Insurance for your collection?

[vonbrandingo]

Re: Insurance for your collection?

Reviving an old thread...

I see a lot of talk about which insurance agency to use, but I work for and have insurance through my company. Any collectibles have to be scheduled with an appraisal.

Does any have a recommendation on shops / dealers who can give an appraisal on GU / GI / autographed items without having to send stuff to them?

Seems like a lot of hassle to get insurance, but my company will not take pictures and a reciept for coverage.

Check with John Taube of JT Sports (info @ gameusedbats.com). He is definately knowledgeable enough to appraise bats and would likely know others who can fairly appraise items outside of his expertise.

[paul457]

Re: Insurance for your collection?

Reviving an old thread...

I see a lot of talk about which insurance agency to use, but I work for and have insurance through my company. Any collectibles have to be scheduled with an appraisal.

Does any have a recommendation on shops / dealers who can give an appraisal on GU / GI / autographed items without having to send stuff to them?

Seems like a lot of hassle to get insurance, but my company will not take pictures and a reciept for coverage.

[gnishiyama]

Re: Insurance for your collection?

Funny how this topic happen to come up again today.
My wife spoke with collectinsure yesterday and they told us
they were backed by United National which is a very reputable company.

I too am seriously considering insuring my collection and business
inventory but my quote was quite costly but then again I have
not inquired elsewhere. I have been looking for a company that
specializes in this stuff because as someone mentioned I don't
need to get into it with an adjuster over the difference between
a game used jersey and an authentic retail jersey where pricing
is very subjective. God forbid something happens I would just be
looking for a full refund of my purchase price backed by insurance
rather than a replacement cost.

Any input would be appreciated as well.

Goh

[justinwc80]

Re: Insurance for your collection?

Wanted to revive this thread and see if anyone has made a claim with collectinsure, also how do they value your collection, do you submit your values yourself? Any other reputable companies anyone uses?

[bradleysupplies]

Re: Insurance for your collection?

Again, collectinsure is NOT an insurance company. They are a broker that finds an insurance company to write a policy for the coverage you're requesting. They are holding zero risk here. Collectinsure is playing to the niche crowd needing memorabilia insurance as they know how difficult it is to find. They may very well have sound insurance providers underwriting the policies, but its a red flag to not advertise who or give clients the option to select from choices (back to not all companies being created equal).

Doug

Doug -

I have been a customer of the Collectible Insurance Agency for about 10 years now. Thankfully I have never had to file a claim, so I cannot speak to how good I am really covered, but I did a lot of research on them back before purchasing my policy. They had a perfect rating with the BBB and many positive reviews and referrals.

At that time, they did advertise that their policy was through Hartford, and it was for many years. I believe about 3 years ago, they changed their master policy, and now they go through Lloyds of London. I don't think this is any secret, as I got a letter when I renewed specifically stating reasons why they made the switch.

Joel

[jgoldstein2000]

Re: Insurance for your collection?

Thanks Doug!

[stitzerfse]

Re: Insurance for your collection?

Again, collectinsure is NOT an insurance company. They are a broker that finds an insurance company to write a policy for the coverage you're requesting. They are holding zero risk here. Collectinsure is playing to the niche crowd needing memorabilia insurance as they know how difficult it is to find. They may very well have sound insurance providers underwriting the policies, but its a red flag to not advertise who or give clients the option to select from choices (back to not all companies being created equal).

Chubb is a very large insurance company here in the US and can be reviewed at www.chubb.com . They're one of the largest 400 companies in the US and hold the highest insurance ratings. With such a huge capital base, they can afford to take on all types of risks at competitive prices.

On Chubb's web site if you to to Personal and then Products you'll see that they have an option for valuable articles. Sports memorabilia is included with this. Find an agent close to you and you're off and running.

Sorry for the long winded response, but hopefully this info is helpful. Whether you go with Chubb or one of their competitors, its important to know who exactly you're paying to protect your investment.

Doug

[justinwc80]

Re: Insurance for your collection?

Doug,
What is Chubb, collectinsure is the only collection company i've seen, does anyone use another company? I have USAA and they don't have a collectibles policy, but they cover coins and I think stamps so I'm not sure what the difference is.

[stitzerfse]

Re: Insurance for your collection?

I work in insurance and would just caution everyone on using collectinsure.com. Reason 1- they're an agency/broker and aren't actually the one's writing the policy. Reason 2- they allow you to purchase a policy right off of the web site which means a) they're shopping carriers after the fact to get the cheapest policy and the extra dough is theirs; b) you have no choice as to which insurance carrier is going to cover you and policy terms/coverage options are not all created equal.

Insurance is much like a COA in the autographed/GU world. It's really only as good as the company backing it up. With what some of us have invested in our collections, I recommend taking the time to know that the insurance provider backing your policy is financially sound, carries favorable policy terms, and will be there for the long haul. If not, all you bought is an expensive piece of paper.

From personal experience, I highly recommend finding an agent that offers Chubb.

Doug

[joelsabi]

Re: Insurance for your collection?

Anyone have experience using this company and can recommend it?

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

[Jags Fan Dan]

Re: Insurance?

Check out this thread. Also, please know, if the property is not specifically excluded or limited in the policy, it is covered.

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=25020&highlight=insurance

[Klattsy]

Re: Insurance?

In Australia, when a category of belongings it is worth over a certain amount ($2k I think), we have to nominate the category (i.e. "memorabilia" or "cds" ect) and then make an assumption on how much it is worth. This will then affect our premium. It is all part of the household insurance (covers actual house and contents). We are supposed to have photographic evidence/receipts to back everything up.

How they go about determining the cost of replacing afterwards is what I want to know, how can you put a price on items that may only be 1 offs?

Mark.

[jgoldstein2000]

Insurance?

I live in a rental in NYC so I don't have homeowners insurance (does home owners cover memorabilia?). My renters insurance wouldn't cover my memorabilia because they couldn't determine a value for all of my stuff.

How do you guys insure your collection (if you do)?

[xpress34]

Re: Insurance for items

I have a very good insurance agent and my Insurance is with American Family. Talking with my agent, I can do a 'scheduled' policy where I list every item individually and pay accordingly which also means I have to update every time I sell or add.

The other option is to buy a blanket policy and keep a schedule of values... then, if I get robbed, we use the schedule up to the blanket policy limit OR if I had a fire and lost everything, it pays the blanket policy in it's entirety.

I have been working for about 2 months on photographing, logging and scheduling every item - cards, bats, jerseys, etc, comic books, artwork, wife's jewelery, auto'd CDs, etc so I can come up with a number for a blanket policy.

The other advantage of a blanket policy, is you can add and remove items from your collection without constant updates unless the value of your collection goes over your blanket limit. If it is under the limit and you had a fire and lost it all, you still get paid the blanket in full.

Hope this helps.

All the best -

Chris

P.S. - also per AmFam rules, since I have been a 'dealer' of sorts (shows, eBay, etc) for over 5 years, I don't need special 'appraisals' for my items. They will accept the values I place on my items.

[anatfan09]

Re: Insurance for items

American National Property & Casualty is a best kept insurance secret. I know if you go claim free with them they will refund 25% of your annual auto + home premiums. ANPAC.COM
Also there were some good suggestions in the other thread about insurance but the only way to guarantee your company is going to pay out the full value of your high end items would be to have them listed under "scheduled personal property", the same place you would put your wife's wedding ring. For example the policy would list "game used Ichiro bat $13,000", "game used Cal Ripken Jr. jersey $4,000".. etc etc.
This way you & the company have agreed to insure the item for that value, they would typically request a appraisal or research the value of comparable items. You would also complete the scheduled personal property form & sign off on the value of each item & the total amount you are going to schedule.
Then there will be no second guessing in the event of a claim.