Among homeowners insurance claims for big-ticket items, jewelry surpassed losses in electronics during 2011, according to Enservio’s annual Contents Claims Index.
The insurance software company says claims for jewelry items rose from 13 percent among the top ten contents-loss categories in 2010 to 17 percent for Replacement Cost Value in 2011, taking the top spot as the most claimed loss-item in 2011.
Simultaneously, electronics dropped to the number two position, decreasing from 15 percent in 2010 to 13 percent Replacement Cost Value in 2011. Replacement Cost Value is the cost to replace property with the same kind of material and construction without deduction for depreciation.
The Enservio CCI aggregates and analyzes contents claims reported by more than 300 U.S. property insurers, providing insight into contents claims trends on more than 20 million individually appraised personal and business items claimed by insured as lost, damaged or stolen. The index consists of more than 2,000 categories and subcategories of millions of personal and business items – with thousands of new line item descriptions added every week.
The Enservio CCI shows the top contents categories compiled from claims filed with insurers in 2011. Jewelry topped the list at 17 percent of RCV, followed closely by Electronics at 13 percent. Apparel and Furniture are tied for the number three spot at 11 percent, followed by Home Goods at 9 percent.
Enservio Contents Claims Index for 2011 Top contents categories was compiled from claims filed with insurers in 2011. The items are ranked by dollar value as a percent of total claims.
1. Jewelry, 17 percent
2. Electronics, 13 percent
3. Apparel, 11 percent
4. Furniture, 11 percent
5. Home goods, 9 percent
6. Tools, 4 percent
7. Appliances, 4 percent
8. Sporting Goods, 3 percent
9. Books & magazines, 3 percent
10. Bed & mattress, 2 percent
A closer look at the top 10 categories and subcategories provides insights into consumer purchasing habits and economic factors impacting property insurance claims. In the jewelry category, the number of claims increased by 57 percent in 2011.
Regarding theft, jewelry, electronics and tools account for 62 percent of all RCV claims for theft versus 35 percent RCV for all other categories combined. Rings, watches and necklaces all maintained their ranking within the jewelry category as top loss-claim items.
The electronics category saw 15 percent growth in claims losses in 2011. Within the category, TV, laptops and desktop computers have maintained their top ranking as the most claimed items year-over-year.
“In 2011, we’ve seen the switch in position between the electronics and jewelry categories, while the overall category rankings and rankings within each category indicate only slight changes year-to-year,” Enservio CEO John McNeill said in a statement. “These top level insights and the ability to mine contents data for deeper and more granular trends provide valuable intelligence for insurance company product and business strategy planning.”
The 2011 Enservio CCI also revealed the following contents-claims trends:
Regional trends
o Jewelry claims are more prevalent on the West Coast of the U.S.
o Claims for electronics are more prevalent in the South.
o Claims for tools are more prevalent in the Midwest.
o Furniture claims are more prevalent in the East.
Apparel
o Men’s shirts in 2011 are 3 percent higher than women’s shirts when compared to last year.
Books & magazines
o Books & magazines have displaced movies & music in the number nine spot among the top ten, a finding counterintuitive to today’s electronic media trends.
Odds & ends
o Ashtray claims increased by 15 percent at a time when the overall population is smoking less.
o The percentage of claims for maps decreased by 66 percent, which could reflect the growing use of GPS navigation systems in computers, mobile devices and vehicles.
