Appraisal for insurance purposes.....

[Lady Jaye]

separate "collection"-insurance

Why would you want to insure your collection? The crucial question is: when your collection is lost due to whatever, are you able to rebuild it using your own funds? If the answer to that question is yes, you don't need insurance. You only need to insure things you can't afford when they happen: rebuilding your house after fire, a by-pass operation, liability, etc. The really big numbers!

Insurances like this really cost a hell of a lot of money. In x year's time you will have spent the same amount on insurance as you have spent on your collection. What is the chance that something bad will really happen? If the answer is x+1, then it's cheaper to not insure.

When things go bad you will be questioned about the value anyway. Your 25.000 euro value will be questioned and reset to a lower amount. Not a single insurance company covers the full 100%. Besides that, money doesn't bring the collection back. You're set back anyway, so why spend money on it?

This is a tip somebody once gave me. If your insurance company offers you an insurance of y euros per month you can put that money away in a separate savings' account. In case something happens you already saved some money. Good thing is, when nothing happens you still have your money!

Nothing we just told them what it was worth and they gave us a qoute.

And you truly believe now your collection is covered for that amount? The moment something happens to your collection the first thing they will do is question the value.

[SteveD]

I tussled with this a lot, and ultimately decided I agree with Jaye. My insurers told me they consider a collection to be the parts, not the whole, so it doesn't need actually declaring as over £2,000. Beyond that I'll fight them if I need to fight them!

Ultimately too, if my collection ever got destroyed and I had the money from its current value, or even a fraction of it, I'd likely not go back out into the Market and repurchase it ti the same extent.

[gung-hoeddie]

separate "collection"-insurance

Nothing we just told them what it was worth and they gave us a qoute.

And you truly believe now your collection is covered for that amount? The moment something happens to your collection the first thing they will do is question the value.

The question of value is a difficult question take things you own as an example to me they might be worthless to you priceless, I believe what I believe, I can afford to spend whatever I like on insurance or and anything I desire it will depend on what account you have with the bank, I have a gold card account if I loose money then so do the bank I have a mutually beneficial deal along with other investments, I know for a fact what it's insured for if there was a fire I would receive the money no questions asked.

[Lady Jaye]

My apologies Eddie, now I understand. You insured you collection for an amount of money not at value. Just like pianists insure their hands. Good! That will keep you away from awkward discussions when something bad should happen.


Still I'm not fond of insurance companies and banks. We've all seen what their 'kind products' did to our economies. If you'd put one pound in a special savings account for every pound you spend on your collection, you would have exactly the same thing as an insurance. OK, it will cost you more than insurance, but the big bonus is that you get to keep all your money!

[gung-hoeddie]

i agree your principal is sound and yes insurance companies and banks quite often screw the customer whole heartedly. the only issue i see is that to save the money instead again valid will be difficult for most as saving money generally is. the temptation to spend will send most headstrong into ebay and other outlets.
personally i save the same amount every month without fail, regardless of where it leaves me i will still save the money i'd sooner do it now than not be able too when old age creeps upon me.

[Thundershot]

Right time, right place & (if you're very lucky) you could potentially make more money by selling off your collection, later on in life, than any return from a bank account would accrue.

[stkhlmdk]

Thanks for all the great inputs in this thread. If I should loose the entire collection today I would think that it would probably be in the £6-7k range and there is little chance that I would ever be able to rebuild it. So my dilemma is should I take the "chance" and just let it continue under the current household insurance and maybe get £1k or try to get a bit more covered by getting appraisal and insured it separately.………or maybe just sell off and live unhappily ever after

[Lady Jaye]

Fire, theft and disaster are relatively slim risks. Apart from that vehicle driving into Eddie's and Annie's house I have never heard of an incident involving a collection. It's your children I should worry about!

Why the need to get things secured? Life is a road full of risks and uncertainties. The only thing you know for sure is that one day you will die. So just relax and enjoy the ride!

[stkhlmdk]

Fire, theft and disaster are relatively slim risks. Apart from that vehicle driving into Eddie's and Annie's house I have never heard of an incident involving a collection. It's your children I should worry about!

Why the need to get things secured? Life is a road full of risks and uncertainties. The only thing you know for sure is that one day you will die. So just relax and enjoy the ride!

I am pretty sure that by the time my youngest kid grows up he will tear this entire collection into pieces so yes, that is probably a more imminent threat than those other risks

[ODB]

Fire, theft and disaster are relatively slim risks. Apart from that vehicle driving into Eddie's and Annie's house I have never heard of an incident involving a collection. It's your children I should worry about!

Why the need to get things secured? Life is a road full of risks and uncertainties. The only thing you know for sure is that one day you will die. So just relax and enjoy the ride!

A Star Wars collector here in the UK had his collection stolen. To make matters worse it was orchestrated by a fellow collector, this only came out after several years and some eagle eyed spotting by some of his friends. Several US collectors have had their collections stolen and several have lost a good chunk in fires. So its not that uncommon.