collection insurance

[Dave the plumber]

  I do not believe we have covered this subject before. But I was at my insurance agents today going over my household insurance, and I found out my collection is only insured to $ 1500  for loss, fire or theft, and that is only for guns [ not other items ] .
       I can get a rider to go with my policy, but I have to have a written aprasail for each piece, which would be a massive undertaking, and costly too.  A video of the collection is not sufficent. Each piece has to be documented by a licensed \ certified appraiser, with a written up description showing comprobable recently sold items, replacement values, and photographed. I didn't even ask how often this needs to be updated...........
      So, I ask what you guys have done with your stuff. Is there a collectables insurer that you deal with that is more maleable and understands the process better than my typical State Farm agent ?? And most importantly, have you ever had to make a claim, and if so, did they live up to their promises without fighting  you ??  I'm sure State Farm will be happy to take my money and tell me everything is gonna be alright............

[CarlS]

I remember someone who used to come to shows to sell collection insurance but I haven't seen them lately.  I remember talking to them and the effort to document the collection was pretty minimal and nothing like you describe.  My home owners insurance was like yours requiring so much documentation to create a rider on my home policy plus regular maintenance to keep it current. If you are actively collecting it could certainly be a headache to keep up with.  But it would really be painful to loose the collection with no compensation.

Some info on insuring collections from ask.com:
     http://collectibles.about.com/od/valuableresources/a/collectiblesinsurance.htm

A quick Google search shows these that insure collections:
      http://www.collectinsure.com
      http://www.americancollectors.com/
      http://collectibles.about.com/od/valuableresources/a/collectiblesinsurance.htm
      http://www.acegroup.com/us-en/individuals-families/valuable-collections-insurance.aspx
I'm not recommending any of these and there were more but it's a start.

[ETEX]

Very good question and hope to see some responses. Carl thanks for posting what you did.

[emike123]

I could've sworn we discussed this before but I cannot find the thread so I guess it was on the old forum (or Carl has been deleting threads to save space ;-)

Last time I had checked with my insurance agent and she said my coverage for all household possessions was a % of the value I have my home insured for.  That % was $ high enough to cover everything as well as my couch and tv.  She did say that firearms and paper goods are specifically excluded, but those are not my collecting bag.

I do keep pretty good records and have them backed up because presumably they would want an itemized list of things which they could verify the value of.

[Dave the plumber]

         Mike,                      I understand what you are saying. What I was told is the entire contents of your home are valued at 70 % of the value of your home.  So, as an example, if your home is worth and insured for $100,000. and is a TOTAL LOSS, you get UP TO $ 70,000 which is to replace your couch, blender, clothes and collectables. All those Bears jersey add up, and you might find to replace them all, you might not have the money for your collection to be replaced.
       But, what happens if your house is not a total loss in a fire, yet your boolits melt ?? I'd check that out... and where does theft value come in if, say, Carl and I back a Ryder truck up to your front door next time you are at the Superbowl ??
    These are things that I would look into before sitting back figurin' you're covered. We all have alot to loose and figurin' that just a common policy will cover it, might be sticking our collective heads in the sand.
   
          has anyone out there ever tried to make a claim on their common homeowners policy, or know of anyone that has ??   Anyone delve into the speciality collectors insurance policy's and companies ??

[CarlS]

It sounds like the easy answer here is buy a big expensive house and put cheap furniture in it so the rest of the percentage can go for replacing relics.   

Dave:  Don't include me in your Ryder adventure... I know he has shotguns and knows how to shoot them!

[Dave the plumber]

       Carl,        yeh, but he'll be huggin' up with Kim Kardashian or some other celeb lovely, so he'll be grippiin' her, not the shotgun !!   We will just be patient, really, really patient, and wait until the Bears ever make it to the big dance again.........  we can roll our wheelchairs up to his house and load them up, laugh and drool as we high speed out of there

[jonpatterson]

Mike,
Besides firearms and paper documents, the homeowner insurance policies I have seen over the last 30 years also have limits on furs, jewelry, etc. and a category that translates to “collectibles”. (The exact weasel wording eludes me at the moment….perhaps Decorative Arts.) Thus while house contents would be insured to a set % of the insured value of the house, the category limit would greatly limit the actual coverage on your collection. I have also found over the last 30 years that many insurance agents tend to guess when they are unsure about something I have asked.

Something else of possible interest to others perhaps, is that firearms made before 1898 should not be covered under the “firearms” limit, but instead under the discussed  “collectibles” category as they are not subject to federal firearm regulation type requirements like modern guns are. I was unaware of this as it relates to insurance until I recently purchased several scarce ACW long-guns and was made aware of it by the dealer I am purchasing them from who suggested getting insurance.
I am interested in hearing from anyone with past experiences dealing with collection insurance issues.

Thanks
Jon

[Dave the plumber]

         Jon,  this thread has been read 70 times according to the counter, and nobody is offering any information, so I would assume by now that no one has gone the extra step to insure their collection.  I am going to continue to look into it, and will let everyone know what I find out.
      I have literally thousands of objects in my collection, from 50 cent value to thousands of dollars. And when you add it all up, it turns into a big number, that will probably scare the hell out of me and motivate me further to insure it [ or sell it !! ]. But, we would all still like to hear from anyone with experience in insurance in collectables, or for that matter, anyone that is an insurance agent and knows the ropes a bit.

[speedenforcer]

The thing about documenting your collection and giving it to someone is a bit careless to some. remember even the best of companies sometimes hire people that may have an interest in relieving you of your valuable possessions.

[CarlS]

There are a number of dealers who have obtained whatever it takes to be a "Certified Appraiser" and they do collection appraisals as a paid for service.  I know Jack Melton provides this service and I'm sure a number of others do as well.  They can document, photograph and provide the necessary paperwork to satisfy the insurance needs.

[Garret]

I'm a fire away from losing everything myself....While I would be sad, getting family out would be first, and all of this is just stuff, so I guess I never thought about insuring it.  We do have a high-end alarm system, and the police have responded pretty quickly when the alarm has gone off, so theft hasn't crossed my mind either.  That said, I seem to have seen this company in a Civil War or sports collectibles magazine.  Anyone ever called them before?  I thought about it but have never got around to it for the previously mentioned reasons.

http://www.collectinsure.com/covered.html

[scottfromgeorgia]

There is a market niche here for the right expert. I just use my home insurance myself, because I wasn't willing to pay $10,000 for an appraisal.