Insurance and keeping records? Anyone do this?

[Ayalah]

I'm curious how many people here have their collections insured? I've seen some of you with pony rooms FILLED with MIBs and such! Even smaller collections though, the numbers do rack up and I'm starting to consider it.

Also, maybe this is just me. I keep lists for everything. I started fooling around with keeping a pony "log book". Anyone else do anything like that? Especially those of you who buy/sell a lot? Basically mine lists my ponies/their condition by scale, what I payed, estimated worth atm, accessories (if any) etc etc.  Plus my list of most wanted in another section, best websites, ID guides in another, sellers I've bought from....well you get the idea.

I find keeping and fiddling with the book also distracts me )somewhat) from e-bay and the sales threads lol

[Sprinkles]

I keep track of my collection with Ponydex. But I don't have that many ponies so if something happens it won't be a huge loss.

[Ayalah]

Just checked out pnydex. Interesting! I signed up of coarse. never heard of it before.

I think I'll always prefer keeping paper notes for everything. Just a long habit. I find writting and note keeping relaxing.

For stuff like this in particular. I don't know why but I think to myself "Well, if anything happens to me my husband will have all the info to sell my collection on the arena" lol It'll all be sitting right there on the pony shelf

[FantasticFirefly]

I have a file on my desktop, every pony I buy I save a photo, date, seller, place and price. It's fun to look at stuff I bought years ago and remember how nice some of the sellers were.

I'm still trying to figure out insurance... I roughly starting going through what I have a few years back and started adding the $$ of what they'd cost to replace. after a while, going pale and pure shock I stopped.  I did call one place I deal with already for more info. They wanted an expert to appraise EACH item. Another policy would only replace with the avg selling price. Or, give you a short timeline for replacement. So, even though lots of my ponies are super duper mint (rare to find condition), fall of the card I'd only be given money to replace them with the same item in a condition (selling price) commonly sold- so, something in fair-poor condition, or with rarer items I'd likely run out of time to replace them if they only give you a year. Some items I was after for over a decade before I found them. Other policies you pay out of pocket to replace items and they reimburse you after.

For now I do what I can, keep them (and maintain my home) in a way they are unlikely to be damaged by broken pipes, floods or fire. (of course light/humidity) But once I have the collection on permanent display I do plan to have a toy expert by to have a look and give some insurance advice.

[Ayalah]

Aye, that's the thing about it. Ponies are a bit hard to appraise for a non collector or toy expert.

That is a little disheartening about the terms you encountered. I can't see how they could only pay out for you to buy the same/similar items. With collections, often times, things are not replaceable!  Art pieces in particular. My Uncle collects coins. He has been collecting for nearly 60 years now! He was a small child when he started. I know his collection is insured well...

I wonder if the conditions differ by the type of insurance plan you get? I'm not sure what would be best. Fr now I was considering trying to roll it into our renters insurance. Haven't gotton around to asking questions yet.

[hathorcat]

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 [about 6 months out of date to be honest]

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.

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. 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 - just the kind of value you would expect someone to charge you.

I am need to change in the next 12 months to a specialist insurer as my collection is no longer coverable within my regular home contents insurance. Unfortunately I need to get my spreadsheet up to date and source a lot of background material before I can get the complete cover I need.

[ApertureScience]

I've considered getting my collection insured, but I think I'll wait until I have something really rare (then again, FS Applejack might qualify already ).

As for keeping records, I've never thought of it but that's a great idea...

[Ayalah]

Wow Hathor, you're on top of this! I'm still trying to work the kinks out of my system. Yours sounds fantastic. I take it you keep binders etc with your spreadsheets?

Also great info about the insurance types! Thank you.

[FarDreamer]

Our homeowners insurance covers mine.  Every year when it's time to review our policy we check and they always say it's covered.

This thread is making me paranoid . . .   

[elish2]

I use the ponydex, as I can list the pony and value along with pictures of the pony which you can keep 5 pictures on the dex per pony, so you can show condition of said pony with your photos. Truthfully, mine is in need of updating. Hathor seems to be on the ball. Good thing to look into if you have some expensive collections.

[MLPWhitney]

I really, really should. My collection is at my moms house, so hopefully her homeowners insurance would cover it. I know my collection's value is well into the the five digits, so now im getting a bit paranoid as well! :o

[FantasticFirefly]

That's my problem.... replacing mine could cost more then a new truck. For those with inexpensive collections- under $1000, depending on your contents insurance you could have it added inexpensively, some cap at a value of $500 for a collection under basic insurance, and something over that can possibly be added as a rider. $500 still covers a large number of loose ponies easily. There's a lot more to consider once you start getting in the roomfull of MIP/mints/rares/varients 30-40-50K plus range.

I'll clarify my post earlier. What and how things are covered varies on the policy.  I'm in Canada, different companies and policies are available in the states, uk etc. that I perhaps cannot get with a company here. If you have a large collection this is something worth looking into. The ones I found either wouldn't work for me, or I would be unable to fulfill what they wanted -remote area trying to find an expert in my collectible. HARD.

[Lygeia]

You'll want to check your homeowners policy (or ask your parents about theirs)...most often specific collections are not covered and you'd only receive a nominal reimbursement check if everything was destroyed/lost/stolen.  Typically you might pay a couple hundred dollars a year to insure a collection worth thousands.  Think about it...if your house flooded, your collection would simply be "toys" to the insurance company if they weren't aware the items were in the home.  I'd strongly encourage any collectors with collections worth a lot of money to cover these items.  The insurance company will probably present a couple of options for you:  insuring for a specific sum of money for the collection without itemizing, or you present a specific list of each item and its value. 

[Stiletto]

All this discussion has me thinking!  I'm currently in the long process of dragging my collection out of storage and on display again, and as I do I use Ponydex to catalog everything.  Plus, Ponydex keep a running total of the "worth" of your collection (assuming you entered correct up to date amounts) and after only cataloging about a very small portion of my collection its "worth" over $1200.  I expect when I am done its going to be over $10,000 and have actually been thinking about having it insured.  Does anyone know if Renters Insurance could cover such a collection?  I currently rent and do not have renters insurance but have been meaning to look into so now is as good a time as ever!

[Lygeia]

All this discussion has me thinking!  I'm currently in the long process of dragging my collection out of storage and on display again, and as I do I use Ponydex to catalog everything.  Plus, Ponydex keep a running total of the "worth" of your collection (assuming you entered correct up to date amounts) and after only cataloging about a very small portion of my collection its "worth" over $1200.  I expect when I am done its going to be over $10,000 and have actually been thinking about having it insured.  Does anyone know if Renters Insurance could cover such a collection?  I currently rent and do not have renters insurance but have been meaning to look into so now is as good a time as ever!

Renters insurance is usually VERY affordable...definitely get a quote!  You may actually be able to save money if you bundle renters insurance with your auto insurance.  Renters insurance is usually sold in dollar amounts...you could purchase $10000 worth for example.