I have seen this hashed out many times on these forums. And I completely respect the 2 agents that have posted their opinion. But if you specifically have "Contents Replacement Value" on your house and the limit on that is enough to cover the pinball machines I'm not sure how they can hand you a check for $500 for a Medieval Madness?

I have heard some stories of folks that were taken care of on a regular policy, and certainly horror stories of some that weren't. I'm just not sure it's fair to say it's impossible to have them covered under a standard policy. Honestly my brother used to be an insurance agent and he wasn't sure when I asked him, what we need is an underwriter to chime in here? Are there any on the forums??

We are in the process of switching our homeowners right now. I specifically brought this subject up with my agent, who forwarded the question to the underwriters and they came back and said I was good. But then I have a fairly fantastic number on contents coverage which seems to exceed what I really need by a pretty good margin.

I guess what I am hearing is I need to work up a document with values, and if they sign off on that I'm good. But otherwise the previous exchange would not cover me. I just don't know why you can ask a question and be told you are good if you aren't...

I have a question for one of the agents that have posted here. Is there any way an average person like me can ask for a review of my coverage to confirm what I really have paid for? Basically, I submit a small sampling of my collection and we pretend like it is a total loss, and have the company come back with what they would pay me? Seems like a reasonable request and exercise, and would make more sense to do before there is a problem. If this is possible what is this called so I sound like I know what I'm talking about?

TIA

OK, so I brought my insurance agent into the conversation and told him my concerns. Here is what I was told my policy covers. Big huge disclaimer: I am not an insurance agent or employee of any insurance company. What my policy does or does not cover could be different from what you have. Yadda yadda yadda.

So what he confirmed is I have contents replacement of everything in my home, up to the upper overall limit as stated on my policy. I have no "sub-limits" of the coverage where they say for something like guns or collectables they will only cover up to a certain limit (he mentioned that because he says a lot of companies do impose such limits). In the event of a loss he said if the value of the collection was 20k they would initially pay me the "actual cash value" of the machines which could be a little less than the 20k (he threw out 16k possibly). Then, as the machines are replaced with like we would submit receipts and they would cover any additional monies spent. I can at least confirm this is how content replacement works as we have friends that had a pipe burst in their kitchen and caused enormous amounts of damage, and just like my agent said, as they replaced things they submitted receipts and were reimbursed.

For what it's worth I think I am good, but again, see my disclaimer or buy additional coverage if you deem that necessary for your own situation. He did run all this by their underwriting department and this is what they said.

Very true. And as I stated anyone needing additional coverage should buy it. If you take it to the extreme you could decide to not trust that you will get enough to replace anything in your house and insist on agreed value on everything (furniture, bedding, water pic, etc). It's all a trust issue with any company any way you look at it. I just know that the folks I personally know that have had contents replacement claims were happy in the end.

I'm not sure if you answered the question. But I thought folks were saying yours was an agreed value policy? If it's market value here is a test for you. I insure with you my original 1997 WMS Medieval Madness pinball machine which is in above average original condition. Machine is a total loss due to fire. Assuming I have provided documentation and pictures proving the above stated condition how much can I expect if this event happened yesterday? I live in Cincinnati Ohio if that matters.

Thanks in advance.

PM sent. I will post what I am able to find out back to the forum.

My understanding (but I am deferring to you) is that collector's insurance would be secondary to your primary coverage anyway. So in the case of a total loss of $5000 and your primary maxed out on paying $4000 (for whatever reason, market price, policy limit, etc) the collector insurance would kick in and potentially pay the additional $1000. But in no case could you expect to get double payment (IE $10,000) for this claim.

Here was the response I got from the collectables insurance company representative that posted earlier in this thread. This comes from their claims department in relation to my hypothetical claim question. I was hoping for a less hypothetical response....

"The basis of valuation for a claims settlement is the market value of the collectible immediately prior to the loss. There are many variables in the claims handing process, including item condition, type of loss, policy limits, deductibles, etc. Our experienced examiners work with our customers and evaluate each claim on an individual basis to reach a satisfactory resolution. Due to these variable factors, it’s difficult to provide a hypothetical estimated claim payout. "

Have you read through your policy to see if it is secondary to your homeowner's coverage? And also, do you have agreed value or market value on the value of your collection?

Here was the response from the Collectable insurance representative on whether their insurance is secondary to any other coverage you already have:

"In the event a covered loss occurs and there is other insurance available, which would apply to the covered property, the insurance under our policy would be excess insurance over the other insurance. In no event will our policy contribute with other insurance."

So if you have a water backup event they are saying they cap the entire claim at 50k? Or they cap specific things (like collectables) at 50k in that event? Because if an entire basement gets trashed, especially with the costs to remediation if there are sewage backups that seems like really low coverage to me. But again, I am not an insurance agent.

How high the water can go depends on your particular basement. In mine I'm lucky that we live on a hill and my home doesn't even require a sump pump at all. I have seen sewer backups all the way to the top of the stairs in my in-laws house so it's certainly possible for your games to take a swim.

I have to admit I was kind of expecting more of a reaction to my findings from the collector insurance. Outside of the water issue (which is a big deal and I understand that) I'm honestly not seeing any real value in having the collector insurance coverage. They are secondary coverage to your homeowner's policy (unless I am misunderstanding the wording of their last response that I posted) and were unwilling to put forth their opinion of the market value of my sample that I provided. Having not read the terms of their coverage, if they have an exclusion to sewer backup like the other policies I can find no real reason to go with them at all.

They were very friendly and professional in answering my questions, I'm just not sure what you are getting for your premiums. Unless you are living without homeowner's coverage to begin with. Am I missing something??

The key is you are not making a new friend, you are entering into a legal agreement with them. They air commercials trying to convince you it is the first thing and it is not at all. They will usually fulfill the terms of the agreement if you have a problem but the worst time to find out what that document actually says is while the fire department is rolling their hose up in front of your house...

I am happy we finally got to the bottom of this information. I know this has been debated since way back in the RGP days and I always walked away feeling nervous that I wasn't signed up for the collector insurance. I am more comfortable with the policy I already have, but again, my policy and my company could be wildly different than what everyone else has.