Insuring my guns????

Safetech · Sep 20, 2013

Not sure where to put this. Here seemed like the best choice. Mods, feel free to relocate.

It's occurred to me that since my collection is starting to get bigger, it might be time to start considering insuring it. Not sure how much my regular home owner's policy would cover if something happened.

Can someone explain how that works and what I might expect to pay for adding that type of coverage if necessary?

Bublar · Sep 20, 2013

I am in the same boat as you. I can provide you some sort of answer (kinda)...

I called USAA (my bank/insurance company) and they stated I had to submit photos and serials of all firearms. In addition, I would have to have the firearms appraised (they didn't specify who could do this, nor what was acceptable documentation).

At the time, I was in my car on Bluetooth and just wanted to get some facts about the process. This is where my knowledge ends unfortunately.

Not sure if this helps in the slightest, but I and am looking forward to some of the responses you'll no doubt receive from the community.

rj1974 · Sep 20, 2013

I just talked to my agent at state farm about this on Tuesday . Home owners will cover some but they suggest a extra policy / rider for any collections of significant value .

They want a detailed list , I stopped the conversation there .

ohen cepel · Sep 20, 2013

When I shopped around years ago these guys were the best for me;
http://www.collectinsure.com/

USAA has been great to me but was bad in this case.
Homeowners will cover some but usually isn't the best option.

The NRA policy was good but cost more than the CIA guys. Plus, CIA is local and doesn't want a ton of information, #'s, pics, appraisals, etc.

I have never had to file a claim but so far I'm happy with them after about a decade.

Jimbob2.0 · Sep 20, 2013

Invest in a safe first, that said I do use collectibles insurance

Safetech · Sep 21, 2013

Uh.... yeah... got a safe.

Jimbob2.0 · Sep 21, 2013

Safetech said:
Uh.... yeah... got a safe.

Doh didn't look at the posters name

trickg · Sep 21, 2013

I have a couple of fairly valuable collectibles, so I called my insurance company to see about insuring them, and was surprised at home much it was going to raise my premiums to get them added to the policy. Thus far I have opted to not insure, and I simply keep them in my safe, which is a Heritage Tradition series.

somd_mustangs · Sep 21, 2013

Most homeowners policies only cover up to $5k or so. As mentioned, State Farm and others require detailed info like S/N, pics and store them on their own systems. And we know how secure those can be.

I will give another +1 for Collectibles Insurance Services in Hunt Valley. Recommended by a few advanced collectors I deal with on occasion. They're easy to deal with, and they insure just about anything collectible (stamps, coins, musical instruments, etc). For items above a certain value, they do require a general description but not the S/N. They do recommend that you have pics of your items but don't need to see them unless there's a claim. Common sense anyway. Rates are pretty reasonable all things considered. Worth looking into.

smoothebore · Sep 21, 2013

This is a good one:
Eastern Insurance "Historic Firearms & Collectibles Insurance Program"
Contact: John Richardson 800-545-9326
jrichardson@historicfirearms.com

DarthZed · Sep 21, 2013

The NRA has a program for members. I went through them when I found out my home owners would only cover $2500. (And the insurance company wanted me to get appraisals on all firearms, and they would have to bump the request up to the regional manager, and, and, and...)

NRA just asked how much insurance I wanted, and I got a bill in a few days...done. IIRC $30,000 of coverage was $300-$400 a year.

Edit: I was surprised that they didn't want a list of firearms. When I asked they said I could send them a list if I wanted, but that they really didn't need it (I sent it in just in case). They did want a list of all guns worth more than $2500 individually.

Safetech · Sep 21, 2013

DarthZed said:
The NRA has a program for members. I went through them when I found out my home owners would only cover $2500. (And the insurance company wanted me to get appraisals on all firearms, and they would have to bump the request up to the regional manager, and, and, and...)

NRA just asked how much insurance I wanted, and I got a bill in a few days...done. IIRC $30,000 of coverage was $300-$400 a year.

Edit: I was surprised that they didn't want a list of firearms. When I asked they said I could send them a list if I wanted, but that they really didn't need it (I sent it in just in case). They did want a list of all guns worth more than $2500 individually.

Never even occurred to me! (And I'm a "Lifer".)

Thanks for reminding me!

I never even activated my $2,500 coverage. So I just did that.

Then I got the following email...

NRA Endorsed Insurance

By activating your $2,500 no-cost insurance, you have taken the first step to ensure your valuable firearms are protected.

But like many members with firearms valued over $2,500, your no-cost insurance isn't enough to fully protect your firearms.

ArmsCare Plus provides broad protection at very affordable costs. For less than $110 per year, you can get $7,500 of ArmsCare Plus Firearms Insurance. When combined with your $2,500 No-Cost ArmsCare Firearms Insurance, you can receive $10,000 in coverage.

Get the protection you need. Get ArmsCare Plus!

Anybody had any experience (claims, customer service, etc.) with this before I "pull the trigger"???

Looked at their "terms and conditions", and it seems pretty straight forward.

ohen cepel · Sep 21, 2013

I found the NRA program to be more expensive than CIA. Good to have the bit that comes with your membership but after having them for years, and paying a lot more, I switched to CIA and have been happy. Plus, saving some $$ over the NRA plan.

Safetech · Sep 21, 2013

Okay. Just got an estimate from CIA. (Couldn't do it yesterday. Traveling and email was screwy with hotel's internet service)

Anyway, yeah, $71/year for TRUE $10,000 coverage. (As opposed to really only $7,500 - minus what your HO ins pays - from what I read on the NRA coverage.)

Thanks.

OEH · Sep 21, 2013

State Farm had additional riders for up to $5k and up to $10k when I asked last year. They never asked me for a listing of any kind. Maybe just certain agents?

Americus · Sep 22, 2013

Could the same 10k insurance plan also cover other items? Guns, Lenses, Cameras, Jewelry?

NickZac · Sep 22, 2013

My experience with any collectable items and general policies have been that general policies often have caps and exclusions that many do not realize. Such was the case for jewelry insurance...I thought my Breitling was covered under the general policy until it was brought to my attention that certain types of jewelry was capped at something like $1500, which included watches. The watch's value is closer to $7500, so it was more than just a small coverage difference... It also only protected against certain types of incidents and failed to cover some of the potential issues that can happen with a watch you wear daily. Consequently, I had to get a different policy to cover anything close to the value of my watch and all the scenarios ranging from theft to loss, to damage to "Acts of God", etc.

With knives (as I collect knives), it was about the same thing...a few thousand dollar cap on something worth a lot more without proper coverage for all of the most common events that cause loss/damage.

I've also noticed that insurance companies do not always ask if you have a safe, but some will offer a substantial discount if you do. I wear my watch 24-7, but when I gave them the information that I had a UL fire/burglary safe, the price of insuring my watch dropped like 35%...I am not sure if they did not ask because they just forgot or most people do not have TL-rated safes in their home or what, but if I ever change policies, that's one of the first things I am going to ask about as it was a pretty substantial discount.

And speaking of the "Acts of God" clauses, I've also noticed many companies have means of excluding coverage when this happens and that what constitutes an, "Act of God" seems to vary.

And if you can't tell yet, I really hate insurance companies.

NickZac · Sep 22, 2013

Americus said:
Could the same 10k insurance plan also cover other items? Guns, Lenses, Cameras, Jewelry?

Check the policy very closely...sometimes the fine print can be very specific (and very exclusionary), and it will sometimes cap something at a set payout. For example, they may only pay $2,000 for a coin/gun/watch/knife collection that one has, regardless of if more was lost, or the may only pay up to X dollars per-item.

Sometimes, asking an agent directly is best, IMHO... I have come to believe that if one has something that is more expensive than what is commonly seen in households, the more clarity the better. For example, the question I asked an agent was, "I have a X watch with a MSRP of around $Y. I wear it almost every day. When not wearing it, I put it in a safe. What would happen if _______?

_______ = add most common scenarios..."it was stolen"/"it was damaged beyond repair"/"it was destroyed in a fire"/"it was destroyed in a freak accident of nature"/etc.

Then, "how much would be paid?" and asking if the pay out would be most relative to, 1) an appraisal, 2) MSRP v. SRP, 3) estimated values, 4) standardized value calculations, 5) cost of replacement, etc.

4MDGunRights · Sep 23, 2013

I read that CIA covers "collectables", and that doesn't include firearms that you regularly shoot. I am not sure of the particulars but collecable insurance sounds like it may not give you the coverage that you think that you are getting.

Insuring my guns????

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