Insured your collection?

[mlpkatie]

My collection is. I don't have very many valuble ones, but with our house insurance, they are allowed to cover any 1 collection of collectables. When the insurance lady came to look at her house, oh the smile she had on her face when she saw the pony room! She had to take photos for records, and she even named a few from her childhood from memory.

[Jemofirongate]

I would imagine most home contents policies either don't cover collections or don't cover them adequately - mine certainly doesn't!

A good first step would be to get them all catalogued with values - Ponydex is good for this. I calatlogued my entire collection with conservative estimates on values and the total is a very scary number when you consider the possibility that the whole lot might go up in flames

Probably best to research some specialist insurance for collections as the people are much more likely to understand collectors needs

Jem

[girlyponce]

Ugh. I should do this. I wonder how this works with customs - if they fall under a different category...

[ladyfenrir]

I was actually thinking about this just the other day... I still live with my parents, and they have insurance, but I'm not sure how much it covers. my collection is worth a lot, and I'd hate to see it reduced to nothing if something happened, like a fire or something... so I'm going to look into this sometime soon, see what the icelandic insurance companies have to offer. iceland is so behind with a lot of things though, so a "toy collection" might easily be considered as just that.... worthless plastic toys. sigh.

[Lightning Twirl]

I have actually thought about doing this, although I have just a regular g4 collection. I worked really hard to get where I am today with my collection and Id love to pass it down! Insuring a  collection could be a really good idea! =) Im not so afraid of fires as I am tornados being here in NE Texas or break-ins although I live in a secured neighborhood watch area. ITs good to be prepared! I would definitely insure my collection if I had a huge assemblage of gen 1 ponies!

[Stormrave]

Once my toy collection's value passed $1000 my insurance adjuster recommended it be insured separately as a collection rather than be rolled into "household items" given the valuable nature of some of the contents.  I think I pay an extra $20-ish on premiums each year.  I have taken pictures of everything I own to prove I have it.

The good news is, my policy states that I am paid for *the cost of replacing the item*.  So, if the item increases in value, if it costs the company more to buy me a new one, than it cost for me to buy the first one, they eat the difference.  The downside is I can't decide to buy something different with the insurance money.  I get what I lost, no more, no less.  The pictures are what helps them determine what I have.

[apanda0622]

I've been thinking of insuring my collection, mlp and other toys.  So right now I am taking pictures of all my toys and keeping a catalogue of toys on my portable hard drive which I keep in a safe box.

[rosesare]

After we had a house fire my insurance company covered mine under the household contents.  They even sent away the ones that had just been exposed to the smoke for cleaning so the smell didn't set in.  I just sent them ended ebay auctions for ones I bought to replace ones lost and basic values of the commons that got ruined and it came out to about $3000.   I didn't even really have to prove what I did and didn't have. But I had to decard a quite a few that had smoke damage to bad to the boxes it was going to stain the ponies and I sold about 30 smokey mocs at a huge loss bc of the damage.

As a side note the company that cleaned them did a horrible job and left them a giant mess. They sold me on their service telling me about all these beanie babies they cleaned and had to reattach the tags and everything and how careful they were.  They saved them from the smoke but the chemical they used dried out the hair and left them all with a chemical smell not to mention they mixed all my accessories and ponies and a couple even had water left in them and rusted...I had to rewash and rebag and sort all of them.  It was terrible and so upsetting to have all that money paid and I still have probably a box full of them after all these years I haven't gotten around to recleaning.  I would never let any other cleaners touch my collection again if it happened in the future. 

I think it really depends on the insurance company. I no longer have such a huge collection as I really got out of it after all the frustration after the fire but I think if they're valued over $1000 you should call your insurance company and make sure you have what they need to cover them or purchase collectors insurance. 

[hathorcat]

Personally if its over a certain value I would recommend you speak to your insurance company about an additional or specific bolt on to your policy or alternatively find and use a specialist insurer. There are insurance companies in most countries which specialise in collections and collectable insurances. I believe in the US www.collectinsure.com is one of the leading specialists or they are a company I have seen recommended by collectors of various items over the years.

I keep a speadsheet list in which each pony is numbered - the number ties to a picture of the pony [the picture is named the same number as the pony is listed as in the spreadsheet] . Each pony is listed with his or her accessories, which are also listed in the same row of the spreadsheet - each picture pictures the pony as complete as possible. I will admit that it needs radically updated.

I keep a note of the price it is "worth" as well as what I paid [be that more or less]. I should note that every now and then you have to tweak the worth price up or down. This takes A LOT of time when you have a large collection and as mentioned above, mine is seldom as up to date as it should be.

As for insurance you have 2 options.

1. Speak to your home contents insurer to see if they will increase your contents value to include your collection. Such a question can panic an insurance company however as sometimes they will not value a "collection" over a certain value or will not allow "one thing" [i.e your collection of ponies] to be worth a certain percentage of the overall contents value. Kind of like how you couldnt insure your home contents for £100,000 with £50,000 of that being the price of one piece of jewellery - for something like that an insurer would expect additional insurance or simply not insure the value [I know thats an extreme example]. If your insurer are simply willing to increase your contents and premium to cover your collection, fantastic.

2. As mentioned above, there are specialist toy/collectable insurers who will look at things like pony collections and offer you insurance. Personally I think once a collection starts to get to a certain value it is worth speaking to these people. Insurance can be expensive but not crazy bad and it would be worth it to be insured with an insurer who deals specifically with this bespoke kind of insurance. Some specialist insurers will want specifics on your collection - pictures, prices, background, etc while others may be happy with a general overview - its all down to individual insurers.

Good luck!

[Tiffymh1fan]

I want so badly to lock all my ponys up in a fire safe, but than how could I enjoy them!? So I was thinking about insurance for my ponys and monster high dolls both.
my daughter asked me last night when discussing this if our house was on fire and we were outside safe would I run in and try to save them, UM Yes in a heartbeat! You can replace them yes I understand, but I would sure try!!! The thought of them all melted and burned makes me so sad! I have insured all my dvds, cds, games, electronics so theres no excuse for me not to insure the ponys too. 

[lovesbabysquirmy]

There are a number of threads about this - have you searched the Arena?  I know the last one we discussed, an actual insurance agent explained about contents insurance and collectible policies. 

Here's what we've discussed  on this topic that I could find:

January:  http://mlparena.com/mlp/index.php/topic,319789.msg586799.html#msg586799

March: http://mlparena.com/mlp/index.php/topic,324605.msg665964.html#msg665964

June 2012: http://mlparena.com/mlp/index.php/topic,304152.msg325764.html#msg325764
July 2012: http://mlparena.com/mlp/index.php/topic,299973.msg257736.html#msg257736

I hope one of those threads gives you some perspective! 

[ashlyne]

I believe in the US www.collectinsure.com is one of the leading specialists or they are a company I have seen recommended by collectors of various items over the years.

We use Collectibles Insurance Services (aka www.collectinsure.com)  for my husband's and my collections. But we have many thousands of dollars in value, so we needed the extra insurance outside our home-owner's insurance.   I like it because it caters to collectors. For instance, they have certain conditions where the coverage can extend to taking your collectibles to and from shows.   I think that's genius! We have had to make a couple of claims and it was easy to do.

I think your first step is to gather an estimated value of your collectibles and call your home-owner's / renter's insurance company. They'll be able to tell you what they cover, under what conditions they cover it (**most do not cover flooding!**), and what the process is for making claims on your collectibles.    If your collection is bigger than what they normally cover, they will probably recommend separate insurance.

[LadyGuinevere]

Mine are insured through the household contents insurance - last time we renewed it I double checked with them what I would need in the event of a claim. They are listed on the contents as a collection. We have had to claim a bunch of other things on the insurance due to flood damage (we had three in a year!!), but thankfully not the ponies.