Do you have your collectibles insured?

I recently have been giving this some thought. I have over 60+ grand worth of collectibles...not just SS stuff but other things aswell. I dont know any company that specialize in insureance for collectibles. So I thought I would pose the question here where other collectors with thousands of dollars worth of stuff might be able to help. What scares me most is theft or house fire...to have 60k worth of collectibles go up in flames would bug me just a little bit....

So does anyone here have their collectibles insured already?... or maybe considering it?
How much do you think you need to have in collectibles before considering insurance?

Chris

Crazy notion. It had crossed my mind before, but I dismissed it because it felt like I would just be spending even more money on things I've already spent too much on. I suppose it's not a bad idea, but if all your figures go up in smoke or something, it's not likely you can just cash your insurance check and go out and buy everything again. I would go insane trying to find everything again, and you know the prices would probably have at least doubled on lots of it. And all the customs I've done would be but a memory.

You made me sad now. Damn you.

Do you see what you have done!?!? You have made Surfer sad! But anyways this is a good idea.

I have my collection insured as a specialist, seperate item, on my normal home insurance, its insured for £30,000 ($55,000) and costs an extra £8ish a month

TBH I have no idea why someone would spend the money some of us spend on these collectables and not have insurance, when, in comparison to the cost of our collections it is so little

I've been giving it some thought and will most likely get it done soon. You never know what could happen to them.

Wow..I'm surprised so few people here have their collectibles covered. I guess it would be a pain in the but to get a specific amount of coverage when your collection grows every month.

Chris

YES!!!......

I have $30.000 insurance.

I don' t think many people are aware of the procedures that insurance companies make you go through if you insure things like collectibles and the loops they make you jump through when you do experience loss/theft/damage/ etc. Say you have a house fire or theft or something happens to your collectibles they will not just say 'sure you paid us 8 a month heres your 25k of collectibles money!!! '

You will have to proove the amount that you spent is equal to the amount that the collectible is worth today, will have to fill out many forms and the insurance companies will do their own assessment of what they feel its worth based on their own investigations. That means all receipts, proof of purchase etc, home security storage proof etc. If its a house fire then they might be up in flames too! Even after that they'll still do their own assessments of its value.

Unfortunately many people also don't realise is that insurance companies will not pay out you the full amount if you only paid say 3 months of insurance money i.e. say 40 dollars on a collection worth 50,000. It just doesn't work that way. They will not find in your favour as they will do their own assessement and if your house isn't alarmed or even your collectibles alarmed and safely stored prior to the event and you have proof of this you have zero chance of getting money back. You'll also say in the case of theft have to proove the alarm was on and it was a working one. Many people aren't aware of this and just think hey im paying so im insured. Its only after they read the small print which many don't or realise they won't get all their money back do that this becomes apparent.

It's more money on alarming and storage. The specialist items usally covers only a few high value items and not multiple items say over 30 at full price. Believe me guys most insurance companies play all the tricks in the book to avoid paying out. Take it from me i used to work in one.

So to answer the question is it worth taking out insurance on collectibles. I don't think so. The hassle is just not worth it but thats just my opinion. With insurance companies the general rule is the more the items are worth the less they are prepared to pay out. From what ive experienced You'll probably get 2/3rds of the money back at the best of times on all items. Always read the fine print on the insurance. So if your collection is worth 70,000 you'll usually get 50,000 back thats provided you met all their preconditions and based on their own valuations too.

Im not trying to disaude people from getting insurance for theirs because by all means it does cover small collections of high value items and is useful in this sense. It's just in terms of covering all items at full price in large collections. No chance. Just because they say coverage for up 40,000 doesn't mean that because you have a collection worth 20,000 you get 20,000 back. What it means is if you have a collection worth say 50,000 - 60,000 your covered for up to 40,000. Thats how the majority if not all insurance companies work or they'd be out of business very quickly.

Outside of all this is the hassle of buying all the collectibles again. If it happened you'd lose things which i think would be invaluable and as silentsurfer pointed out would you be up for going out buying them all over again? They probably would cost twice as much. It would put many off collecting for sure.

You want to protect your collectibles and have peace of mind. Honestly get a storage safe or strong sturdy glass lockable cabinet and alarm it if you want to go to extremes. Job done imo.

good points u made holtrax.

but at the end of the day, i'd still prefer to insure my collection.
simply because it's better than the alternative if you're not insured and the collection ever gets stolen/destroyed: which is a big fat nothing. i'm willing to pay the premium for the possibility of getting partial compensation rather than the certainty of getting absolutely zero.

I have mine via State Farm, I have my home, auto and life with them and they will do a collectibles policy. Look for about 6 weeks of work. They need details on each item. I have it insured for X amount, so I pay for example $100 a month for every $25,000 in coverage. This is not a rider or extension of my homeowners, its an individual collecibles policy. It was geared for stamps and sports cards but they tweaked it for my collection. Im even covered if my dog eats one or my daughter damages something, its a full replacement plan.

And I am required to update it, which I do once 4 times a year. So if I add $4,500 worth of GG Items (I use current market to determine the value the day I send the update) then then increase my plan by that much and send me a bill. I pay it bi-yearay as well to get the largest possible discount. And as Value increases I update as well.

i will give an example that insuring rare collectibles is not a good idea..
let's say you buy a statue from a fellow member in the forum worth 1500 dollars,statue's price in ss site is 500 dollars though..to insure you have to present the company an invoice which can be verified by someone legal..so in this case insure cannot work ..that means that the maximum price you can insure it is the price in ss's site..so,rare collectibles cannot be insured..unless you think that the company's lawyer will price the rare collectible 2000 dollars

I haven't buy insurance in figure. I just buy house fire insurance.

ecekat said:

i will give an example that insuring rare collectibles is not a good idea..
let's say you buy a statue from a fellow member in the forum worth 1500 dollars,statue's price in ss site is 500 dollars though..to insure you have to present the company an invoice which can be verified by someone legal..so in this case insure cannot work ..that means that the maximum price you can insure it is the price in ss's site..so,rare collectibles cannot be insured..unless you think that the company's lawyer will price the rare collectible 2000 dollars

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Yup exactly another thing is that the premium on the insurance goes up once you claim for a loss so basically if you lose one thing in theft/fire/damage etc then you get only the 2/3rds of the price back on that item and then your insurance premium price goes way up on the rest of the items/figures. I think yeah if you are going to insure just insure under home insurance as listed items. Most people have home insurance so no extra costs being paid out here just list your items and you'll be as much covered as with a seperate policy as long as any item is not above say 2,000. Anything else is just a waste of time money and effort.

In the end of the day theres no way this can make up for lost collectibles imo all insurance offers in any form is limited coverage. Insurance companies are in the business of making money not handing it out.

I just don't trust them...insurance companies

I have had my collection insured with a company that specializes in collectibles insurance for many years now. I would never - repeat never - insure my stuff under my standard homeowner's policy (with or without a rider). Companies like State Farm, Allstate etc just do not have a clue about collecting and collectibles and as others have said... you will have to run through major hoops to get a claim handled.

The company I use is:

https://www.collectinsure.com

They have been in business a long, long time and are based in Maryland. They are at Comic-Con almost every year. Their premiums are very reasonable and they PAY CLAIMS! They 100% specialize in insuring collectibles - so they "get it". My policy is currently underwritten by Lloyd's of London - can't get any more rock solid than that!

Here's some of the awesome things about their policies:

1) They insure for REPLACEMENT value! Amazing. You actually get paid what it would currently cost to replace your item

2) Their standard policy covers pretty much everything - including theft, fire and yes, earthquake (which is huge for me living in SoCal)!!!!!

3) You even get coverage for things being transported, mailed etc. The policies are very comprehensive.

4) They have very nice people who are excellent in customer service. When you call... you talk to a human.

5) You only need to itemize any item over $5,000. You do not need to continually send them lists of items etc. Basically, if you collect Sideshow Premium Format statues - you list them as just that. You don't need to list them individually (unless they're over $5k). The only updates you should make is if you begin collecting something totally new - like you begin to collect Prop replicas and you don't have that listed.

6) Adding coverage is simple and easy and can be done at any time. So if half way through the term year - you acquire $50,000 of stuff because you buy someone's whole collection - you can easily add coverage.

7) They automatically bump your collection value like 2-3% a year so the policy keeps up with standard appreciation.

Hope this helps someone out there.

I thought my house insurance covered my collection. Until My partner told me that they don't cover items bought overseas.

I'm have been trying to find somewhere that deals with collections, with little luck. I would rater get some money back if something happened then have to start over with no financial help.

SimFeliz said:

I thought my house insurance covered my collection. Until My partner told me that they don't cover items bought overseas.

I'm have been trying to find somewhere that deals with collections, with little luck. I would rater get some money back if something happened then have to start over with no financial help.

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See my above post - but I'm not sure if they cover in Australia or you have to be U.S. based:

https://www.collectinsure.com

swabie2424 said:

I have had my collection insured with a company that specializes in collectibles insurance for many years now. I would never - repeat never - insure my stuff under my standard homeowner's policy (with or without a rider). Companies like State Farm, Allstate etc just do not have a clue about collecting and collectibles and as others have said... you will have to run through major hoops to get a claim handled.

The company I use is:

https://www.collectinsure.com

They have been in business a long, long time and are based in Maryland. They are at Comic-Con almost every year. Their premiums are very reasonable and they PAY CLAIMS! They 100% specialize in insuring collectibles - so they "get it". My policy is currently underwritten by Lloyd's of London - can't get any more rock solid than that!

Here's some of the awesome things about their policies:

1) They insure for REPLACEMENT value! Amazing. You actually get paid what it would currently cost to replace your item

2) Their standard policy covers pretty much everything - including theft, fire and yes, earthquake (which is huge for me living in SoCal)!!!!!

3) You even get coverage for things being transported, mailed etc. The policies are very comprehensive.

4) They have very nice people who are excellent in customer service. When you call... you talk to a human.

5) You only need to itemize any item over $5,000. You do not need to continually send them lists of items etc. Basically, if you collect Sideshow Premium Format statues - you list them as just that. You don't need to list them individually (unless they're over $5k). The only updates you should make is if you begin collecting something totally new - like you begin to collect Prop replicas and you don't have that listed.

6) Adding coverage is simple and easy and can be done at any time. So if half way through the term year - you acquire $50,000 of stuff because you buy someone's whole collection - you can easily add coverage.

7) They automatically bump your collection value like 2-3% a year so the policy keeps up with standard appreciation.

Hope this helps someone out there.

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That is pretty cool and interesting. Something I will keep in mind in the future. Right now I probably have between $4,000 and $5,000 worth of a stuff so I am not worried right now my current insurance covers it just fine but if it starts getting large I might look into something like this some day.

Doesn't matter if you think your items are covered under your regular home policy. You'd best get that policy out and read it properly. Individual items may be covered, say up to $2000, so you may think 'I'm cool'.

When it comes to making a claim the insurance company will turn whatever they can to their advantage, like that one item, which they may choose to value at more than your 'items up to $2000' or that it was one item out of a "collection" that is worth more than $2000.

"It's all in the policy". Oh it may not be written as such, but it was implied. You may not have been sure when you took out your cover, so you rang them up to clarify. Doesn't matter what the salesperson told you, it wasn't what was in the policy you signed. Even if it is, they can choose to negate your policy, maybe because you weren't totally open with them, in that you didn't tell them you had a collection worth such and such. They may refund you your premium, or not. They may choose to go via the legal route, even if they are wrong, because they'll still have a 50/50 chance your legal representative may stuff up on the day and they'll still win. Even if you do win, you can forget about trying to renew that great price they gave you on your house cover next year.

Not saying don't insure, just saying customer beware.