Do Military Members Need Additional Coverage for High-Value Items?

Military families are used to sacrifice. They face inconveniences, not the least of which is being uprooted to a new location every few years. The cycle of constant PCS moves, deployments, and overseas living exposes our personal possessions to additional risk, especially for luxury and high-value items.

Military families might not be able to prevent their items from being stolen while transiting a foreign country or being damaged in storage during a deployment, but that doesn’t mean they have to be unprotected. That’s where insurance comes in. With the right insurance, you won’t lose money when catastrophes occur. 

However, even if you think you have plenty of insurance, it might not cover high-value items. And claimants often don’t find out about this until the worst has happened–a claim has been denied. By then, it’s too late. 

What Counts as a High-Value Item?

The term “high-value item” may conjure images of a diamond-studded Rolex, but the category is quite broad. Chances are, your family has some high-value items. If you have one of the following, you might consider getting dedicated coverage:

• jewelry
• electronics
• collectibles
• firearms
• luxury goods

Let’s take a deeper look at these categories. They can include things you might not think about, such as:

• Sports memorabilia
• Camera equipment
• Coin collection
• Rare books
• Music instruments
• Furs 
• Art
• Trading cards

And, yes, that Rolex, too.

What Standard Insurance Policies Actually Cover

Do you know the coverage limits of your standard homeowners or renters insurance policy beyond what’s on your declarations page? 

Knowing the limits listed on the declarations page isn’t enough; insurance policies themselves are 30-60 pages long, sometimes even longer. There are nuances buried deep in your policy, cloaked in complicated language, that specify under what circumstances your policy will pay out and in what amounts. 

Here are some questions you need to find out about your insurance policy:

• Does it pay cash value or replacement cost for covered items?
• What are the policy limits by category?
• What kinds of losses does it insure? More importantly, what does it exclude?

Knowing about the exclusions in any policy can help you determine whether you need supplemental insurance. Insurance policies also have caps on specific high-value items, often on both a per-item and per-category basis. Common policy thresholds for jewelry are $1,500-$2,500. If you suffer a greater loss, your homeowners or renters insurance won’t pay more than that amount. 

High-Value Item Insurance

High-value item insurance has different names depending on the carrier. For instance, USAA’s version is valuable personal property insurance, while State Farm will write you a personal articles policy. Other companies might call it scheduled personal property insurance. 

Scheduled personal property insurance may cover all your high-value items or all the items in a specific category, as long as you declare them. If you have a lot of jewelry, it may be worth it to purchase a jewelry-specific policy, either with your existing insurance company or a company that specializes in these policies, like Jewelers Mutual.

Riders and Insurance Endorsements Explained

One way to ensure high-value items are covered is by getting a high-value item policy, as explained above. But you might also be able to add these coverages to your existing policy. 

Riders and endorsements are ways insurers can provide extra coverage and eliminate exclusions from their standard policies, as explained by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). 

If you require specific insurance coverage for an item, your company may be able to add a rider to your existing account instead of writing you a separate policy. Think of these as amendments.

Riders and endorsements can up your coverage in two key ways: by increasing the per-item or per-category reimbursement per loss or by expanding the circumstances in which they pay out. 

For service members with USAA, adding an electronics endorsement to your homeowners or renters insurance will specifically protect your expensive devices, including computers, drones, game consoles, home theater and audio equipment, smart phones, tablets, TVs, and more. 

This endorsement also covers theft, spills, drops, and other accidents, which standard policies may not cover.

Note: The availability of electronics endorsements and other policy riders may vary by state, so make sure you take this into account when researching products. 

High-Value Property Insurance or Endorsements to Existing Policies?

Which one is better for you depends on your specific use scenario and insurance company. For instance, say you want to protect your $10,000 engagement ring in the event of an accidental loss or mysterious disappearance, but you don’t own other expensive jewelry or high-value items. In this case, you may be able to negotiate with your insurance company to add a rider to your existing policy without too much trouble or additional expense.

On the other hand, if you have an expensive camera collection with many pricey lenses, consider a photography equipment policy to cover all your equipment.

In all cases, you should compare the costs of both routes, including the premiums and the deductible you would have to pay if you had to make a claim. 

When Military Families Should Consider Extra Coverage

While your belongings are covered during your PCS move, there are limits that require you to evaluate getting supplemental insurance and endorsements. This is especially true if you have high-value items when there is a significant gap between what your existing insurance will pay out in the event of a loss and the items’ actual value. 

But you might also want to consider extra coverage to extend the types of events covered under a loss. Supplemental insurance and riders/endorsements can cover things not typically covered by standard policies, such as so-called “mysterious disappearance” claims, when the circumstances of a loss can’t be explained, such as a prank or theft occurring at an unknown time. 

Below are some events when you may want to consider extra coverage, along with reasons to consider it.

Before a PCS Move

Review and, if needed, reevaluate your insurance prior to a PCS move. It’s the perfect time to boost your coverage should you find it lacking. Consider adding supplemental high-value item insurance to cover the extra risk to your personal property during the move itself. 

Imagine you must drive your personally-owned vehicle across the country, staying at hotels in unfamiliar cities. In 2025, 659,880 vehicle thefts occurred in the U.S., according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. While vehicle thefts are down 23% year over year, this number still represents a fair amount of risk. But standard auto insurance policies don’t cover items in a vehicle that are stolen or pilfered during a break-in. That’s where high-value item insurance or endorsements would kick in to protect you against loss not otherwise covered.

For other insurance-related tasks you should handle before a PCS move, please see our comprehensive article on the subject here. 

During Overseas Assignments (OCONUS)

When serving overseas, your high-value items are subject to a range of risks. Knowing you are a U.S. service member might be enough to entice thieves. 

You might also experience losses and delays as your household goods transit the oceans on slow cargo ships. Personal property insurance can cover both of these gaps. 

Covering military members serving OCONUS might seem like a no-brainer, but it isn’t the default for most insurance companies. Military-dedicated insurance companies like USAA and Armed Forces Insurance specialize in bearing the risk of service members serving overseas. Some standard insurance companies offer similar coverage, such as GEICO through its Military Overseas Insurance program.

During Deployment

Getting insurance in a war zone isn’t always possible, but what about all the stuff you leave behind, including your house and everything in it?

Your existing policy might not cover your house when left vacant for a period of 30-60 days depending on local law. You may have to acquire a special policy or an endorsement to protect your home and its contents while deployed. 

How PCS Moves Impact High-Value Items

You may think that if your personal property gets damaged during a PCS move, the mover is responsible for reimbursing you. Technically, it’s true that the government transportation service provider (TSP) owes you the full replacement value (FRV) of your lost and damaged items. But the TSP’s maximum liability is the greater of $10,000 per shipment or $6.00 per net pound, not to exceed $75,000. Your items could be worth significantly more.

Another thing to remember is that the TSP has an incentive to avoid paying you the FRV for your items. Having secondary coverage, such as personal property insurance, can cover any gaps. 

Is High-Value Item Coverage Worth It?

How important is your stuff? Can you easily replace it in the event of damage or loss? How much does coverage cost? What type of exposure to risk does your personal property have?

These are key questions you need to ask yourself to assess whether you need additional coverage for high-value items. 

Adding a high-value rider/endorsement or purchasing a separate policy might not be worth it if:

• You can easily replace the item with existing savings, and the cost of coverage represents a substantial portion of the item’s worth. 
• Under the terms of your existing homeowners/renters insurance policy, you wouldn’t have any significant expenses if exposed to a catastrophic loss.
• You don’t own anything worth protecting.

Under any other circumstances, you should strongly consider obtaining high-value item insurance or getting a rider/endorsement added to your existing policy. 

Common Mistakes

Here are some common mistakes military families make when considering high-value item coverage:

• Not understanding the financial limits of their existing policies, in terms of per-item, per-category, and total coverage
• Not understanding under what circumstances a policy covers a loss
• Not getting insurance that covers the unique circumstances and risks of military life

The easiest way to understand your limits is to review your policy’s declarations page. To understand your policy in full, please review it or contact your company. 

Note: Insurance companies often don’t send you the full policy upon renewal–only the declarations page, so you may need to do some digging to find your existing policy or contact your company.

Bottom Line

Homeowners and renters insurance often doesn’t cover expensive items in the event of a loss. Scheduled personal property insurance and high-value item riders/endorsements added to your existing policy can cover these gaps. If you can spare a few extra bucks a month to cover your priceless items, it’s usually worth it. 

Insurance companies differ in what they offer, in terms of standalone policies and riders to existing policies, and offerings also differ by state. Compare and contrast the costs and coverages from multiple companies. 

Military families should always choose insurance companies that offer coverage tailored to the unique circumstances of military life, including deployments, living overseas, and PCS moves. You don’t want to be caught short when the worst happens. Protect your family’s finances with the right insurance that covers all your losses–including your most prized possessions.