Who here has their collection insured?

[16364279]

interesting views guys, thanks for helping me understand better. it makes so much sense

[SentinelPrime]

ive been broken in, fortunately they did not steal my toys, but even if they stepped on boxes i would have been upset. i think its a good idea to insure, but how often would you have to keep them updated? my population is ever growing and it would be annoying to keep writing letters. i think i might over insure to be on the safe side.... thanks for the heads up bruticus i will give rac a buzz this week.

[STL]

ive been broken in, fortunately they did not steal my toys, but even if they stepped on boxes i would have been upset. i think its a good idea to insure, but how often would you have to keep them updated? my population is ever growing and it would be annoying to keep writing letters. i think i might over insure to be on the safe side.... thanks for the heads up bruticus i will give rac a buzz this week.

Your obligation should be to inform them when there is any significant change in your collection. And that's the tricky part, how do you determine when you've reached that point where you have a significant change to your collection? A 2006 Botcon boxset? A lucky draw figure? The easiest way to do is keep an excel file and take pictures whenever u acquire a new acquisition and send the new version each year when u pay ur premium.

[liegeprime]

I have mine insured for 10K only, unfortunately its included in the contents policy with NRMA, they wouldnt allow for more than that amount, if I wanted to have it separately insured higher, Id have to provide a more detailed listing , documentation ( piccies) and its just too nitty gritty. But yeah i think I might have to get separate insurance ( which makes it double insured ) for the collection. It's kinda really pricy though. Me thinks I would invest first in a few window locks and an alarm system that really blares out and knocks the earwax of thieves... time to save...

[kristofferrer]

I did the same as Lige -
Insured with NRMA for 10K Max. If you feel your collection exceeds 10K you'll need to have it valued by a pro - and provide pictures and keep receipts (gets annoying because collections will grow).
ended up paying approx $500+ a year (pro-rata) for home contents including my collection.

I really recommend you insure your collection - you're essentially buying peace of mind!

[Defcon]

On the subject of thieves targeting transformers, well yes I think if you have a big display of them they will have a looksie. They will take not only stuff they percieve as valueable but anything that has caught their eye just because it looked cool. Boxed items that look vintage would fall into the perceived value category. I won't list the other items specifically, but also maybe well known characters. My first priority would be security to go in hand with insurance cover. Location, it is preferable but sometimes unrealistic to have displays away from possible entries for theives, and away from electronics such as laptops, tvs, dvd players.

[1AZRAEL1]

Figured I'd throw my 2c in on this debate, now that I am about to move into my own home.

I did ask the guy at NRMA, when I had to get house insurance, what I could do about my collection. He did say you gotta have photos of them and that kinda stuff, documentation, excel spreadsheet is a good idea.

Now, once I do move, we are going to get contents insurance as well, just have to wait a little.

Weird thing is, I have enver been worried about my collection when it was at my parents place or fiances parents place. But now I find that because it will be MY place, it becomes more of a responsibility for me to protect it so to speak.

I think I'd rather take the time to document them all and have them insured for the peace of mind I will have.

[i_amtrunks]

I did ask the guy at NRMA, when I had to get house insurance, what I could do about my collection. He did say you gotta have photos of them and that kinda stuff, documentation, excel spreadsheet is a good idea.

but what happens if the thief steals you collection and your computer with the excel spreadsheet and photos on it?

Or if there is a fire that wipes both out as well?

[1AZRAEL1]

but what happens if the thief steals you collection and your computer with the excel spreadsheet and photos on it?

Or if there is a fire that wipes both out as well?

That is true, I will have my external harddrive as a backup as well, may even save the doc to my father-in-laws computer, as an extra backup.

But when does it get to the point when you know it will be safe?
Unfortunately you can never have it 100% safe, but you just have to take all precautions you can.

[liegeprime]

but what happens if the thief steals you collection and your computer with the excel spreadsheet and photos on it?

Or if there is a fire that wipes both out as well?

Which is why there's a good reason to keep the data in a USB stick and have it with your keys (car/house) that way its always with you. Now for pics Im not sure how big a file that would be to be able to keep it in USB sticks but its good to keep a back up file in the net (Photobucket et al) which would make it easy to retrieve if need be.