Insurance & Securing toys - tips, questions and options (browse whole topic)

[Gutsman Heavy]

Check the pds for various insurers, the tfs will be covered under contents, but it is best to specify them as a lot (for example, "transformers toy collection, value $xx.xx) and document the collection for your personal records.

Even if the total value is less than the minimum specified amount (Usually 5k) list it anyway. It shouldn't cost anything to specify items under contents insurance.

When i was doing insurance training for a job i made sure to find out this stuff for when i insure my collection.

[AJ_Prime]

If it helps all I had to do was send an itemised list and picture to my insurer (RAC) and they included it as part of the insurance, no extra cover required. Luckily I had a spreadsheet and a recent photo of my collection. I valued the items at cost price, not replacement price which I think would be difficult to estimate.

[GoktimusPrime]

Don't insurance companies work off the cost of replacement though? I mean, my MISB G1 Pointblank would've cost about $20, but even I would highly doubt I could replace it even in loose mint complete condition for that price.

[Skullcruncher]

Don't insurance companies work off the cost of replacement though? I mean, my MISB G1 Pointblank would've cost about $20, but even I would highly doubt I could replace it even in loose mint complete condition for that price.

Do you have proof of that price? Heh I was just thinking how do I prove the value of each transformer? I suppose I could go back through paypal and hundreds of emails working out each purchase but even thinking about that gives me a pain

[GoktimusPrime]

I actually went to a local bank a few months ago and asked about this -- I was told to consider how much it would cost to replace the collection if it were lost now, because the insurance will pay out whatever that replacement cost should be. So we discussed how one goes about estimating that replacement cost, and I was told that even as simple as checking eBay is acceptable.

[iamirondude]

i'm going to hate going back through my collection and trying to remember how much i payed and what the replacement costs are gonna be.

[GoktimusPrime]

It's hard when a good chunk of your collection was accumulated during your childhood. I got Apeface and Snapdragon MISB as Xmas gifts in 1987... I'm guessing my mum paid $20-30 for them... but I don't know for sure. Thunderwing was a bday gift in 1989 - I have no idea how much he costed. I bought the Pretender Monsters from Kmart for a couple of bucks each MOSC when they came out... but they'd cost a small fortune to replace in that condition now!

So as the bank told me, it's not at all about how much you paid to obtain the toys, but how much it would cost to replace it. Look at say car insurance -- it's like say car insurance, you can either insure it for the cost of replacement, or at its market value. I don't think car insurance covers you for its original retail cost, since cars are a depreciating investment. Same with say house insurance -- they don't insure you for the market value of the house, but the cost of rebuilding it. To my understanding, property insurance is about the cost of replacing the insured property (hence why they might insure a car for its market value, but not a house - because the cost of rebuilding a house might be quite different to the cost of selling it).

I'm not an expert on insurance, but that's how it was explained to me by an issuer at a bank.