What Is an Insurance Floater?

Floater insurance is a type of insurance policy that covers personal property that is easily movable and provides additional coverage over what normal insurance policies do not. Also known as a “personal property floater,” it can cover anything from jewelry and furs to expensive stereo equipment.

How Floater Insurance Works

Homeowners insurance often will not fully cover some items. Adding a floater policy assures the homeowner that the full value will be replaced in the event of theft, loss, or damage. These policies generally cover one individual item, so if you have several items for which you want full coverage, you will need to get a floater for each.

A standard homeowners insurance policy includes coverage for all perils included in your policy (such as fire, windstorm, theft, and vandalism) for jewelry and other precious items, such as watches and furs. However, there are limits to certain valuables.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Floater insurance is insurance beyond normal coverage that covers easily movable property.
• Floater insurance generally covers only one individual item, such as fine art or a stamp collection.
• Beyond using a floater insurance policy to boost coverage, insurers can raise their liability limits for policies.

Jewelry and other small valuable items are easily stolen, so the risk is higher. To keep coverage affordable, standard homeowners policies generally only provide about $1,500 in coverage for such items, which means that the insurer won’t pay more than that amount for any given piece of jewelry or other valuable items.

Here are some key items that floater insurance covers:

• Fine Art—Such things as antiques, books, china, crystal, collectibles, fine arts, furniture, glass, lithographs, mirrors, rugs, tapestries, paintings, pictures, sculptures, and silverware
• Firearms—Both antique and modern
• Cameras—Cameras of any type, projectors, and audio-visual equipment for personal use only, not professional use
• Sporting Equipment—Golf, surfing, tennis, or other types of equipment for personal use only, not professional use
• Musical Instruments—Pianos, guitars, electronics, and other types of music equipment for personal use only, not professional use
• Postage Stamps—Postage stamps and related items
• Collections—Collectible coins (including gold and silver), baseball cards, comics, LPs and CDs, and other collections

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