Bad Collectors Insurance

[brianclat11]

I have a follow-up question for you guys. My collection is growing but seems to be covered by personal property within my Homeowner's policy. What is the main benefit to getting additional coverage outside of that?

[NiceDocter]

You may want to be certain about that coverage as almost all personal property home owners plans have an exclusion for “art and collectibles “ after a low limit of maybe a few thousand dollars. Make sure whatever you get is in WRITING.

[Leon]

If it is not scheduled on your homeowners insurance (you pay extra) I think there is a great chance homeowners won't cover it. I use Safeco (Liberty Mutual subsidiary) and they definitely don't insure that kind of stuff UNLESS scheduled. And I am not sure they would do cards but I have jewelery and art scheduled...have had a claim or two and all was fine.

.

Originally Posted by brianclat11

I have a follow-up question for you guys. My collection is growing but seems to be covered by personal property within my Homeowner's policy. What is the main benefit to getting additional coverage outside of that?

[brianclat11]

Great info. Thanks guys!

[Yoda]

I worked in the insurance industry for 28 years, first with Cigna and then Chubb, although I dealt more with commercial lines rather than personal. The problems with insuring your collection under your HO policy are several; first, the limit under your HO policy is normally a percentage, usually 10-20%, of your personal contents coverage and rarely adequate for a decent collection, second, you really need a named player policy for your HOF'er and star player cards rather than the the blanket unnamed coverage under your HO policy. The problems really start at time of loss when trying to establish replacement cost. Obviously, you need to keep scrupulous records of book values for insurance and tax purposes when presenting a claim. The best approach is usually adopted is to use PSA and VCP auction results as to a guide towards replacement cost valuations. From what I have heard, Beckett's program is pretty good and will tailor a policy with the specific requirements necessary to protect fully your precious collection.
Hope this helps a little.

[Exhibitman]

It’s an insurer. Any decent size claim you have to expect to throw some elbows to get it done. Hell, I once had to raise the bad faith specter with State Farm to get a claim processed timely and just recently I had to open a complaint with my state insurance commission to get a simple call back from MetLife. Once you bring them to heel they settle down

[oldjudge]

You ruined the card and they cover it? That's s pretty generous policy,

[Snowman]

This is a pretty good video where a comic book collector interviews someone at CIS about insuring his collection through them and what they offer collectors. Worth a watch if you're interested in insuring your collection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i07G...CollectsComics

[DanP]

I just got off the phone with CIS. They provided a quote over the phone. I have been with American Collectors Insurance for over five years. I could not even get ahold of someone (phone or email) in March to try and raise my coverage. My dealings with them have been absolute torture!

CIS rates are much better than ACI. My insured value is almost double what it was with ACI and the CIS premium is only 10% higher.

I hope this helps!

[philliesfan]

About wo weeks ago, I went with CIS.
It gives me a little peace of mind now when it comes to being away from the house or from fire and theft.
I hope to never have to file a claim though.
Bob

[brianclat11]

Originally Posted by Snowman

This is a pretty good video where a comic book collector interviews someone at CIS about insuring his collection through them and what they offer collectors. Worth a watch if you're interested in insuring your collection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i07G...CollectsComics

Good video that explains why Homeowners coverage is generally not enough. Thanks for that....

[jefferyepayne]

If you're looking around for better insurance, you might want to check out Antiques & Collectibles Insurance Group https://aciginsurance.com/

I've been using them for nearly a decade and check their prices every year against CIS and they are always lower. You do need to individually itemize and send them an image for any single item >$5K which is initially a bit of a hassle and for some collectors here probably too much work for the savings. I think CIS only makes you do this for items >$25K.

I have not filed any claims with them, though, so can't comment on the claims process. They are associated with an antiques association so would assume they are pretty decent to deal with for claims but don't have any proof of that.

jeff

[todeen]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

You ruined the card and they cover it? That's s pretty generous policy,

I was preparing it for sale, which I believe is covered. I got adhesive stuck to it and swore like a sailor in front of my children.

As for establishing value of card, my claim manager wanted three sources. I used VCP, ebay recent sales, and Beckett. Of the three, Beckett was the worst. They had not updated prices since 2018. Luckily the last sale reported on Beckett must have been a Probstein shill bid sale because it was higher than the VCP average sale price.

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[MikeGarcia]

Originally Posted by todeen

I was preparing it for sale, which I believe is covered. I got adhesive stuck to it ;


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..Everybody does one of those nightmares once ; hard lesson learned ;.... Ever since my own ''incident'' I will not have any tape in the same room in which there is a baseball card or vintage photo.................it's been working. I still drop stuff though but I've learned to always work over a big soft fluffy towel ....always...

..

[todeen]

Originally Posted by MikeGarcia

..Everybody does one of those nightmares once ; hard lesson learned ;.... Ever since my own ''incident'' I will not have any tape in the same room in which there is a baseball card or vintage photo.................it's been working. I still drop stuff though but I've learned to always work over a big soft fluffy towel ....always...



..

I couldn't believe it when it happened. I was so upset with myself. Stupid stupid mistake. Thanks for the advice, I'll have to remember to use the fluffiest of towels.

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