Collectibles insurance

[3rdStrongestMole | 430]

Is home owners / renters insurance enough for your video game collection? Or, do you use a specific collectible insurance agent?

If so, which one?

My collection isn't insanely high value, but it's at least as much as my car . So I'm starting to rethink just having my renters insurance coverage

[DefaultGen | 5,405]

Check your policy. My homeowners insurance doesn't cover collectibles (or specifically doesn't cover things with "value partially due to age" or something like that).

On the flipside I've search a few times and never seen anyone paid out by an insurance broker for a video games claim. This probably means video game collecting at the point where one would need insurance is a super niche hobby and possibly no one has ever needed to make a major claim. It's kind of hard to judge places like CollectInsure and ACI based on their friendly ability to take your money.

I've been dragging my feet getting a quote myself. I gotta get my pandemic hoard sorted but also I guess I'm not in a rush because I'm home 24/7 now.

[3rdStrongestMole | 430]

7 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

Check your policy. My homeowners insurance doesn't cover collectibles (or specifically doesn't cover things with "value partially due to age" or something like that).

On the flipside I've search a few times and never seen anyone paid out by an insurance broker for a video games claim. This probably means video game collecting at the point where one would need insurance is a super niche hobby and possibly no one has ever needed to make a major claim. It's kind of hard to judge places like CollectInsure and ACI based on their friendly ability to take your money.

I've been dragging my feet getting a quote myself. I gotta get my pandemic hoard sorted but also I guess I'm not in a rush because I'm home 24/7 now.

Yeah,  and that's the issue im encountering. Surely some of these companies would gladly "cover" my games,  but there's so little feedback on them,  I wouldn't be confident a claim would go through without some kind of battle. 

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

1 hour ago, 3rdStrongestMole said:

Yeah,  and that's the issue im encountering. Surely some of these companies would gladly "cover" my games,  but there's so little feedback on them,  I wouldn't be confident a claim would go through without some kind of battle. 

This is my issue: yeah they might "cover" my games, but I would have little confidence in getting anywhere near actual market value if I had to make a claim, and even then, what kind of battle would it be?

So the solution that I came up with if something happened and I was paid out from losing the house, would be to buy a cheaper house in a lesser neighbourhood and use the difference to buy back as much of my collection as I could.  My house right now is worth ~$500k, so I would just buy a ~$400k house and spend ~$100k buying back as much of my games as I could...     My solution ain't pretty, but it helps me sleep at night... 

[Tanooki | 4,933]

^THAT

Right there is why I've done basic research and questioning into it.  I found I could have stuff covered but then it gets fuzzy.  The fuzzy is what do they pay out on it.  I would need to have photographic, ledger, something that has a timestamp etc to it to prove I'm not pulling one of those classic car theft claims of having like a davinci painting in my trunk that went missing...you know?  That's where I backed off it.

Sure I have Earthbound and the guide for instance, great.  Let's guess that's worth $500 to keep it easy.  What if someone breaks in here with all the stupid going on in the next 6months, and by then it sells for like $750.  How is my insurance going to want to try and qualify that, at the value that's lower of course, after hopefully I prove enough evidence I didn't make up owning it in the first place.  They were not very concrete on the phone other than they'd look for comps on the game, and my guess they'd shoot as low as comparably possible as they're not going to care about discoloration, sticker damage, other wear, etc.  I know I'd get a considerable fraction of what it's worth, but not really what it is, so I'd come up short.

[inasuma | 1,203]

17 hours ago, 3rdStrongestMole said:

Yeah,  and that's the issue im encountering. Surely some of these companies would gladly "cover" my games,  but there's so little feedback on them,  I wouldn't be confident a claim would go through without some kind of battle. 

You would need written confirmation from the provider that your specific games would be covered at X value. That would hold them legally responsible in the case they later refuse to cover them in the case of whatever damage occurred.

Of course, that also assumes they don't find some other slimey method of getting out of the pay out. 

EDIT: as an aside, I guarantee they will not provide any written confirmation that sways from their existing policies. which is why this whole thing is so bogus.

Edited March 3, 2022 by inasuma

[Xjwebb1982 | 50]

Renters and homeowners won’t cover you. They’ll tell you that you need a special rider policy like what is done for jewelry, but their underwriters won’t touch it. You can look into collectible specific insurers but they are not worth your time or the cumulative expense. The quotes are ridiculously priced and good luck ever getting them to pay out a claim for true value. They’ll do what insurance does and find a way to deny the claim or underpay the claim.

You’re better off a) not advertising what you have on any social media because you paint a target on your back; b) being careful about who you show your collection to physically (and never disclose the value) because most times someone is robbed it’s by someone they know or someone with access to the home and knows your routines; c) buying a quality safe, making sure it is secured to the floor and fireproof, and it is hidden; and d) install a basic alarm system as a deterrent and also buy some cameras that can at least serve as evidence to help the police catch the thief and recover your items. Your collection will be more secure this way than insurance. My two cents.

Edited March 6, 2022 by Xjwebb1982

[Daniel_Doyce | 470]

On 3/5/2022 at 1:53 PM, Xjwebb1982 said:

Renters and homeowners won’t cover you. They’ll tell you that you need a special rider policy like what is done for jewelry, but their underwriters won’t touch it. You can look into collectible specific insurers but they are not worth your time or the cumulative expense. The quotes are ridiculously priced and good luck ever getting them to pay out a claim for true value. They’ll do what insurance does and find a way to deny the claim or underpay the claim.

You’re better off a) not advertising what you have on any social media because you paint a target on your back; b) being careful about who you show your collection to physically (and never disclose the value) because most times someone is robbed it’s by someone they know or someone with access to the home and knows your routines; c) buying a quality safe, making sure it is secured to the floor and fireproof, and it is hidden; and d) install a basic alarm system as a deterrent and also buy some cameras that can at least serve as evidence to help the police catch the thief and recover your items. Your collection will be more secure this way than insurance. My two cents.

Saw this just now, but as a Personal Property (Homeowners / Renters / Condos / Landlords) pricing actuary, the first sentence is not correct, but the reality is complicated, of course. The contents in your home in a standard ISO policy are covered under coverage C, which is a certain percentage of your coverage A (basically your home value) coverage amount. Video game stuff is covered under Cov C in a standard ISO policy. You need to verify this since not all policies are standard, of course.

However, coverage C pays the actual cash value of items unless you have a specific replacement cost endorsement. This is issue #1 since your idea of the actual cash value for video game stuff will be different than the insurance company's. Proving the extent of your video game loss (i.e proof of the ownership of high value items you lost) is issue #2. The company isn't trying to deny your claim or underpay just because it is doing its due diligence. Personal insurance is one of the most highly regulated industries in the US, and an insurer can't just not pay a claim because it doesn't feel like it. So before worrying about a special policy, make sure you have good documentation of the existence of your major high value games in case of a fire or water loss. If you have an insurance agent, it's a good idea to give him documentation too. And of course check that video games are covered as Cov C contents in your actual policy.

Now, some specific categories of items have specific sublimits within the coverage C policy - cash, jewelry, firearms, fine art, etc. Your can specifically schedule these items for additional premium. For example, a lost Rolex would only be covered up to the sublimit of $1,500 for jewelry, gross of the policy deductible, but you can schedule a higher agreed value limit for the Rolex for a certain premium amount. Video game cartridges doesn't have any sublimit in a normal ISO policy and you can't schedule individual games in a normal Homeowners policy. Video game consoles may be considered electronic equipment for the electronic equipment sublimit, but I'd have to ask an underwriter about that.

This is where a endorsement (rider) to a normal policy, or a completely separate specialized collectible policy (i.e. a blanket or partially scheduled Personal Items Floater policy) comes in. Whether it's worth it is a factor of the overall value of your collection and your individual risk appetite.

Your second paragraph makes sense, but that's loss avoidance, not loss mitigation.

Edited March 15, 2022 by Daniel_Doyce

[Gloves | 11,777]

11 minutes ago, Daniel_Doyce said:

Saw this just now, but as a Personal Property (Homeowners / Renters / Condos / Landlords) pricing actuary, the first sentence is not correct, but the reality is complicated, of course. The contents in your home in a standard ISO policy are covered under coverage C, which is a certain percentage of your coverage A (basically your home value) coverage amount. Video game stuff is covered under Cov C in a standard ISO policy. You need to verify this since not all policies are standard, of course.

However, coverage C pays the actual cash value of items unless you have a specific replacement cost endorsement. This is issue #1 since your idea of the actual cash value for video game stuff will be different than the insurance company's. Proving the extent of your video game loss (i.e proof of the ownership of high value items you lost) is issue #2. The company isn't trying to deny your claim or underpay just because it is doing its due diligence. Personal insurance is one of the most highly regulated industries in the US, and an insurer can't just not pay a claim because it doesn't feel like it. So before worrying about a special policy, make sure you have good documentation of the existence of your major high value games in case of a fire or water loss. If you have an insurance agent, it's a good idea to give him documentation too. And of course check that video games are covered as Cov C contents in your actual policy.

Now, some specific categories of items have specific sublimits within the coverage C policy - cash, jewelry, firearms, fine art, etc. Your can specifically schedule these items for additional premium. For example, a lost Rolex would only be covered up to the sublimit of $1,500 for jewelry, gross of the policy deductible, but you can schedule a higher agreed value limit for the Rolex for a certain premium amount. Video game cartridges doesn't have any sublimit in a normal ISO policy and you can't schedule individual games in a normal Homeowners policy. Video game consoles may be considered electronic equipment for the electronic equipment sublimit, but I'd have to ask an underwriter about that.

This is where a endorsement (rider) to a normal policy, or a completely separate specialized collectible policy (i.e. a blanket or partially scheduled Personal Items Floater policy) comes in. Whether it's worth it is a factor of the overall value of your collection and your individual risk appetite.

Your second paragraph makes sense, but that's loss avoidance, not loss mitigation.

I'm Canadian so obviously it'd prob be different, and obviously I'd not hold you accountable by any means if any info you share does not align with my own insurance policy, knowing fully that they're a phone call away, but clarification question regarding "proof":

I add off of my games to my collection tracker the moment I obtain them, and I am working on taking photos of each individual game in my collection. The tracker has timestamps for each entry's addition as is typical of a CMS which I use for this data entry. Would you say that this documentation/proof would be sufficient if I had to make a claim in the case of, say, a fire where all my stuff was now a pile of ash (as opposed to say water damage where I could easily show them the wet/destroyed boxes).

Really just curious your thoughts on that, obviously I'd never want to see that or anything happen to my collection which I've worked hard to amass.

[Daniel_Doyce | 470]

8 minutes ago, Gloves said:

I'm Canadian so obviously it'd prob be different, and obviously I'd not hold you accountable by any means if any info you share does not align with my own insurance policy, knowing fully that they're a phone call away, but clarification question regarding "proof":

I add off of my games to my collection tracker the moment I obtain them, and I am working on taking photos of each individual game in my collection. The tracker has timestamps for each entry's addition as is typical of a CMS which I use for this data entry. Would you say that this documentation/proof would be sufficient if I had to make a claim in the case of, say, a fire where all my stuff was now a pile of ash (as opposed to say water damage where I could easily show them the wet/destroyed boxes).

Really just curious your thoughts on that, obviously I'd never want to see that or anything happen to my collection which I've worked hard to amass.

Yeah, that is way more documentation than most people provide for "normal" losses. If you have an agent, I'd submit an updated list to them periodically to leave a trail. Not a bad idea to do this for your other high value stuff like maple syrup stills and curling stones, or whatever other crazy stuff you all collect up there.

There's still the issue with establishing a proper actual cash value, or even replacement cost for the rarest games. Just send em over to the Wata folks and rake in the millions