Having Your Collection Appraised

[Polygon]

Not because I give a crap what it's worth, but because I've switched insurance carriers and if it's worth more than $5,000 you need to have proof or they will only give you $5,000 in case of a loss. So, anyone know the best way to go about this?

[LimitedEditionMuseum]

Combined with my G1 Transformers and other toys and Collections, I'm paying insurance on a 1 million dollar collection. I have a lot of movie set props and one of a kind sports pieces.

[ProjectCamaro]

I don't know who to get to do the appraisal but with my insurance company you can claim it's worth whatever you want as long as you're willing to pay the premium. If it were me I'd decide what it would take to replace everything and then claim it's worth a little more than that so if the worse were to happen you could replace everything even if prices went up a little.

[old_skoolin_jim]

Combined with my G1 Transformers and other toys and Collections, I'm paying insurance on a 1 million dollar collection. I have a lot of movie set props and one of a kind sports pieces.

Wow, that was super helpful to OP! :ass:
Personally, (it'd probably be a pain in the rear to do, but...) I'd compile a list of your games, their condition, and each title's individual value (verified by the DP guide/database and current eBay/resale market). Don't know if that would count as a "professional appraisal" by insurance company standards, but it's at least something definitive to go by.

FWIW, I have a $20,000 renter's insurance policy with Liberty Mutual and never had to give any sort of detailed appraisal. I have a good-sized collection, but $20k seemed enough to replace most, if not all, of my bigger-ticket goods. Good luck!

[Griking]

I don't know who to get to do the appraisal but with my insurance company you can claim it's worth whatever you want as long as you're willing to pay the premium. If it were me I'd decide what it would take to replace everything and then claim it's worth a little more than that so if the worse were to happen you could replace everything even if prices went up a little.

But how exactly does that work? Obviously some of your collection is worth much more than others. Say your home was broken into and the thieves got into your basement where you kept the Nintendo portion of your collection. they stole everything including your Stadium Events and NWC carts. The rest of your collection was in your office and was untouched. How do you go about getting reimbursed for your losses? You don't just automatically get a million dollars if anything is lost. I'm sure that you'd have to somehow prove what each item was worth

[ProjectCamaro]

But how exactly does that work? Obviously some of your collection is worth much more than others. Say your home was broken into and the thieves got into your basement where you kept the Nintendo portion of your collection. they stole everything including your Stadium Events and NWC carts. The rest of your collection was in your office and was untouched. How do you go about getting reimbursed for your losses? You don't just automatically get a million dollars if anything is lost. I'm sure that you'd have to somehow prove what each item was worth

For specifics you'd have to talk with your individual insurance agent. For me I have an overall value and anything that is individually expensive I have listed individually.

I don't use this for my video games as I don't have any extremely expensive/rare games like a Stadium Events but I use this method for my firearm collection.

[Polygon]

Just saying what it's worth isn't going to fly. The agent wants proof. He said appraisal, but it wasn't mentioned to him what would need the extra coverage for. I wasn't present at the conversation. What are my options besides appraisals? That's what I would prefer since it's rock solid and they wouldn't be able to argue with me in the event of a payout. However, is there a resource online that would give me an idea of the value of each of my games?

[ProjectCamaro]

Just saying what it's worth isn't going to fly. The agent wants proof. He said appraisal, but it wasn't mentioned to him what would need the extra coverage for. I wasn't present at the conversation. What are my options besides appraisals? That's what I would prefer since it's rock solid and they wouldn't be able to argue with me in the event of a payout. However, is there a resource online that would give me an idea of the value of each of my games?

If you agent isn't willing to work with you maybe you should shop around. My will let me state what an item is worth as long as I do so before hand and pay the premium based on that stated amount.

[Polygon]

If you agent isn't willing to work with you maybe you should shop around. My will let me state what an item is worth as long as I do so before hand and pay the premium based on that stated amount.

Unfortunately, this is not my decision to make. I'm merely renting from family right now.

[GamerTheGreek]

Id assume youd have to do a 1 , 3, 6 or 12 month ebay search and/or game site search for your titles within the calendar year ( for 2013 from 01/13 to 12/13 ) to price out what it would cost you to replace each cartridge. IF you can find it. Now even though this is a price of what people want ( not what they will get ) it will give some kinda value to what you would have to pay minus time and effort to replace each cartridge. ( I assume you would also have to factor in a $5.00 surcharge per cart to include shipping and insurance ( figuring ea cart mailed first class with insurance is about 4.80 ( 2.07 shipping + 2.70 insurance to 100.00 = 4.77 ). Ive thought this out once or twice but havent printed out any documentation to get it insured from ebay at the libary.

This would work great for 90% of my Atari 8 Bit collection. The Game that would be a stumper is my Mogul Maniac on the Romox company chip and cart. Its probably a 200- 300 at very most BUT in a case like that I would have to post a thread here, in the Whats it worth and print that out with the guestimations and average it out and store that as an proximate value, but brings up the fact of where would you replace a game like that when you havent seen another one like it ever. Thats where insuring rarer and hardest to locate cartridges will become a guessing game and I would be interested in hearing how others would handle carts that are 1 of a kind and cant be replaced due to just not being known out there. ( Even air raid there are a handful of copies in existance).

How do you price something prototype or a discovery piece when it comes to insurance.

[Bojay1997]

Just saying what it's worth isn't going to fly. The agent wants proof. He said appraisal, but it wasn't mentioned to him what would need the extra coverage for. I wasn't present at the conversation. What are my options besides appraisals? That's what I would prefer since it's rock solid and they wouldn't be able to argue with me in the event of a payout. However, is there a resource online that would give me an idea of the value of each of my games?

As far as I know, there is no appraisal service out there with expertise in video games. As such, your best option is to do a comprehensive inventory, assign a value to each item yourself and then present it to your insurance company. Most reputable companies have riders you can purchase to your standard personal property policies. As another poster indicated, the premium will be set based on the value and the risk. I'm not aware of any other way to do it. There is no comprehensive value guide out there and even Ebay is all over the place.

[GamerTheGreek]

How about Ebay price AVG and digital press online guide price and avg it out to get a price? Might not get the full value but youll get a chunk of it?

[Polygon]

Id assume youd have to do a 1 , 3, 6 or 12 month ebay search and/or game site search for your titles within the calendar year ( for 2013 from 01/13 to 12/13 ) to price out what it would cost you to replace each cartridge. IF you can find it. Now even though this is a price of what people want ( not what they will get ) it will give some kinda value to what you would have to pay minus time and effort to replace each cartridge. ( I assume you would also have to factor in a $5.00 surcharge per cart to include shipping and insurance ( figuring ea cart mailed first class with insurance is about 4.80 ( 2.07 shipping + 2.70 insurance to 100.00 = 4.77 ). Ive thought this out once or twice but havent printed out any documentation to get it insured from ebay at the libary.

This would work great for 90% of my Atari 8 Bit collection. The Game that would be a stumper is my Mogul Maniac on the Romox company chip and cart. Its probably a 200- 300 at very most BUT in a case like that I would have to post a thread here, in the Whats it worth and print that out with the guestimations and average it out and store that as an proximate value, but brings up the fact of where would you replace a game like that when you havent seen another one like it ever. Thats where insuring rarer and hardest to locate cartridges will become a guessing game and I would be interested in hearing how others would handle carts that are 1 of a kind and cant be replaced due to just not being known out there. ( Even air raid there are a handful of copies in existance).

How do you price something prototype or a discovery piece when it comes to insurance.


As far as I know, there is no appraisal service out there with expertise in video games. As such, your best option is to do a comprehensive inventory, assign a value to each item yourself and then present it to your insurance company. Most reputable companies have riders you can purchase to your standard personal property policies. As another poster indicated, the premium will be set based on the value and the risk. I'm not aware of any other way to do it. There is no comprehensive value guide out there and even Ebay is all over the place.


How about Ebay price AVG and digital press online guide price and avg it out to get a price? Might not get the full value but youll get a chunk of it?

It seems I'm going to have to talk with the agent and see if any of these ideas will work for them, or how they would expect me to assign value that they would honor.

[wiggyx]

Usually you can insure your posessions for as much as you'd like, regardless of actual value. Insurance companies aren't worried about you spending money on excessive coverage. I imagine the aforementioned million dolllar collection is a bit over-insured. It's being reimbursed for the loss that will require proof of value.

That said, do some research to determine roughly what your collection is worth (prolly sold eBay listings), and take lots of pictures as proof of your ownership. Insure accordingly. If you ever have to file a claim, then you'll likely have to (and want to) go through the process of determining value again.

[Gameguy]

Bring your entire collection to Pawn Stars so they'll call in an "expert", just get a copy of the episode later. Utah isn't all that far from Las Vegas.

[Cornelius]

It has been a few years at least, but someone on the forums had a situation where they needed an appraisal. I don't think it was for an entire video game collection, more like one or two items. As I recall (fuzzily) Joe was able to write something up that did the job. That's not realistic for a whole collection, but if you just have a few pieces you want to take extra care with, one of our friendly shop owners on the forum here or maybe one you know locally might be able help you out.

[SpaceFlea]

My insurance agent said my entire collection would be covered under my general home policy. And, if something were to happen to it, I would get reimbursed for the amount I paid and not the current market value. They said I had to keep documentation of everything I had and what I paid for it. However, if I took anything to a convention or something away from my house, it would only be covered up to $500 regardless of its value.

[Gameguy]

My insurance agent said my entire collection would be covered under my general home policy. And, if something were to happen to it, I would get reimbursed for the amount I paid and not the current market value. They said I had to keep documentation of everything I had and what I paid for it. However, if I took anything to a convention or something away from my house, it would only be covered up to $500 regardless of its value.
That's only good if you've bought everything at full retail and everything depreciated afterwards, more like if you bought a brand new TV or computer and something happened to it a few years later. If you actually bought things like collectibles for a good price you'd lose out, that insurance is probably almost worthless for you for your collection.

I was actually somewhat serious about the Pawn Stars type appraisal, more so to bring everything or a list of everything and condition to a local specialty game store and get them to write an appraisal for you. You might have to pay the store to do the appraisal as it would take up their time but I think it could be done.

[LimitedEditionMuseum]

Usually you can insure your posessions for as much as you'd like, regardless of actual value. Insurance companies aren't worried about you spending money on excessive coverage. I imagine the aforementioned million dolllar collection is a bit over-insured. It's being reimbursed for the loss that will require proof of value.

That said, do some research to determine roughly what your collection is worth (prolly sold eBay listings), and take lots of pictures as proof of your ownership. Insure accordingly. If you ever have to file a claim, then you'll likely have to (and want to) go through the process of determining value again.

I am kindof over paying but they didn't ask for itemized descriptions...I have things that can't be replaced, that's why. I don't think there is a reliable appraisal company for toys, collectibles and video games.

[wiggyx]

My insurance agent said my entire collection would be covered under my general home policy. And, if something were to happen to it, I would get reimbursed for the amount I paid and not the current market value. They said I had to keep documentation of everything I had and what I paid for it. However, if I took anything to a convention or something away from my house, it would only be covered up to $500 regardless of its value.

What did they tell you about stuff for which you have no receipt or way of proving what you paid?


I am kindof over paying but they didn't ask for itemized descriptions...I have things that can't be replaced, that's why. I don't think there is a reliable appraisal company for toys, collectibles and video games.

And that of course would be the issue if/when you ever have to make a claim (which I hope you NEVER need to). I can't even imagine how they would handle items that are one of a kind or aren't easily appraised :(

[MachineGex]

It has been a few years at least, but someone on the forums had a situation where they needed an appraisal. I don't think it was for an entire video game collection, more like one or two items. As I recall (fuzzily) Joe was able to write something up that did the job. That's not realistic for a whole collection, but if you just have a few pieces you want to take extra care with, one of our friendly shop owners on the forum here or maybe one you know locally might be able help you out.


When we owned a Game Store, we had a few people come in with this sort of situation. First up was a theft. They needed a value on the items stolen. I had the customer give us a list of all the games stolen, and I just put our retail price next to it. It was about 50 or so items, but the whole process only took 20 minutes or so.

Next up was an insurance claim from a house fire. The fire didn't get much, but the smoke damage did. The guy brought in several boxes of games and systems, and wanted me to go through it all and provide replacement costs. I had to have him take the boxes of games outside cuz it was stinking up the store. The customer was extremely lazy and kept on wanting me to itemize his stuff. I told him to just bring in a list of what was damaged by smoke and after him trying everything in the book to get me to do his work, he finally brought in a huge lists(way more stuff that actually got damaged). I wrote a letter(on our store's letterhead) stating that I was providing only our retail prices and not verifying actual damaged games. It ended up being thousands of dollars. He got his check and ended up buying a new N64 system and a couple of games from us as a "Thank You". I know he ended up cleaning up most of the games and they barely smelled. The systems however didn't clean up too well, the smoke was always there.

As far as insurance, I took pictures of my collection(comics) years ago. That way, I had proof what I had and could take in the photos and get a current replacement value. Most insurance companies let you upgrade to replacement value for a small fee. I would hate to get insurance money for what I paid for an item. I paid $37.50 for my issue of "The Incredible Hulk 181" and I paid around $.80 for my Gold NWC cart.

[Parodius Duh!]

Keep a record of everything you have purchased, ex: print out all ebay receipts and keep in a file. Theres also specific insurance companies that cater to toy and game collections.



My buddy uses this company for his Action Figure Prototype collection:

http://www.collectinsure.com/

Shoot them an email they will know the answer to all your questions, they specifically insure collectables since the 60s.

[Parodius Duh!]

Combined with my G1 Transformers and other toys and Collections, I'm paying insurance on a 1 million dollar collection. I have a lot of movie set props and one of a kind sports pieces.

Nobody cares about your most likely not worth a million bucks collection.

[Polygon]

Yeah, I've got pictures of everything and I've got it all documented in Excel files as well as a database using Game Collectorz which are backed up several places, including an off site backup. The Collectorz software has a spot for current value. Now I wish I had taken the time to find that out when I entered everything in. The agent is going to be giving me a call and I'm going to ask him if they know of a resource that can appraise them or if I can research the values and just insure accordingly. I do like the idea of going on Pawn Stars with the entire collection. Honestly though, I don't have anything very special. Just a lot of games, and most of them are complete.

[Atarileaf]

Bring your entire collection to Pawn Stars so they'll call in an "expert", just get a copy of the episode later. Utah isn't all that far from Las Vegas.

https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/4386503680/hC89E65D4/

[Gameguy]

I didn't say sell the items to Pawn Stars, just bring them in pretending to want to sell them so they'd call in their "expert". Probably the same guy who verified Pat's NWC cart without bothering to open it, honestly Pat never intended to sell his stuff but went there anyway cause he's an attention whore. This time the game stuff would be brought there for an appraisal, not just attention whoring.

Or just appraise items the same way as Storage Wars, pull a value out of your ass without any real research and it's good enough.

[needler420]

Usually you can insure your posessions for as much as you'd like, regardless of actual value. Insurance companies aren't worried about you spending money on excessive coverage. I imagine the aforementioned million dolllar collection is a bit over-insured. It's being reimbursed for the loss that will require proof of value.

That said, do some research to determine roughly what your collection is worth (prolly sold eBay listings), and take lots of pictures as proof of your ownership. Insure accordingly. If you ever have to file a claim, then you'll likely have to (and want to) go through the process of determining value again.

It's not that easy. You just can't get insurance because you show them the most current price guides from your beckett magazine and using ebay as a reference. Usually when people want to insure their collectibles they add a plan to their home owners policy to increase the coverage of the items in your home.

Getting a company to solely insure pop culture collectibles probably isn't worth it unless you have like 25k plus. Nor is it easy to prove the value of the items. Those niche companies offering those policies are the type of insurance company that fights claims tooth and nail.

You also can't over insure a collection as you say. Just because you pay a million dollar policy doesn't mean you can claim the full amount if the items you insured are under the amount you're claiming. The insurer is most likely going to deny your claim. That would be fraudulent insurance claim.

I know a lot of people that have insurance on their comic book collections and precious metals.

[wiggyx]

It's not that easy. You just can't get insurance because you show them the most current price guides from your beckett magazine and using ebay as a reference. Usually when people want to insure their collectibles they add a plan to their home owners policy to increase the coverage of the items in your home.

Getting a company to solely insure pop culture collectibles probably isn't worth it unless you have like 25k plus. Nor is it easy to prove the value of the items. Those niche companies offering those policies are the type of insurance company that fights claims tooth and nail.

You also can't over insure a collection as you say. Just because you pay a million dollar policy doesn't mean you can claim the full amount if the items you insured are under the amount you're claiming. The insurer is most likely going to deny your claim. That would be fraudulent insurance claim.

I know a lot of people that have insurance on their comic book collections and precious metals.

I own a home and insurance.

You don't.

You have no idea what you're talking about.


/discussion.



Usually you can insure your posessions for as much as you'd like, regardless of actual value. Insurance companies aren't worried about you spending money on excessive coverage. I imagine the aforementioned million dolllar collection is a bit over-insured. It's being reimbursed for the loss that will require proof of value.



You also can't over insure a collection as you say. Just because you pay a million dollar policy doesn't mean you can claim the full amount if the items you insured are under the amount you're claiming. The insurer is most likely going to deny your claim. That would be fraudulent insurance claim.

Yeah, I covered that.

[PsychedelicShaman]

lol, why so much hate in this thread?

[Xander]

It's not that easy. You just can't get insurance because you show them the most current price guides from your beckett magazine and using ebay as a reference. Usually when people want to insure their collectibles they add a plan to their home owners policy to increase the coverage of the items in your home.

Getting a company to solely insure pop culture collectibles probably isn't worth it unless you have like 25k plus. Nor is it easy to prove the value of the items. Those niche companies offering those policies are the type of insurance company that fights claims tooth and nail.

You also can't over insure a collection as you say. Just because you pay a million dollar policy doesn't mean you can claim the full amount if the items you insured are under the amount you're claiming. The insurer is most likely going to deny your claim. That would be fraudulent insurance claim.

I know a lot of people that have insurance on their comic book collections and precious metals.

I had parts of my collection stolen recently, somewhere around 2.5k$ USD in value. I contacted my insurer, I have a home insurance of about 25k$ in case of theft. They say they consider video game as "software" and there is a limitation in my insurance policy that say they insure software up to a maximum of 1k$ (sucks, as soon as I have more money I'm insuring my collection separately). I still had to prove I had for over 1k$ in game stolen. I did not have receipt for any of those games and they were fine with it. They asked me for a list of what was stolen and went to ebay to assess how much it was worth.

The thing is, I was insured for replacement value. If I cannot find a replacement myself, the company offer to find the replacement for me. And where will they find the best price to buy back the games I lost right now? Ebay. It was very easy to prove the value this way.

I think the harder thing would be to prove what was stolen. If your insurance work the same way as mine do, outside of the concern of a limitation on how they reimburse on game, you would be better off having an up to date inventory of your collection with pictures to prove its existence. Mine did not make difficulties in this case because the value was low 1k$ was nothing to them. But I can see how they would make difficulties on a claim for 10k$

In the end I guess it depends who is insuring you, they probably all have variation in the way they work.

[jonebone]

What's the point in having insurance if you can't collect in the event of a loss? That's why I don't buy it, same reason I don't purchase insurance on mailed items either (and I've bought sold at least 2,000 packages to this point).

Insurance companies are in it for the money. They will be your best friend and very accommodating when you are willing to pay them, and will fight you tooth and nail when you try to collect a payout.

[Polygon]

What's the point in having insurance if you can't collect in the event of a loss? That's why I don't buy it, same reason I don't purchase insurance on mailed items either (and I've bought sold at least 2,000 packages to this point).

Insurance companies are in it for the money. They will be your best friend and very accommodating when you are willing to pay them, and will fight you tooth and nail when you try to collect a payout.

While I agree with you, to a point, I think you'd be a fool to not have homeowners insurance or auto insurance. Without it you can end up in pretty deep crap or you can end up with nothing. I would rather have to fight tooth and nail and get something rather than be guaranteed nothing. Also, I've had to make large claims against insurance in the past and getting them to live up to their end of the bargain wasn't that bad. Sure, they tried some tricks to screw me over, but you only need to not be a moron to see past that. I don't know how someone could sit here and say insurance is useless. If you guys ever have to deal with a major loss, accident, or health issue you're going to find your self in a real shitty situation if you don't have insurance. Trust me... I know from experience. I've also seen it work for people in the same situations that had it. If you're uninsured you're a moron. Plain and simple.

This is part of the homeowners insurance at the place I am renting. Everything in the home is covered up to $450,000 except for special items. Things like collections of things, which if they exceed $5,000 it needs to be specified or that's all they'll payout. This would include specialty items like jewelry, firearms, a retro gaming collection. Or if you have individual items that exceed $5,000. I believe my collection exceeds that currently. I'll be calling him today to get more specifics.

[needler420]

While I agree with you, to a point, I think you'd be a fool to not have homeowners insurance or auto insurance. Without it you can end up in pretty deep crap or you can end up with nothing. I would rather have to fight tooth and nail and get something rather than be guaranteed nothing. Also, I've had to make large claims against insurance in the past and getting them to live up to their end of the bargain wasn't that bad. Sure, they tried some tricks to screw me over, but you only need to not be a moron to see past that. I don't know how someone could sit here and say insurance is useless. If you guys ever have to deal with a major loss, accident, or health issue you're going to find your self in a real shitty situation if you don't have insurance. Trust me... I know from experience. I've also seen it work for people in the same situations that had it. If you're uninsured you're a moron. Plain and simple.

This is part of the homeowners insurance at the place I am renting. Everything in the home is covered up to $450,000 except for special items. Things like collections of things, which if they exceed $5,000 it needs to be specified or that's all they'll payout. This would include specialty items like jewelry, firearms, a retro gaming collection. Or if you have individual items that exceed $5,000. I believe my collection exceeds that currently. I'll be calling him today to get more specifics.

Auto insurance is a given in the states as it's illegal to drive without car insurance. Five thousand dollars worth of stuff is not worth insuring unless it's part of your homeowners already. It's not worth getting another policy just to insure a 5k game collection. I wouldn't go out of my way to buy a policy for $5,000 in coverage. Not to mention why are you paying a half a million in a homeowners insurance policy when you are renting and your collection is only worth 5,000 grand? I am assuming that is your landlords policy? Yet you call people who don't have insurance stupid. Renters almost never pay home owners. I'm going to be on a title soon that the house is worth 75k-85k and we still don't insure it. We are thinking about it though as we own outright. We haven't carried homeowners now for probably like 8 years. I'd imagine that's thousands saved into what the total value of the house is. Though we are at risk. Part of the reason we take that risk is because I can build a house on my own with a few friends.

You want to know what is really stupid? When you rent yet own a collection of something that is worth enough to be used as a down payment to get into a mortgage.

[Bojay1997]

Auto insurance is a given in the states as it's illegal to drive without car insurance. Five thousand dollars worth of stuff is not worth insuring unless it's part of your homeowners already. It's not worth getting another policy just to insure a 5k game collection. I wouldn't go out of my way to buy a policy for $5,000 in coverage. Not to mention why are you paying a half a million in a homeowners insurance policy when you are renting and your collection is only worth 5,000 grand? I am assuming that is your landlords policy? Yet you call people who don't have insurance stupid. Renters almost never pay home owners. I'm going to be on a title soon that the house is worth 75k-85k and we still don't insure it. We are thinking about it though as we own outright. We haven't carried homeowners now for probably like 8 years. I'd imagine that's thousands saved into what the total value of the house is. Though we are at risk. Part of the reason we take that risk is because I can build a house on my own with a few friends.

You want to know what is really stupid? When you rent yet own a collection of something that is worth enough to be used as a down payment to get into a mortgage.

He never said his collection is only worth $5K. He said that anything above that is not covered under the standard policy he carries. There is a lot that can happen even as a renter. Before I bought my home, I had a neighbor who had a party where someone was injured and they were sued for over $100K. Without insurance, they would have had to fight that claim on their own and would have had to pay the $50K settlement the insurance company eventually offered. Not bad for a policy they only paid $150 a year to purchase.

I had a $1 million umbrella policy through USAA when I was a renter and with $20K in personal property insurance, it never cost me more than $125 a year. You should also be aware that if you have a mortgage, your lender will likely require insurance. You may be able to build a home, but materials and permits cost money, let alone the cost of living somewhere while your home is being rebuilt and without insurance, you are bearing 100% of those costs yourself. That's pretty foolish.

[Polygon]

Auto insurance is a given in the states as it's illegal to drive without car insurance. Five thousand dollars worth of stuff is not worth insuring unless it's part of your homeowners already. It's not worth getting another policy just to insure a 5k game collection. I wouldn't go out of my way to buy a policy for $5,000 in coverage. Not to mention why are you paying a half a million in a homeowners insurance policy when you are renting and your collection is only worth 5,000 grand? I am assuming that is your landlords policy? Yet you call people who don't have insurance stupid. Renters almost never pay home owners. I'm going to be on a title soon that the house is worth 75k-85k and we still don't insure it. We are thinking about it though as we own outright. We haven't carried homeowners now for probably like 8 years. I'd imagine that's thousands saved into what the total value of the house is. Though we are at risk. Part of the reason we take that risk is because I can build a house on my own with a few friends.

You want to know what is really stupid? When you rent yet own a collection of something that is worth enough to be used as a down payment to get into a mortgage.

Yes, because everyone follows the law. You're not too bright are you? There's a reason auto insurance includes coverage for uninsured motorists. Because there are plenty of people that drive without it regardless of the legality of it. Besides, it was simply one example to prove a point that wasn't even direct towards you. Next let's move on to the fact that you might want to learn to read. Start by reading my post again. If you still don't get it, read the quote below. Now, I'm renting, yes. I never mentioned the conditions of this, so you're pretty much assuming. Let me clarify for you. I'm renting from a family member. They pay for the homeowners insurance, I don't. I have a pretty nice arrangement here thanks to family helping me out. Of course a renter doesn't pay homeowners insurance, no "almost never" but never. They pay renters insurance genius. So, yes. I stand by my statement that people that don't buy insurance of some sort are stupid. If I didn't have the arrangement I have I would be buying renters insurance. You have some of the worst logic I've ever heard. Think of all the money you've saved? What if something happened and you lost everything? Sure, you say you could just build another house yourself, fine. I would guess you've never built one since you seem to think bulding materials are free or pretty cheap. You also seem to think all the stuff that goes inside is the same. You know, all the crap you lost? You'd be out over $100,000 in your current situation, easily. It wouldn't be as bad since you don't owe anything on it, but still. You're taking a risk that isn't worth it. There was a community around here that decided to cancel their flood insurance a few years back. This was in the southern part of the state which is pretty dry and doesn't get much rainfall. Too bad the next year the runoff from the very wet winter caused a flood and a lot of people lost their homes and all their belongings. It's just one example of many. People without insurance are stupid. It's really that simple. You might not ever use it, but if you have to you'll be glad you did have it.

Lastly... do you think I bought all these games last week? You don't know anything about me. The majority of my game collection was bought as a child, be it gifts or for myself. Long before I was concerned with home ownership. I don't buy games very often these days, unless I can get them REALLY cheap. Almost all of my games are complete because I never threw away boxes and stuff like that as a child and they're in mint condition as well. So, you might want to pull your foot out of your mouth. And if you're suggesting I'm stupid if I don't sell it to buy a house, well, that's your opinion. All hobbies are a waste of money. By the same logic, you're stupid for taking part in any hobbies.


He never said his collection is only worth $5K. He said that anything above that is not covered under the standard policy he carries. There is a lot that can happen even as a renter. Before I bought my home, I had a neighbor who had a party where someone was injured and they were sued for over $100K. Without insurance, they would have had to fight that claim on their own and would have had to pay the $50K settlement the insurance company eventually offered. Not bad for a policy they only paid $150 a year to purchase.

I had a $1 million umbrella policy through USAA when I was a renter and with $20K in personal property insurance, it never cost me more than $125 a year. You should also be aware that if you have a mortgage, your lender will likely require insurance. You may be able to build a home, but materials and permits cost money, let alone the cost of living somewhere while your home is being rebuilt and without insurance, you are bearing 100% of those costs yourself. That's pretty foolish.

[wiggyx]

What's the point in having insurance if you can't collect in the event of a loss? That's why I don't buy it, same reason I don't purchase insurance on mailed items either (and I've bought sold at least 2,000 packages to this point).

Insurance companies are in it for the money. They will be your best friend and very accommodating when you are willing to pay them, and will fight you tooth and nail when you try to collect a payout.

I've made 3 auto insurance claims and one home owners in my lifetime and had virtually no issues collecting.


Auto insurance is a given in the states as it's illegal to drive without car insurance. Five thousand dollars worth of stuff is not worth insuring unless it's part of your homeowners already. It's not worth getting another policy just to insure a 5k game collection. I wouldn't go out of my way to buy a policy for $5,000 in coverage. Not to mention why are you paying a half a million in a homeowners insurance policy when you are renting and your collection is only worth 5,000 grand? I am assuming that is your landlords policy? Yet you call people who don't have insurance stupid. Renters almost never pay home owners. I'm going to be on a title soon that the house is worth 75k-85k and we still don't insure it. We are thinking about it though as we own outright. We haven't carried homeowners now for probably like 8 years. I'd imagine that's thousands saved into what the total value of the house is. Though we are at risk. Part of the reason we take that risk is because I can build a house on my own with a few friends.

You want to know what is really stupid? When you rent yet own a collection of something that is worth enough to be used as a down payment to get into a mortgage.

Because they don't own, duh. It's called renter insurance.

Definitely don't get home owners insurance. Then, when you leave your bong unattended, and your house burns down, we can laugh at you.

[needler420]

I've made 3 auto insurance claims and one home owners in my lifetime and had virtually no issues collecting.



Because they don't own, duh. It's called renter insurance.

Definitely don't get home owners insurance. Then, when you leave your bong unattended, and your house burns down, we can laugh at you.



He didn't say he has renters insurance genius read his post. He said he rents and has homeowners.




This is part of the homeowners insurance at the place I am renting. .



He explained why in a later post. Which is because his landlord is a family member.


Also just because you made a claim with a insurance company three times and got it honored means shit. You act like because you got your claim honored, that they don't fight tooth and nail to deny a claim.

Guess what I made two auto insurance claims too and won both. That doesn't mean shit though. Just because they honored it doesn't mean they weren't trying to find a legal loophole to deny it.