received in good condition. Other add-ons include trade shows, workmanship, data breaches and cyber-related protection. The company leverages its expert underwriters and knowledgeable agents to help craft a cost-efficient solution that meets your core business needs.
Business Tools
In line with its commitment to security, safety and transformative technologies in the jewelry industry, Jewelers Mutual provides multiple innovative products accessible to jewelers via the Zing Marketplace. This comprehensive platform offers accessible software, essential tools and customized dashboards for jewelers, serving as a one-stop shop for all their needs. For instance, you can print labels, insure and track your jewelry shipments with all major carriers from a single view at affordable cost via its JM™ Shipping solutions. You can source diamonds (natural and lab-grown) at competitive prices from reputable and reliable diamond sellers worldwide through the Zing Diamond Marketplace.
Zing Marketplace empowers you to capture high-quality images to vividly showcase your inventory, design custom websites for an enhanced online presence and broaden your customer base by utilizing its custom web pages. Additionally, Zing Marketplace facilitates customer retention through personalized appraisals customized to the user's brand, fostering a tailored and memorable experience for clients. The platform offers much more; you can boost customer satisfaction and retention via its JM™ Care Plan, helping them keep their pieces of jewelry in like-new condition by covering everyday wear and tear or accidental damage.
You can also track and more effectively manage memos. Thanks to its Jeweler Locator feature, you can discover jewelers to facilitate repairs, exchange ideas or trade investment in your location. You can seamlessly submit and track the progress of customer claims via Personal Jewelry Insurance Claims available on this marketplace. Overall, the Zing Marketplace highly streamlines task execution for businesses. It caters to industry professionals and allows for global connections while ensuring business owners stay informed about the latest industry news and trends. The best part is that the Zing Marketplace is accessible to everyone and doesn't require you to be a policyholder.
Educational and Research Resources
Jewelers Mutual provides the most robust educational and research resources in the realm of jewelry insurers, streamlining information accessibility and actionable insights for both businesses and individuals. Its business educational and research resources aim to help jewelers maintain operational safety and security and overall business success. These resources include a collection of training courses to equip your team with the skills needed to maintain safety, downloadable helpful guides, checklists and social graphics for inventory record keeping and robbery prevention and the clarity blog with the latest tips, tools, and techniques to enhance security and business operations.
Additional resources include free exclusive membership to Jewelers' Security Alliance and Jewellers Vigilance Canada - two leading jewelry crime prevention organizations, Jeweler's extensive security directory with guidance and resources for alarms, safes, cameras and other security solutions, as well as a comprehensive 24/7 guide from opening and closing procedures to recognizing suspicious activity. The non-business educational resource — the Jewelry Box Blog, boasts a collection of articles to enlighten stylish jewelry lovers worldwide about self-expression and care through jewelry. It combines style and knowledge, addressing buying and shopping tips, insurance guides, guides for traveling with jewelry, cleaning and care guides, common care mistakes and more.
Jewelers Mutual offers highly efficient and responsive customer support, ensuring timely assistance and satisfaction for clients. Multiple customer support channels are readily accessible on the company contact page. Your choice of the available options will depend on your specific question or complaint. For instance, the time, phone number and email for inquiring about personal policy differs from that of business policy or agency. The same applies in the Zing Marketplace, where different contact numbers and emails are used for the shipping solution and care plan. Jewelers Mutual provides a step-by-step approach to sharing your concerns or complaints with the support team, which is worth reviewing in line with its commitment to enhanced customer satisfaction.
Jewelers Mutual's comprehensive FAQ section has answers to any potential or imaginable questions from coverage to appraisal, policies, claims and getting started, providing customers with expedited means of resolving possible complaints without contacting the support team. Additionally, the company maintains an active presence on many social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and TikTok, where you can connect with the team and ask questions. Jewelers Mutual has an excellent customer rating across multiple independent review platforms, including a 4.7/5 rating from over 13,000 reviewers on Trustpilot and a 4.4/5 rating from 865 reviewers on Google.
Reviewers overwhelmingly praised Jewelers Mutual for its quality service, highlighting professional customer service and the peace of mind the company delivers, reflecting high customer satisfaction. This is unsurprising considering the company's reputation and wealth of experience accumulated over 100 years, as evidenced by its numerous recognitions. Jewelers Mutual has an AM Best A+ superior rating for financial strength — a rating it has earned up to 36 consecutive times. AM Best is the world's largest credit rating agency specializing in insurance. The company is also BBB accredited with an A+ rating and has been named to the list of Ward's 50 top-performing property-casualty insurance companies up to 11 times.
Like most online platforms, Jewelers Mutual collects certain personally identifiable information when processing quotes. However, such data are used for enhanced service delivery and marketing purposes. They are not sold or shared with a third party except when given consent or in line with judicial precedent. The company implements robust encryption to ensure adequate data protection during transfer through the network and at rest. Jewelers Mutual's multiple recognition by reputation agencies, including AM Best, Ward's 50, and Inc Power Partner, is a stamp of financial strength, safety, operational consistency, performance, and reliability.
These accolades suggest that Jewelers Mutual is well-established and financially sound and has a consistent track record of operational excellence, instilling confidence that the company can handle and process claims efficiently and reliably. Being a pioneer in security and safety within the jewelry insurance industry, the company offers store owners a variety of tools to enhance security measures, showcasing a commitment to advancing safety standards in the jewelry business. Besides the security and safety-oriented educational tools for businesses, jewelers also get complimentary and low-cost store security and staff support solutions, counseling from TELUS® Health to aid in healing during vulnerable moments and accessible security strategy consultation.
Other tools are:
- Showcases and window glass hardening for protection against intruders and disasters
- Emergency board-up services to optimize security
- Free water or temperature sensor monitoring for water intrusion and power outages
Most of these tools are free as part of the policyholder's benefit, while a few are offered at subsidized prices.
Jewelers Mutual offers most of its jewelry insurance at the rate of 1% to 2% of the value of the jewelry per year. So, $10,000 worth of engagement rings will cost you $100 or $200 annually. These rates (or premiums) are personalized and may vary depending on factors such as the ring's value, your location and the policy deductible. A deductible is the amount you must pay before an insurance company covers the remaining costs. Increasing the deductible lowers your premium while decreasing it has the opposite effect.
This dynamic allows you to customize your coverage based on your financial preferences. Jewelers Mutual lets you choose your deductible with options starting at $0. Jewelers Mutual may also provide discounts on engagement ring insurance if you own a home security system or vault or if you have documentation showing that your engagement ring has been inscribed with a Gemprint identification number. The company may also offer payment plans for premiums over $200, but monthly payments are unavailable. With your appraisal or sales receipt, you can quickly and easily get a quote for your jewelry items within a few minutes. No personal information is required.
Remember, your policy with Jewelers Mutual is not a cash reimbursement policy but a repair or replacement policy. The implication is that the item value you select during application is the highest amount the company will pay for your repair or replacement in the event of a loss. In most cases, this is the amount you see on your jeweler's appraisal or detailed sales receipt. Whenever you need to file a claim, the company will work with your trusted jeweler to get your jewelry as good as new.
Jewelers Mutual provides an accessible and user-friendly experience for clients seeking comprehensive jewelry insurance coverage via its website. Its online interface is top-notch; clients need not download a separate mobile app. With your smartphone, you can quickly obtain a free instant quote for AM Best A+ rated coverage in under a minute and purchase a policy as fast. And you can pay your bill without creating an account or logging in. The entire process feels like a Netflix subscription rather than a complex insurance policy. Filing a claim is as hassle-free as getting quotes. Unlike its competitors, the company doesn't require complicated and time-consuming estimates from different jewelers to settle.
Jeweler Mutual's replacement-only policies are one of the best, with options for a $0 deductible. The company also has highly efficient and responsive customer support, contributing to a positive user experience. The multiple recognitions by reputable agencies underscore the company's financial strength and reliability, instilling trust among users. With a focus on security, Jewelers Mutual pioneers safety measures in the jewelry insurance industry, enhancing the overall user experience for individuals and businesses. Benzinga considers the company highly recommendable.
Jewelers Mutual vs. Competitors
Jewelers Mutual has a few competitors, including Lavalier and Zillion. While these jewelry insurers are also AM Best A+ rated, offering worldwide coverage on major perils, they're young companies lacking Jeweler Mutual's experience level or expertise. Zillion offers indirect quotes, meaning you must purchase a policy via its approved jewelers, making it inaccessible if your preferred jeweler is separate from its approved jewelers.
Lavalier offers scheduled and non-scheduled jewelry insurance policies limited to $1,000 and $50,000 per item. Non-scheduled means the jewelry piece has low actual value or more sentimental value. BriteCo Jewelry is the closest competitor to Jewelers Mutual with comprehensive features, including a lower rate of 0.5% to 1.5%. However, Jewelers Mutual's reputation, long-standing experience and track record of continued excellence are evident in its impressive reviews, recognition and awards. Also, please keep in mind that Jewelers Mutual is the actual carrier where you will purchase policies, file claims, etc, whereas BriteCo has their policies managed by a third-party.
- VIEW PROS & CONS:securely through Jewelers Mutual Insurance's website
Jewelers Mutual is a leading choice for those seeking comprehensive and user-friendly jewelry insurance. Its seamless online experience, personalized coverage, robust educational resources and excellent customer support across multiple channels make it possibly the best jewelry insurance company. Additionally, the company stands out as a trusted and reliable provider. Suppose you hope to insure your precious personal jewelry or provide coverage for your jewelry business. In that case, this company should be your first choice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Jewelers Mutual worth it?
Yes, Jewelers Mutual is worth it if you seek comprehensive and reliable insurance coverage for your valuable jewelry.
Should you insure expensive jewelry?
Yes, insuring your expensive jewelry is advisable to safeguard against potential loss, damage or theft, providing you with financial protection and peace of mind.
How does Jewelers Mutual work?
Jewelers Mutual works by providing specialized jewelry insurance coverage and personalized policies for clients. Clients can obtain quotes, file claims and manage their policies seamlessly through the company’s online interface, ensuring a user-friendly and efficient experience.