Property / jewelry insurance

We use Aegon insurance co.
Not sure how they can set up a policy online before you arrive.
Maybe some sort of travel insurance will fill in a gap time?
I am curious as to how many bags of luggage the airlines allow with extra baggage.
I heard it is up to 10 bags if you let them know ahead of time and they have room for them.
It used to be about $100. a bag extra not sure if they have raised the fees since the past 2 years or not.

I find Hungary in general very safe, of course an insurance for (real estate) property is more or less mandatory, but honestly my wife should wear her wedding ring at all times and if lost or stolen, this would be quite upsetting with a very small chance from happening. In general I find insurances a rip-off, you pay for people who claim with criminal intent, + overhead cost (massive), ..
I never took for example travel insurance (I do not want to pay for all people who loose camera.s, cash, ...). I have saved quite a bit (personally able to pay for a ncice wedding ring ( of course not a ring costing EUR 100 K)
Again no way to avoid certain insurances, but one thing is for sure, the insurance company tries to make a profit. I definitely  would not go for any of the non-mandatory insurances (health, house, animals).

Honestly even if my wife would have a wedding ring of EUR 100 K I would not even consider insuring.
My sister insured many many things, childrens education, inability to work, house, dog, cat, ... In my view you end up poor. Insuring wedding ring is too far in my view. (Just buy a new one with saved premiums)
I do NOT TRUST your post or intentions (apologies).

Personally I never wear my nice ring that belonged to my grandmother. Only wear it once in a blue moon these days.
Too flashy for everyday Budapest running around.
In Las Vegas I wore it everyday and didn't think twice about it, because everyone was wearing nice things on the fingers and mine was not unusual to wear daily.
In HU most women do not wear large diamond rings to run to the shop or take public transportation.
Just overall playing it down over here, makes life easier.

jesperss wrote:

I'll be moving over to Hungary later this month along with my wife. We'll be taking our life's belongings with us. On the plane.

Can anyone recommend a good property insurance company? Something that would cover my wife's wedding ring and all our belongings. We'll be in an airbnb for a few weeks until we find a more permanent place. Ideally we'd like the coverage started once we step off the place.

Price isn't the number one concern, but rather coverage and service.

Thank you in advance.

We also use Aegon and some others like K&H.  I don't really know how you will be able to do this with no permanent address, no address card and possibly no HU language skills (?).  As Marilyn said, travel insurance might be the best and maybe the only option. 

If you are carrying a large amount of valuable items like cash or jewellery, you could well get stopped by Customs and have your stuff confiscated.  It has happened before.  There are plenty of horror stories where Customs engage in this kind of malarkey and not giving much redress either. 

Why not put it in insured safe storage elsewhere (like a bank box) until you can retrieve it later?

Insurance in Hungary.... Well. Beware. They may find some little technical issues to not pay a claim.

For example: Our neighbor has property insurance. They were robbed. The insurance company deigned their claim because they did not have a fence around their property. As if a thief could not jump over a fence.

And staying in an AirBnB, especially if you have jewelry, may also be a reason to invalidate any claim. Your insurance company may not pay out for what is lost at someone else's house unless you put that specifically into the insurance contract. Better to take a hotel, and have your valuables put into the hotel safe. Doing that is a much better option, even is stolen from the safe, you have shown due diligence, which the insurance company may claim you did not do at an AirBnB rental.

Or email/phone some banks and ask if you can get a safe deposit box at the bank while you are still looking for a permanent place to live. And put your valuables there.

cdw057 wrote:

I find Hungary in general very safe, of course an insurance for (real estate) property is more or less mandatory, but honestly my wife should wear her wedding ring at all times and if lost or stolen, this would be quite upsetting with a very small chance from happening. In general I find insurances a rip-off, you pay for people who claim with criminal intent, + overhead cost (massive), ..
I never took for example travel insurance (I do not want to pay for all people who loose camera.s, cash, ...). I have saved quite a bit (personally able to pay for a ncice wedding ring ( of course not a ring costing EUR 100 K)
Again no way to avoid certain insurances, but one thing is for sure, the insurance company tries to make a profit. I definitely  would not go for any of the non-mandatory insurances (health, house, animals).

Honestly even if my wife would have a wedding ring of EUR 100 K I would not even consider insuring.
My sister insured many many things, childrens education, inability to work, house, dog, cat, ... In my view you end up poor. Insuring wedding ring is too far in my view. (Just buy a new one with saved premiums)
I do NOT TRUST your post or intentions (apologies).

I find that logic quite absurd. I'd advise anyone reading your post to ignore it completely.

Insurance is a waste of money until you need it whereupon it saves your bacon.

I've been robbed and burgled in Hungary several times and if I didn't have insurance I would have lost a lot of money.

Anyone travelling without travel insurance is asking for trouble - a car accident or some other thing and your medical bills alone can destroy you financially.   It's just not worth the worry and doubt.  At least get some travel insurance - it doesn't cost much and it'll give you some peace of mind.

We've always found that the insurance companies pay out OK in Hungary even if they argue a bit but that negotiation is normal and expected.

To make any claims if needed you would have to have your items appraised before  any big pay outs.
Rings and such items loose value as soon as you walk out of the store.
Almost like buying a new car, once you walk out the door the value goes down.
My gifted grandmothers very old ring was valued years back by a few casino players on my table, At different  times over the years.
Got mid priced to sky high estimates on it's value. It was all very casual though, just looked at with the naked eye.
Some were just odd people who mentioned "Oh, someone must love you". I'd reply, "yes, My mom".
Hungarians overall do not place much value on such items, again it's a new thing here for women to wear a diamond ring. Would draw too much attention to wear such a thing here .
Took it in a few times to be cleaned and the jewelry shop owner wanted to buy it off of me,Went to a pawn shop in Vegas to unload some broken bits and pieces of old gold items and they also asked to buy my ring. Makes me think it might be worth more then I think it is because jewelers usually want to sell not buy.
They would all under value it to make a easy buck off of me, appraisals might be hard to get for the value you might seek.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Anyone travelling without travel insurance is asking for trouble - a car accident or some other thing and your medical bills alone can destroy you financially.

I agree. I use to travel a lot on business. And I never traveled without insurance. Especially medical insurance.

I think your only option will be travel insurance until you find permanent residents. Its already been said you would be better off using a bank safety box.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Anyone travelling without travel insurance is asking for trouble - a car accident or some other thing and your medical bills alone can destroy you financially.

I agree. I use to travel a lot on business. And I never traveled without insurance. Especially medical insurance.

Totally.   

We don't know the OP's circumstances - might be covered by a business on a transfer.  Some companies will insure their employees while overseas but the cover might be marginal.  European (at least British anyway) must cover their employees when on overseas assignments - comes under Duty of Care legislation.

I have met several people from the USA who were under the impression their US medical insurance would cover them overseas.  As far as I know, that's not always true.   

It's a bit like the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) will only cover one as a local. Much could be chargeable.  No-one would be refused care in that system but the limit would be just to keep you alive, not more and not even rehabilitation or repatriation.  It might even require cash up front which you have to claim back from your home country.  It's a bit of a minefield - at least with insurance there's would be advice available on the phone who might be able to help.

fluffy2560 wrote:

It's a bit like the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) will only cover one as a local. Much could be chargeable.  No-one would be refused care in that system but the limit would be just to keep you alive, not more and not even rehabilitation or repatriation.  It might even require cash up front which you have to claim back from your home country.  It's a bit of a minefield - at least with insurance there's would be advice available on the phone who might be able to help.

When I visit Hungary for the day I don't take insurance out, but I have my EHIC should I need medical attention. There is just no point in taking extra insurance for the day.

SimCityAT wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

It's a bit like the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) will only cover one as a local. Much could be chargeable.  No-one would be refused care in that system but the limit would be just to keep you alive, not more and not even rehabilitation or repatriation.  It might even require cash up front which you have to claim back from your home country.  It's a bit of a minefield - at least with insurance there's would be advice available on the phone who might be able to help.

When I visit Hungary for the day I don't take insurance out, but I have my EHIC should I need medical attention. There is just no point in taking extra insurance for the day.

No, fair enough.  We don't either going the other way.

Your car insurance (presuming you drive) should at least cover you to 3rd party as that's compulsory in the EU.

Thanks for all the replies. I'll look into travel insurance.

klsallee - good point about staying in an Airbnb possibly invalidating insurance.

Not like we're traveling with a satchel full of Rolexes or a brick of cash, it's only my wife's wedding ring. And it's no six figures. I've always been a "have insurance just in case" type person.

jesperss wrote:

....
Not like we're traveling with a satchel full of Rolexes or a brick of cash, it's only my wife's wedding ring. And it's no six figures. I've always been a "have insurance just in case" type person.

Don't put your wife's wedding ring in your sock/underwear drawer. 

It's the first place the burglars look.   

That's what the cops said when we got burgled a couple of years ago.

I always wear my ring on my finger on a flight. At least I know where it is at all times.
I also carry all my good ( good for me at least) jewelry with me in my carry on bag. I don't trust the luggage people with any valuable items.
A lady I knew in Vegas said she had a fit though once going through the airport security. She had a necklace of a value of over $12,000 in her bag. The lamo airport worker took it out and was holding it up in the air for the world to see.She told him off right then and there but this was pre 9-11, now not so sure you can tell them where to get off.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

I always wear my ring on my finger on a flight. At least I know where it is at all times.
I also carry all my good ( good for me at least) jewelry with me in my carry on bag. I don't trust the luggage people with any valuable items.
A lady I knew in Vegas said she had a fit though once going through the airport security. She had a necklace of a value of over $12,000 in her bag. The lamo airport worker took it out and was holding it up in the air for the world to see.She told him off right then and there but this was pre 9-11, now not so sure you can tell them where to get off.

They still do it.  The idiots held up my prescription medicines for discussion.   Like I want everyone in the queue to know about my medical conditions. 

Possibly worse, imagine a scenario being 16 and in the queue with your strict mother and the security people pulling out your contraceptive pills, packets of condoms or other items!

A few years back I had a few of those mini-bar size bottles of whiskey with me, just in case, you know...
The young German guy at the counter looked into my clear one quart bag of liquids and asked if they were ,"medicine" I said,"Yes, that's what I call it"!
He smiled which surprised me. Sometimes you can get away with murder if you have a smile and act dumb.( Well, maybe in my case I'm not acting"!

fluffy2560 wrote:

Don't put your wife's wedding ring in your sock/underwear drawer. 

It's the first place the burglars look.   

That's what the cops said when we got burgled a couple of years ago.

Since I basically retired from traveling the world on business, I can let out my secret:

If there is not a hotel safe available, put valuables in the dirty laundry basket or pile. Not the clean clothing drawer. Nobody wants to touch sweaty, stinky socks and underwear. . Once had the "room safe" compromised, but In 20 years of travel, was never robbed from the smelly location. 

jesperss wrote:

Not like we're traveling with a satchel full of Rolexes or a brick of cash, it's only my wife's wedding ring.

Then consider instead a traveler's "money belt" or bag. I have one that fits like an underarm gun holster. You can put more bulky items like rings into that.

This is Hungary, not, for example, Africa, where the thieves will make you strip to find such caches (yes, I say that from experience).