What Does Jewellery Shop Insurance Cover?

Getting the best jewellery shop insurance coverage should be at the top of your list for protecting your jewellery business from the many risks its faces. Whether you are a sole trader with a small shop in a busy town centre or you operate a larger shop full of display cabinets and have staff behind the counter, protecting your jewellery shop should be your number one concern.

Unlike other retail shops in your area, the level of coverage you need will be vastly different because of the value of the stock you carry. Your jewellery shop insurance policy will likely have elements similar to your neighbouring businesses. Still, your shop will need a higher level of stock or inventory insurance to cover the costs of replacing your stock should it be stolen or lost in a fire.

Regardless of the size of your business and how much stock you carry, your jewellery shop insurance policy should be built around the needs of your business rather than a generic ready-made shop insurance package.

What does jewellery shop insurance cover?

In most cases, your jewellery shop insurance should include the following elements:

• Buildings and contents insurance
• Stock/inventory insurance
• Public liability insurance
• Employer’s liability insurance
• Shop front (window) insurance
• Business tools and equipment protection
• Product liability insurance
• Business Interruption
• Legal expenses cover

You should also consider a seasonal increase cover for those times when your shop will be carrying extra value items and more stock during peak sales periods, such as Christmas and New Year.

Your shop will carry a lot of unique pieces. If you also offer jewellery repairs, alterations and specialist cleaning services, you will be entrusted with jewellery belonging to your customers rather than yourself. Remember that burglars will not discriminate between your jewellery stock and pieces that belong to your customers.

If you offer repairs and alterations, it is worth remembering that you may be holding on to many pieces that don’t belong to you following major jewellery shopping seasons like Christmas and Valentine’s Day. Many jewellers can be inundated in January and February with customer requests for ring adjustments.

If a customer finds the new ring they had for Christmas keeps slipping off or is a little too tight and feels uncomfortable on their finger, it is common for them to bring it to a jeweller for adjusting in the weeks following Christmas.

So while you may have taken out extra insurance to cover the run-up to Christmas, it will be worth boosting your insurance to cover the following weeks when you may be holding on to a lot of jewellery that doesn’t belong to you.

Do you need specialist jewellery shop insurance?

Your jewellery shop insurance policy will look very different to a policy for a shop across the road that sells other products or services. Still, you will share some standard elements commonly needed for a brick-and-mortar shop business. The basics include:

• Public liability: This will cover the costs of a compensation claim made by a customer for an injury sustained on your premises or damage caused to their personal property.
• Employer’s liability: This is a legal requirement for every UK business that employs staff. You will need this cover if you have staff working in your jewellery shop – even seasonal or part-time staff.
• Product liability: This protection is designed to cover your costs should any of the jewellery pieces you sell cause harm to your customers. Even if you don’t make any jewellery pieces your shop sells, you can still be held responsible for selling faulty or dangerous goods.
• Stock insurance: For a jewellery shop that carries stock of high value, this will be essential insurance for your business. The good thing about working out what stock insurance you need is that you don’t have to list every single piece of jewellery in your shop that you need to insure. You only need to specify a total value to cover the losses, enabling you to restock with like-for-like pieces.
• Contents insurance: This helps protect the essential tools and equipment you need for your business, such as computers in your back office, the display cabinets and worktops you need for jewellery repairs and alterations.

If you own the building you operate your jewellery shop from, you will need building insurance to cover the costs of rebuilds or refurbishments following a fire on your premises. However, if you rent your shop premises from a commercial landlord, then it will be the responsibility of the landlord or building owner to take out building’s insurance.

For your peace of mind, check with your landlord to see what their buildings insurance policy covers. Commercial landlords sometimes allow their tenants to change the shop front and display window to better suit their needs. In this case, they may expect their tenants to cover any damage to the shop front, such as a smashed window or broken door locks after a burglary, for example.

How do you compare jewellery shop insurance?

It can be very helpful to seek specialist help with your jewellery shop insurance if you need it. Our team at Brisco Business Insurance are here to help you with any questions or concerns you have about insuring your jewellery business. We can help you find the most cost-effective business insurance to meet your needs from the UK’s leading insurance providers.

The first step to finding the best insurance deal is using our website’s free ‘compare quotes’ tool. You can bring up great-value quotes to read through and compare in just a few clicks. However, we always recommend that you pay careful attention to the details in each quote and avoid being tempted by the cheapest one in your search results.

You must protect your livelihood with the most comprehensive coverage to ensure that your costs are covered should the worst happen. This means checking the level of each element of protection in the quote to make sure it will pay out enough to cover your losses should you need to make a claim. Nothing can be worse than finding yourself underinsured and paying excess costs out of your pocket.

Conclusion

Brisco Business Insurance works with leading jewellery shop insurance UK providers, and we make it easier for you to find the right coverage to meet your needs. While buying your shop insurance can seem complicated, it makes sense to work with our team of experienced business insurance brokers if you need clarification on the type and level of insurance you need for your shop.

As previously mentioned, it is easy to be tempted by a ready-made insurance package designed to meet the needs of an average shop. In reality, your jewellery shop isn’t average, and the coverage provided in a ready-made package will undoubtedly be lacking in areas such as stock insurance.

Do not hesitate to contact us at Brisco Business if you need help building your jewellery shop insurance policy. Our experts can help you compare business insurance quotes online, making it easier than ever to find the right coverage.

Maria Hickey

For more than 20 years, Maria has worked in the insurance sector and has extensive underwriting and customer service expertise. Maria is an experienced Senior Underwriter with a particular specialism for shop, office and surgery related insurance.

All articles by Maria Hickey