(Topic ID: 331910)

Pinball Machine Insurance. Poll and discussion

By FamDocKevin

1 year ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 20 posts
  • 15 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 1 year ago by atrainn
  • Topic is favorited by 7 Pinsiders

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    Topic poll

    “Do you have insurance on your machines? (Regardless of how they are covered.”

    • Yes. And I sleep well knowing I do. 13 votes
      24%
    • Yes. But I cringe when paying the premium. 0 votes
    • No. But I sometimes wonder if I should. 23 votes
      42%
    • No. Waste of money. 19 votes
      35%

    (Multiple choice - 55 votes by 53 Pinsiders)

    #1 1 year ago

    I do see a few prior posts on this topic, and the various thoughts on this. Though I am curious what percentage of owners carry insurance of some kind.

    Feel free to comment whether your insurance is covered via a separate "collections" policy or if it falls under a general homeowners policy.

    Really looking forward to the responses on this.

    #2 1 year ago

    On my policy everything in my home is covered by my contents clause.

    #3 1 year ago
    Quoted from mtp78:

    On my policy everything in my home is covered by my contents clause.

    Be careful w that - have heard horror stories - most people think these things are still worth $500.

    #4 1 year ago
    Quoted from FamDocKevin:

    I do see a few prior posts on this topic, and the various thoughts on this. Though I am curious what percentage of owners carry insurance of some kind.
    Feel free to comment whether your insurance is covered via a separate "collections" policy or if it falls under a general homeowners policy.
    Really looking forward to the responses on this.

    The more games you get, the more important collectibles coverage is. Notice I said collectibles coverage, not some blanket homeowners thing "well my agent said they will cover them". Most people dont even know pinball machines are still being made, let alone cost 10k.
    My collectors insurance runs about $20 a month for full replacement value - they have pics of my games for their records and know the difference between a project Phoenix and a Monster Bash.

    #5 1 year ago

    I’ve spoken with some collectibles insurance companies. They’re pretty reasonable in my opinion. They specialize in “wacky” coverage, even telling me they cover things like paintings by Picasso to historical artifacts to Harry Houdini’s equipment.

    It’s out there and if I had half a million dollars worth of machines in my house, I’d pay the minor fee per month.

    #6 1 year ago

    Your homeowners may cover it under contents but you need to check first and get a statement in writing. Mine does. And I had an incident and they indeed paid out with little hassle. I am sure experiences will vary a ton depending on company. I always pay more for good insurance that actually works when you need it. Certain companies have this reputation.

    #7 1 year ago
    Quoted from pinzrfun:

    My collectors insurance runs about $20 a month for full replacement value - they have pics of my games for their records and know the difference between a project Phoenix and a Monster Bash.

    If that is all it costs then what you have is secondary coverage. Basically, your collector's insurance will expect your primary household policy to cover your contents, including your pinball machines. If there is an issue where they won't fully reimburse you for said games they will then engage your primary company and try to encourage them to pay. If, after a fight they won't budge, then they will indeed step up and pay you the difference between what your primary paid out, and what you and they agreed your items are worth. So you will be made whole, I'm not dogging the concept at all, but everyone needs to understand how it works and that, in most cases, you are actually paying for very little actual insurance with these folks.

    #8 1 year ago
    Quoted from viper001:

    If that is all it costs then what you have is secondary coverage. Basically, your collector's insurance will expect your primary household policy to cover your contents, including your pinball machines. If there is an issue where they won't fully reimburse you for said games they will then engage your primary company and try to encourage them to pay. If, after a fight they won't budge, then they will indeed step up and pay you the difference between what your primary paid out, and what you and they agreed your items are worth. So you will be made whole, I'm not dogging the concept at all, but everyone needs to understand how it works and that, in most cases, you are actually paying for very little actual insurance with these folks.

    In your example it kinda sounds like a umbrella policy?
    I think it depends on who your provider is and how they deal with stuff.
    I was told earlier in life that if I planned on having a large collection to seek out a different provider that dealt with collectable items and not use my homeowners policy for reasons of a possible runaround.
    -Mike

    #9 1 year ago
    Quoted from Grizlyrig:

    In your example it kinda sounds like a umbrella policy?
    I think it depends on who your provider is and how they deal with stuff.
    I was told earlier in life that if I planned on having a large collection to seek out a different provider that dealt with collectable items and not use my homeowners policy for reasons of a possible runaround.
    -Mike

    I'm not sure of all the terms used in insurance. I just know every time this topic has come up before we have usually had one of the reps from these companies come in to promote their wares. And they like to sidestep the question of whether they are secondary or not, but they almost always eventually admit they are. So if someone has let's say 100k worth of games in their basement, and a company is provided full coverage for that amount for $20 a month we would all be crazy not to sign up for such a deal. The reality is, let's say a fellow owns 10 machines, has a total loss, and his homeowner's policy undervalues each game by $1000. When the smoke clears the collector's policy would only pay out 10k with the person's homeowner's policy paying the other 90k. For the collectors insurance it's a great deal because they know anyone seeking out their service will have a primary policy. If you didn't and were upfront about having no homeowner's insurance I'm pretty sure they wouldn't cover you, and if they did it wouldn't cost $20 a month.

    #10 1 year ago

    I am an insurance agent an I have mine listed seperate on a schedule personal property rider attached to my homeowners policy.. I highly recommend scheduling them if you have more than a couple.

    #11 1 year ago

    For the newer games that were bought nib, keep the receipts obviously. For the games that were aquired via a trade then they will have to be appraised and have official paperwork....at least this is what my insurance agent told me.

    It is true that 99 percent of the public knows nothing about pinball machine value and I think it would be difficult getting 15,000 from your insurance provider if your TOTAN went up in flames.

    If you can get a policy for 20 bucks a month from a company that deals specifically with pinball machines then I would probably go that route.

    #12 1 year ago
    Quoted from gandamack:

    For the newer games that were bought nib, keep the receipts obviously. For the games that were aquired via a trade then they will have to be appraised and have official paperwork....at least this is what my insurance agent told me.
    It is true that 99 percent of the public knows nothing about pinball machine value and I think it would be difficult getting 15,000 from your insurance provider if your TOTAN went up in flames.
    If you can get a policy for 20 bucks a month from a company that deals specifically with pinball machines then I would probably go that route.

    So sad but true. Had a fire and the insurance company said the deprecated value of my HUO (original crate delivered to my house 15 years ago) Family Guy is $1,500. It only got worse from there.

    #13 1 year ago

    Bump gandamack,This is what I was told also!!

    #14 1 year ago

    like i said earlier i am an insurance agent.. your coverage under your homeowners if you have replacement cost on your personal property works mainly like this. they give replacement for like kind. example if you have a 20 cubic foot refrigerator they will pay you for a new 20 cubic foot refrigerator. problem is electronics is hard to do this. computers are the worse because they are out dated in 6 months within purchase date. i believe pins would be the same way as the computer, that's why i scheduled on my homeowners. My company makes me take a screen shot of the pinside price sheet to verify my scheduled amount. its my responsiblity to update values when i see fit or i maybe be underinsured or over. They will never pay more than value at time of loss. I have feeling that almost all companies if you have a loss will short you if you are only relying on your personal property thats why i scheduled. no i don't like paying the extra premium but i know that i am covered.

    #15 1 year ago

    forgot to list my premium i pay. it about $2.75 per thousand for the year as a schedule writer on my homeowners

    #17 1 year ago
    Quoted from eSJayPee:

    So sad but true. Had a fire and the insurance company said the deprecated value of my HUO (original crate delivered to my house 15 years ago) Family Guy is $1,500. It only got worse from there.

    I don't understand this, if you have replacement value isn't it a matter of coming here and bringing up the sales history to show the value?

    #18 1 year ago

    I don't like to leave things to chance and in my research found that if your games aren't scheduled with an agreed upon insured value, you are leaving things to chance. (I read cases where non scheduled games were covered well and others where they weren't [undercoverage]--even though they had understood that they should be covered under their home owners policy.)

    Ultimately I decided to get a separate collectibles policy as it was cheaper than scheduling on my homeowners policy and they also provide coverage when transporting collectibles to events (eg taking a game to expo). You send pictures of your games and give a list of values. The underwriter checks game values using ebay, etc. and then clearly lists them all in your policy. In my case the underwriter wanted the deductible no lower than $1k and didn't need to schedule any one game whose value was under $2k.

    #19 1 year ago

    best way i can explain on replacement cost is this way. lets say you have antique oak kitchen table worth $4000 and have replacement cost coverage. what insurance is going to do is pay for a new oak table. lets say the new table is worth $2000. they have now replaced your table. but if you have the table schedule for $4000 and they agree its worth $4000 when you add it to your policy they will pay the $4000

    #20 1 year ago

    I have mine scheduled under a separate rider with my homeowners insurance.

    The weird thing is that a lot of people on the site recommend collectinsure, but when I tried to get coverage a couple of years ago the underwriter declined coverage for pinball and arcade machines under the reasoning that they "run on electricity". I even sent them tons of pinside threads where people talk about using collectinsure for coverage but they still reiterated that they can't cover pins. Very strange.

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