Just had a Robbery?

If you have a house insurance policy then you should be covered for at least some if not all of your jewellery.  However, you will have to check this out with your insurance company.  As far as I am aware most insurance policies cover up to three thousand euro of non-specified items of jewellery that is items of jewellery that you did not specifically name to be covered.  Now if you have up to date jewellery valuations to substantiate your claim this is good.  However, if you have valuations that are four to six years old then they will be out of date and prices may have changed a lot since then.  If you have no valuations at all then you are legally entitled to have your own post loss assessment prepared by a registered jewellery valuer. 

What is a post loss assessment?. 

This is prepared like a jewellery valuation the only difference being that the valuer cannot see the actual item and so is relying wholly on the description that you give to the valuer in order to come up with the correct value of the item.  It is up to your insurance assessor to suggest that have this prepared by a registered jewellery valuer who is trained in how to prepare such valuations.  However, a large number of jewellery assessors do not want you to get this valuation as they want to prepare the figures themselves.  The people who prepare these valuations are not jewellers, gemmologists or not trained valuers they are employed by the insurance companies to save money for the insurance company and that is exactly what they will do.  I strongly advise you to get your own independent valuations from a fully qualified jewellery valuer who knows what they are doing.  You then have a case to submit your claim to the Ombudsman if you are not happy with what you have been offered by the insurance company.  There is a charge to prepare a post loss assessment as there is a lot of work, time and research that goes into it.  I allow a discount against jewellery if you replace your jewellery through my shop so, the post loss has not cost you anything.  If you are advised that you are not allowed to get a post loss prepared then I would write a letter of complaint to the chairman of your insurance company asking why you are not allowed to receive a post loss.  If a television or computer is stolen from your house then the insurance assessors do not tell you “oh we will find the replacement price for you” they instead tell you to go out and get your own replacement price for the item jewellery should not be any different.  You should have a choice to get replacement prices from whoever you like and not just from some unqualified insurance assessors.  It is your legal right to get a post loss assessment on all your jewellery that has been stolen as you are paying insurance for it.  I would strongly recommend that you get all your jewellery valued even items that cost from three hundred to eight hundred euro it all adds up and if you do not have any paper work or a post loss assessment then you will suffer a loss on these items.