Insuring Your Collection Questions?

[MEG Hal]

As long as the contents of your apartment cost less than $10K to replace, sure! But try adding up all your stuff someday (clothes, TV, PC, DVDs, pots, pans, etc.)

Agreed, I have a 50K blanket policy right now.

 

[jgbrowning]

Agreed, I have a 50K blanket policy right now.

You need to cut back on the collectable blanket purchasing, Hal.


joe b.

 

[thalmin]

Hal's just looking for security.

 

[MEG Hal]

Hal's just looking for security.

*cowers in shower mumbling*
"they do love me it is just a weird way of showing it"
*clutches his 50k blanket*



Next time I get back to Chicago, I must get back to Games Plus if it kills me!

 

[Dimwhit]

I think our homeowners insurance goes up to 90k or something for Contents.

One thing I would suggest is to take a camcorder and get everything on the house on tape. That way the insurance company can't dispute whether or not you had the items. It also makes it easier in the event you actually do lose everything. You have a record of basically everything you owned.

Of course, be sure not to keep the video tape in your house!

 

[Aluvial]

Note that the typical gamer's collection is not "collectible." This is recently purchased stuff for the most part. That falls under "contents" of the house. A typical HO policy (for a homeowner) or an apartment dwellers policy have a Contents limit. This means that if a fire destroys your stuff, the appraiser comes out and finds the value of the stuff. They pay up to the Contents limit for the actual cash value. That means what it's worth on the street. Typically there is depreciation. There is also a deductible. (If you have a very minor loss it's often not worth it to collect because premium goes up.)

Deluxe homeowner's policies pay replacement cost. This is whatever it takes to get new stuff (less deductible). Find out what kind of policy you have and if it's ACV, pay for replacement.

If you have a large collection of books, then they may be collectible. At this point your insurance agent is the person to talk to. It's still Contents, but it is typically excluded if they are "rare". However, this depends on the policy. If your agent says its covered even after you ask this question, get them to put it in writing. You should receive a copy of your policy when you sign up for insurance. Read it and ask what stuff means.

A Valuable Papers policy or Collectible policy typically require a value to be placed on the collection, which means an appraisal. This is tricky. I don't know of any experts on gaming collections. The insurance company might go to a store owner or use the Internet. Always inventory the collection including photos. Keep the inventory on computer and make a backup CD to store at work or in your car or at a friend or parent's house. Remember to update it at least once a year.

The issue with collectible policies is that the premium can be as much as 10% of the value of the collection. So in 10 years you paid for the collection twice unless you get an excellent quote.

I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice. I do work in the insurance industry. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice. It was so good I'm repeating it again.

I have a near complete collection of 1st and 2nd edition DnD modules/sources/boxed sets/etc. and have continued my collection of stuff through 3rd and 3.5 editions.

I count the collectable things as items that are no longer in print, and that may have a value to someone else (i.e., other collector of same crap).

My problem is that with over 1,500 books (really a lot more than that) that I will never be able to replace them if they become lost or stolen. Similar to an irreplacable baseball card collection, this is my hobby, my pride and joy and is worth more to me than what I could get out of it IF I ever decided to sell it.

I realize that I would have to take collectable value for it regardless of my personal feelings, and want to be insured that I would at least recieve that finacial return if anything (gods-forbid) ever happens to it.

Thanks for the advice. Although facing the insurance agent and saying I have a priceless collection (of DnD) material might make me a social outcast with him (I actually worry he might drop me, but that is for another thread), I hope I can get some straight answers and get my collection covered.

It is funny to think that when I started in this hobby I never worried about such things... 20+ years and counting.... I really hope my children like their inheritance!

Aluvial

 

[WayneLigon]

I think with most collectable goods (the cards, for example) consult with your insurer on a grader whose judgement they accept and get the cards appraised. Then they can be assigned a monentary value.

For books that are not rare collectables, I'd suggest compiling a list. An easy way to do this is to get a cheap barcode scanner and use some freeware to read the UPC into your PC and get the price and title listed out that way. It gives the insurer a complrehansive list of the goods, which is useful for a replacement policy.

 

[thalmin]

I think you'll fing that most of the earlier items didn't have bar codes.

 

[hunter1828]

The wife and I have a $20,000 renter's policy, but it is primarily to cover the extensive comic book, action figure and game book collections. We're just outta luck if we have to replace pots and pans or clothes!

hunter1828

 

[Null Boundry]

Whilst at Uni one of my lecturers had a sizable collection of minatures, many of them lead and/or over a century old. As one of his subjects was Warfare & Society he would quite often bring them in for re-enactments. When he insured them the company actually sent out a claims agent to value them as they felt it was an unusual policy and was valued at £250k.

There was a downside to having them insured, he was burgaled most of them were stolen so after receiving the cheque from the insurance company he was left trying to justify spending that sort of money on wargaming when he could just as easily buy a house or take a decade or so of work.