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

[Burn]

How do people go about insuring the collection anyway? Do they just increase their contents insurance or are they specifying it separately?

[reillyd]

If anyone (eg workmen) seems to pay a particular interest in any of them, I've drilled family members to say "Yes it's just such a shame he took them out of the packaging, and didn't keep the boxes. They're a fraction of what they would have been worth "

[CBratron]

How do people go about insuring the collection anyway? Do they just increase their contents insurance or are they specifying it separately?

Look at your policy and what it says about special collections. Some insurers limit payouts for non-household items and some don't cover them at all. You may be able to add a rider to the policy to specifically insure the collection. You will probably need to get your collection appraised and documented.

Just talk to your insurer. They'll know more of the specifics and options.

[Fungal Infection]

I had my DVD/bluray, videogames and toy collection insured but needed to specify the overall value. eg. Robot toy collection $25000 or videogame collection (400 games). Most policies will only cover set amounts unless specified so make sure you actually tell them you want to insure certain items so you are covered. For example, I know NRMA's standard policy will only cover you for $2500 in jewellery if you dont tell them otherwise. Accordingly, this will increase your premium but atleast if anything does happen, you are covered.

[Trent]

This is why a few months ago here in a discussion I suggested making the collection section of the board only viewable by members. I got shot down though *shrugs*. I mean, if you use a phone (or GPS capable camera) to take photos and then use an image hosting website then amongst all the metadata available to anyone who can view the image is the GPS coordinates of where the photo was taken (unless you strip the metadata or turn off the location settings)

[kup]

How does one go about insuring a collection? Does it need to be assessed for value? I don't think many (or any) insurance person in Australia would have enough know-how on transformers to properly do so.

[griffin]

I think that's something to ask the insurer, as it will come down to how they process a claim (which would be different to each insurer). Some may require proof of purchase, some may require a "professional" evaluation of each item at the time of insuring, some may require photographic proof of the condition of the items, some might want proof of their replacement value at the time of theft (what it would take for you to replace it in a timely manner, which can be more expensive than waiting for a bargain)... while some may require all of the above.
Perhaps shop around, asking what their policy requires beforehand, and what is required when making a claim... and pick one that is easier to fulfil (as some have standard contents insurance, which would be easier to prove value and condition).

One insurer I asked at, would only offer a standard "contents insurance", and based on the (timely) replacement value, the annual premium would be $5,000! Some specialty insurers might be different, if you can convince them of Toys as being a valuable collectable. Maybe inquire at one of those insurance comparison brokers (like iselect) and they might have insurers on their database that are noted to cater for special policies.

[DELTAprime]

I know from looking into this on Seibertron and TFW that they say to make sure your toys are listed as toys, not a collection, don't even say the words collection or collectable. Apparently policies are less strict on toys than they are on collectibles.

This year when the insurance is due I need to call around and ask about if they need a note on the policy or what.

Last year we switched to the Commonwealth Bank's insurance. They said we can go about it two ways, either make them just contents or a collection. Going for a collection would mean finding an appraiser (which I don't think there is one in these parts) and documenting everything. Making them just contents saves all that hassle, but I don't feel very secure.