Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

At this point I am sure all of us are aware of the fact that our hobby is very expensive. Have you ever wondered what you would do if your collection was lost, damaged, destroyed or even stolen. I realized recently that this is an aspect of our hobby that is under protected or talked about. As the owner of National Liability Managers LLC I knew I could research what would be the best options to protect my collection and learned I could protect them effectively through one of the companies my agency is appointed with. Now I want to extend that option to you.
Benefits to insuring your collection through my agency include:

Coverage for collections up to $1,000,000
Full collectible value
Low deductible options
No appraisal required at application
A.M. Best "A" rated admitted carrier
Nationwide availability (I am licensed in every state except NJ, HI, AK, MA, & VT if you are in one of these states feel free to
contact me and I can help you find a licensed agent for your state).

Feel free to contact me about this great option to protect your collection by calling 405-757-4432, emailing me at jyost@nlmus.com or at my website www.nlmus.com .

Thank you for your time today and I will be happy to help you in the future.

It's a bit late for an April Fool, so I'll assume you're serious.

If I have an army that is sufficiently valuable to consider insuring separately, what is to stop me just adding it to my home insurance as I would my laptop or my wife's (non-existent) diamond tiara?

R.

Great question and the answer would depend on the cost your insurer would charge you, as well as if they have the available coverage. If you are interested in using your Homeowners policy I would suggest having it scheduled instead of treating it as basic personal property. When you go to schedule it they should treat the collection as fine art. There are issues with this option as some insurers will not be comfortable with the fact you play with your collection and take it out of the house. If you try to treat it as just another portion of your personal property coverage then it will be a little different, by that I mean the loss would be subject to both your overall deductible and the losses your policy covers e.g. if your collection is ruined in a flood but you don't have flood insurance you would have no coverage. Scheduling would still cover for flood, but dependent on the carrier that can be cost prohibitive. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Here's another one: how do you evaluate painted miniatures? Do you covert only the value of new models, unpainted, or will you also cover the cost of having models repainted to the standard to those lost? If the insuree is a professional painter, will you pay for his or her time to re-paint their own miniatures at theory professional rates?

What about miniatures that aren't painted well? Their real value may actually be less than the value of new models.

R.

Good questions Precinct. Documentation is the key to being able to support your claim that the army was worth x value. This will apply in all cases of insurance and with all items you ever insure. Pictures and receipts are important.
So in the case of this policy you are insuring for replacement cost. What that means is the cost to replace the models at their current value brand new. So if your looking at a a poorly painted model it will be the cost of the model new plus the cost of paint. If it was professionally painted it would be the cost of the painted model new. In the case of professional painting you will need to get proof. Again in insurance documentation is king. Do you have any other questions?

thanks for answering our questions. What do you do in the case of a rare or out of print model that can't be bought new anymore? Would it be based on current market rate? Documentation in that instance would seem to be less useful as it might fluctuate in value.

So if I understand correctly from a painted model standpoint, if I had a poorly painted model and you have a model that you painted to an award winning standard...the models from an insurance coverage standpoint would have a similar value based on the cost of the model and the cost of the paint? Is there no way to add in the amount of time you spent on the model? Assuming you had a valid way of providing proof on time spent?

How about situational coverage? The chances of loss are relatively low at home, but what about loss, theft, damage while out of the house? Theres plenty of cases of armies being stolen from cars, stores, etc. If I had a valuable army that would be my biggest concern.

Great questions guys. As the property owner it is your responsibility to know the value of the property. I can not determine that for you, but an appraiser can help you to determine that value and will also document for you which would assist in the claims process. Also this coverage will cover you anywhere in the world and will cover for theft. At the end of the day it is up to you (the insured) to prove the value of your items as far as the insurance industry is concerned.

I would suggest that you might need an independent assessor who could review the quality of the painting and assess the typical price to replicate three painting quality, across a range if professional services. Either that, our you might want to make a special arrangement with a painting service like BTP or Worthy Painting.

I'm not, honestly, sure that it's worth it. I would put an army on my home insurance for a couple of pounds extra a month if I was that concerned about losing it or having it stolen or destroyed. I've painted a lot of armies in three last five years as a professional painter and there's only one I'd consider was worth insuring separately and that's because out contained an insane amount of rare and out-of-production miniatures.

R.

That's right Precinct its a good idea to use an independent assessor or appraiser (in the United States this would be an appraiser), it would be difficult for an assessor/ appraiser to give an accurate value of an entire collection unless they can view it though. I would recommend contacting a local assessor/ appraiser to obtain an accurate value.
From what I can tell though Precinct the disconnect that you and I may be having has to do with two important facts. The first one is that I am not suggesting insuring each army separately because that would be a mistake when one policy can handle the entire amount. The second one is that the laws for insurance differ from the United States to the United Kingdom. As I am not licensed in the UK so I cannot give you an accurate course of action for your insurance needs. I can tell you though in the United States having this type of coverage can be the difference between losing everything and having the option to start over effectively if your collection is lost, stolen, or destroyed. If you have any other questions please let me know?

 lomaxxdurang wrote:
That's right Precinct its a good idea to use an independent assessor or appraiser (in the United States this would be an appraiser), it would be difficult for an assessor/ appraiser to give an accurate value of an entire collection unless they can view it though. I would recommend contacting a local assessor/ appraiser to obtain an accurate value.
From what I can tell though Precinct the disconnect that you and I may be having has to do with two important facts. The first one is that I am not suggesting insuring each army separately because that would be a mistake when one policy can handle the entire amount. The second one is that the laws for insurance differ from the United States to the United Kingdom. As I am not licensed in the UK so I cannot give you an accurate course of action for your insurance needs. I can tell you though in the United States having this type of coverage can be the difference between losing everything and having the option to start over effectively if your collection is lost, stolen, or destroyed. If you have any other questions please let me know?

Sounds like another avenue to spend money on. after all it is just materialism. personally i couldn't give a gak about or if my collection was stolen or damaged, as i know i can re-purchase them (majority thereof) so it sounds like another "way to part ways with money" but little realised value in return. if something seems to good to be true i am highly wary of. there are many scams going online these days. the majority of which involves Insurance/Finance.
personally i wouldn't consider Insuring my miniature collection, however if it didn't turn out bogus i am sure someone could benefit from this idea (beside the main benefactors)

Well Orkimedes1000 I am happy you’re financially stable enough to be able to throw out enough money to replace your entire collection especially at Australian prices. I don't know if everyone in our hobby can say the same thing with GWs persistent price increases. Personally I am closing in on 20k points worth of Imperial Guard and I would rather not have to replace them out of pocket. Again in your case I am not familiar with Australian insurance law, but feel free to contact your own insurance professional and they can talk to you about an inland marine policy (US title so you may have a different name in Australia).
Inland Marine policies are how anyone with a collection protects them if they go through a separate insurer than their homeowners.
The fact I posted here is no different than when Progressive runs a commercial with Flo talking (yes I am appointed as an agent for Progressive as well) it’s just targeted specifically to our gaming community.
The insurer writes inland marine policies to insure collections. These collections can be everything from plates, baseball cards, hallmark ornaments, to our hobby as well. Basically I found a carrier for my need and now I am extending it to you. So if you are in the US feel free to contact me the quote is free.

Greetings.
First of all I want you to know this isn't a bot or scheme or anything else weird. My name is Joseph Yost and I am a licensed insurance agent for property and casualty insurance (my resident license is held in Oklahoma as is my agency, but I do have nonresident P&C licenses in most states as well).I own my independent insurance agency National Liability Managers LLC (www.nlmus.com)
Now the real meat of what I am talking about.
Many of us have rather large collections. I know most of you are like... um really and I thought having a full Titan Legion was normal in 40k. Between my wife and I we have about 20k in IG, 10k in orks, 3-4k in Eldar and around 8-9k in CSM. So some of you are now questioning, "Why I am even calling that a collection." The fact is whether were talking about 10k worth of IG or 100k worth of IG its still quite a bit of money to replace them.

Recently I really thought about just what I had invested in 40k and I realized that it’s a lot of money. So being an insurance agent I decided to look into what I needed to cover my investment and the costs and coverage involved to do so.

So I ran into a couple of methods to insure my collection:
1. Through my homeowners insurance (or renters same difference really in this case) I could schedule my collection as fine art and insure it that way.
2. Have a separate inland marine policy cover my collection.

What’s the difference? I'll break it down into pros and cons.
1. Your homeowners insurance
Pros:
It can sometimes be cheaper to go through the homeowners for combined policy discounts.
It can be easier to do everything through one carrier.
It covers the collection for loss for any reason anywhere unless noted specifically in the policy.
Cons:
Some insurers won't want you to play with your toys anymore or will not allow coverage.
Many insurers don't like when you take them out of the house.
It can sometimes be more expensive dependent on the carrier to carry this on your policy instead of placing it separately with another carrier;

2. A separate inland marine policy
Pros
It tends to be cheap.
They usually don't care if you take your toys out to play.
You are insuring the minis as action figures not as fine art.
It covers your collection anywhere in the world and for any reason unless specifically noted in the policy.
Cons
It’s not on your home policy so you have to use two separate policies.

So this is what I learned and I thought I would spread some information for you. If you have any questions let me know. I sought out the information for me, but if I can help other people I'll be happy to do so.