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.

I imagine it's relatively easy to insure a complete kit, but how do you value kitbashes, or custom molds etc.? Are there are specialist insurance companies that do this sort of thing?

When I do transport my models, I often drive with them strapped into the passenger seat in a secure box. I wasn't carrying them today, but somebody hit my car today from behind, and I'm wondering how the insurance company would act if I had claimed models were broken (in the hypothetical situation that they were there).

Beyond the usual home and contents "miscellaneous" insurance, the smart answer is probably "You don't". The less transparent the valuation of your property is, and the less transparent any damage is, the more your insurer will charge you for the privilege, if they don't refuse outright. Unless you're talking about a professionally appraised stamp collection or whatever, you'd be much better off just putting the insurance money in a piggy bank in case you need to replace your miniatures.

In your specific scenario, your insurance policy will have a clause covering a certain amount of personal property, the last time I claimed was due to a break in and a bunch of CDs were stolen along with the stereo.

IIRC it was ~£200 for stuff, so that, with inflation over the intervening 10 years, is likely £250-300, assuming it hasn't fallen victim to the same sort of cutbacks as 3rd party cover on borrowed vehicles with Fully Comp policies.

That might cover the cost of replacement models, but won't make any allowance for time for builds, painting etc, as you say, so yes, House Contents policy might be of some use, but generally only covers specific items outside of the home (typically portable tech like phones, laptops, tablets etc) but that will typically carry an excess of several hundred pounds, making a claim possibly uneconomical.

Really, your only option for proper cover is a specific, bespoke policy, and as Alex said, this will likely be more expensive than is worthwhile.

I'd call your agent or issuing company, and ask them.

Odds are, your personal property would cover it, as most cover many tens of thousands of dollars, and only exempt jewelry above a certain value.

You can add a rider to your policy, of course, but realistically minis are no different than any other hobby stuff. The key is more to document what you have. Pics, including WIP, commsion receipts, inventory lists, etc.

While claiming $5000 in toys sounds a lot, that's actually a pretty reasonable claim for a lot of policies. Showing that's the actual value is the hard part, which is why you need to document what you have.

If you really want to insure them someone will be willing to give them an agreed value, including kit bashes and other work, probably as art. In the UK someone like Hiscox would be quite willing to insure them. There will be a company in any country that will insure anything. However, it will cost. It may not be worth doing. Personally I just make sure my house insurance is high enough and ultimately accept that if I loose them the loss of time and work will be balanced out with the joy of a massive plastic crack binge at the insurance companies expense.

I work in property insurance as an actuary.

The problem with agreed value riders is the policy will require you to insure to value.

You have five armies - Space Marines, Necrons, Lizardmen, Ogre Kingdoms, and WIP Tyranids. Each is worth $1,000.

To insure all of it, you will have to take out a $5,000 policy. But you only transport one army to the shop. You're paying for $5,000 of protection but only using $1,000 of it.

You'd be better off lowering the deductible on your renters/homeowners.

Not sure about the rest of the world but in the UK you can get "Model Railway" Insurance which covers models, miniatures etc.

This is a specific insurance policy which values finished models at a price above their replacement retail value and takes into account transporting models to and from events.

A standard insurance policy will only pay out the value to replace stolen or damaged minis, so doesn't take into account any extra value for conversions, paint etc.

However it is quite expensive, but if you think your figures are worth it might be something to look at.

Here in Australia I lock my cats in the laundry while minis are out. Closest thing I have, god knows premiums wouldn't be worth replacement mini costs etc.

 calamarialldayerrday wrote:

When I do transport my models, I often drive with them strapped into the passenger seat in a secure box. I wasn't carrying them today, but somebody hit my car today from behind, and I'm wondering how the insurance company would act if I had claimed models were broken (in the hypothetical situation that they were there).

In the U.S., drivers are required to carry a certain amount of liability insurance. If you are hit and they are at fault, you could claim the miniatures as property damage. Liability is generally broken into two parts - bodily injury and property. Depending on the carrier, each type may have a separate limit or an aggregate limit.

Keep in mind:
1. There is nothing stopping and uninsured person from driving a car. Depending on state laws and how the policy is written, it's possible that you could get hit by an uninsured driver and be SOL. Of course you could plan for this by having uninsured/underinsured coverage on your own auto policy.
2. The amount you are required to carry varies by state. Depending on their limit and how much damage they did to your car, there may not be anything left over to cover other property damage.
3. If you file a liability - property damage claim, you may only get the retail value of the models.

Most homeowners and renters policies cover your personal property at locations other than your home. The problem is that you are then making a claim on your own policy and you will have to deal with the deductible. If you lose $700 dollars of miniatures and have a $500 deductible, you only get $200. Is it worth filing a claim at this point? Of course you could only claim retail value of the models as the time and effort to paint isn't covered. You could argue that it's owed to you as part of a liability claim, but you may not get far.

If you are worried about fire, theft, hurricanes, etc., you could insure your miniatures to value. There are different ways of doing this depending on the insurance company. Some may have a rider on your basic policy or provide coverage on a separate policy (sometimes called a personal articles policy). These types of policies will cover your models at an agreed value. The benefit is that you get to insure them for what you think they are worth and many times the deductible may not apply to these types of loss. The downside is that you have to pay premiums and it may get expensive depending on your risk profile.

Source: 10 years in claims and claim management. Feel free to ask questions. Keep in mind that policies and procedures vary from state to state and company to company.

I know our miniatures seem expensive, but quite frankly paying the insurance premiums on them would likely be far more expensive than buying some superglue to fix some broken models.

It seems like the only time insurance would be necessary is in case of actual theft. For example, going to a large tournament and having your bag of $1000+ of stuff stolen.

In that case you'd likely want some type of travel insurance...(assuming you go out of town for that sort of thing) . But again, it's probably better to just put that money in a piggy bank once a month as a "just in case" fund.

I've a spreadsheet with every 40k purchase I've made.
For one thing, it lets me know how much the HHHobby is costing me. But it also records every model I've bought, and the associated costs for paint, magnets, etc.
I've really got to export it off my PC, in case that gets nabbed, too.
I just hope the home insurance takes that as proof.

Here's a thread I started ages ago about insuring models....
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/233705.page
It's still pretty relevant.