The importance of renters/homeowners insurance

[Dan Turner]

Had 2 friends this week lose their homes due to fire.

1 was a rental the other was owned.

My friend with the rental no insurance and about $500 in cards lost, we are doing what we can but a lot of us are already sharing everything they can (mostly me) He lost everything in his place and it makes us sad but nothing we can do.

My friend the home owner just found out his policy will not cover collectibles, this sucks bad because his collection is easily $25k or more. He is not going to be playing he said for a while he is more worried about getting his home rebuilt.

We currently have 2 separate $50k renter policies and both have a $500 deductible, one just to cover our artwork and my magic collection and the other to cover the rest of the household items. $50k will not even start to cover all of our artwork or my magic collection alone. I am looking into getting even more coverage specific to my artwork since $50k will cover my magic collection alone.

Please if you have insurance contact your insurance company and sit down with them and discuss your collectibles have them make documentation of higher end items. It is better if they have proof of what you own ahead of a disaster instead of waiting for one to try and prove what your claiming.

DOCUMENTATION is the most important thing you can do.

I have an excel spreadsheet of everything I own worth more then $1 magic related, high res scans of everything worth more than $20. I keep it all online stored in case I need it. I have gone over with our insurance agent to make sure she understands the actual value of these items (via star city of course since that is the one place I know I can replace 99% of my collection same day). I think she almost fainted seeing cards over $1000 each.


Our insurance cost us $1200 a year or so but when you consider what it would cost to replace everything ti is worth it.

[Kayradis]

My cardpool partner and myself have a 12k insurance on the collection in addition to our separates policies.
I do believe it's totally worth it.

[Ace/Homebrew]

We currently have 2 separate $50k renter policies and both have a $500 deductible, one just to cover our artwork and my magic collection and the other to cover the rest of the household items.
I trust you took your own advice and understand how your policies work. For those who may not...

Multiple policies generally do not work like you think. If you have 2 general renters policies for $50K, you are likely wasting money on one of them because if a tragedy happens they do not stack and give you $100K in coverage for the loss. Both policies see an upper limit of $50K and pro rate their payout, giving you $25K each (saving each company $25K).

It looks like Dan specifically insures collectibles with one policy and the apartment with the other. Probably a decent idea to speak with an agent even if you end up using an internet insurer.

My agent said a policy protecting my cards would cost me $1 per $100 I want insured (for a year). He also said I needed to document the collection but did not specify how.

[Dice_Box]

I have 12k set aside for my White Wolf Old World of Darkness collection as it stands. I should think about my cards too. It's scary how much it can all be worth.

[shpishay]

I'm trying to get my collection insured, and it's not straightforward as I would've hoped. The company can insure individual cards that are greater than $50, which is 1/3 of my collection, but typically one needs an appraisal to prove these values. Has anyone been able to get a local card store to do an appraisal? What about card magazines like Beckett?

[apple713]

There is already a thread for this with good information. splitting the topic up weakens the thread as a resource. Please continue to post there if you do not find your answer.

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?25581-Insuring-your-Collection&highlight=insurance