Anybody insure their collection

I was told homeowners insurance would not cover my collection, that i would need a seperate policy for my coins.
State Farm quoted me about 120.00 a year for up to 10,000. I would have to inventory itas well. However what do you do when you are regularly adding and subtracting to your collection. Has anybody had experience with a claim? any problems? would this be wise to get?

Thanks Much

 

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Typical homeowner's insurance will not cover your collection unless you purchase an additional rider and this can be very expensive. The best bet is to join the ANA and then insure your collection through Hugh Wood, Inc (AXA Group), which is the recommended insurance group for the ANA. If you keep you collection at home without any safe and without a security system then the rate might be as high as 1% of declared value. However, if you keep your collection in a safe or have a security system in your home then the rate drops substantially and can get even lower if you keep your collection in a safe deposit box. If I recall correctly, it can be something like 0.25% of the declared value to insure if kept this way. Therefore, a $10K policy would cost $25 per year if all these numbers are correct. For a nominal additional premium, they allow you to keep whatever level of coverage you want on your home and also with you when you travel, but again this costs extra. There is no requirement for an inventory list except on those items that are individually worth more than $10K.

 

The State Farm quote is not bad at 1.2%. Farmers ask me for about 2.5%. I went with Hugh Wood at .35% . As Tom said, join the ANA and get a quote from Hugh Wood. You can do it all online. They let you build a plan that fits you. Read all the information. They won't cover Nuclear Radiation damage.

 

I have a rider on my condo insurance policy for "enhanced contents and coins." About the same rate as described above--stipulations were a safe and an alarm.

 

The only downside with Hugh Wood is that they only insure coins from what I beleive. I have a policy with Collect Insure for about $350,000 and it costs under $1000 per year. I have to declare any items valued at over $5000 each. The plan also gives coverage up to $60,000 for transit insurance which includes carrying coins to a show and mailing them. I have saved quite a bit by not having to buy postal insurance.

Even though 99% of my collection resides in multiple safe deposit boxes, I think the insurance is a must have.

 

Have you checked the fine print on your Collect Insure policy? Usually they cover collectibles including coins except for Gold and Silver. Which means your gold and silver coins would not be covered under your policy with them. Check it out and post back if you don't mind. I'd like to know if their official policy has changed on that

Edited to add: I just went on their site and it appears they cover silver coins but not bullion, so ASE's are out I guess. Any type of bullion isn't covered, so I guess they don't cover Maple Leaf's and modern American Eagles? Says you can purchase extra coverage for gold "coins" (but that's not a usual part of their coins coverage). So maybe for extra dough they will cover gold coins with a face value. Not sure. But worth a call if you haven't clarified their policy on this

 

I'm with Tom B. I have had a policy with Hugh Wood for several years and pay under $200 for a $175,000 insured amount. They do insure other collectibles but I don't have any details. Hugh Wood contact info. is available on the ANA websight.

 

I have a $50k coin and jewelry rider with a seperate $500 deductable and while not cheap is not bad either at about $135 yearly. I do however have to list any items over $1500 as that is max payout per item/coin without being listed and or appraised. Also my home, auto and rv's all on the same policy so i get a pretty darn good discount. Also I have monitored home alarms, a dog and firearms in the house. I also live only 1 mile from police/fire dept all provide discounts to my policy. I recommend you talk to your agent if you already have any existing policy as combineing them can provide major discounts

 

The weird thing is homeowners does cover coin books, but not coins. Maybe they think thieves are not smart enough or wish to do enough work to take the books.

If I ever had a safe at home I would buy the coverage, but have been debating whether its really worth it if they are in the SDB.

 

I have a cheaper policy, issued by Smith & Wesson.

It's called the "make my day" policy.



My insurance agent, giving a demo.

 

If you go beyond the State Farm 10k rider, you have to have the collection appraised and documented. Every coin worth more than >$200 has to be listed separately....it's a HUGE PITA. I got mine all done, submitted, then they came back and told me the $200 thingy.....I was quite mad because they didn't tell me that upfront.

 

I could be mistaken, but what they mean by bullion is silver/gold rounds or bars that are not monetized. My insurance is through Hugh Wood as well and I was sure to clarify this with them when I signed up.

 

I used to insure my collection through USAA. I'm an ANA member, so I switched to Hugh Wood, that move literally cut my premiums in half for the same amount of coverage. Many have already mentioned it. I think it's the best insurance policy going for larger collections. Certaily the premiums were a lot cheaper than the policy I had through USAA.

 

Thanks for all the info guys, as I may have to go this route also. My collection just breached the $10K mark and now its time to find a way to protect it beyond a safe. I would be devastated to lose my precious coins, but at least if i have insurance I can always rebuild.

Any advice about the question posed earlier if you are constantly adding or subtracting coins/value from you r collection?

Just grab a higher amount policy as anticipation or what?

 

USAA wanted me to inventory each individual coin and assign a grade and value like I did with my firearms. I basically told them I would not. I'd rather just insure it as a "collection."

 

This is a great thread - exactly why I come to CT.

btw

great advice - you da bomb

 

My experience with Hugh Woods is exactly what you are probably already thinking. If the value of your coins change then just call them and up the value of the policy. You pay the difference. The same goes for the other way as well.

For example, I took out a policy for $XX$ - this was the Platinum policy which basically covers your coins if they are in transit or at a different location other than your home. The premium was somewhere in the $200 range. Then I realized that I wasn't going to be transporting my coins as much as I thought and so I called them and dropped my price to $175 and refunded me a prorated amount. Very simple to deal with. I have been with them for 5 years and just renewed last week.

 

Has anyone ever had to claim against a Hugh Wood policy? Collect Insure is great to deal with when it comes to claims from what I've heard. That's an important consideration. Many insurance policies are cheaper than others, but hassle you on the claims end. I would want to know that they are smooth operators if a claim is needed.

As for adding and subtracting from a collection, yeah, you buy enough to cover what you generally hold. But high value coins should be listed individually on the policy in some cases, so check with your plan to see what needs to be mentioned in you bring in a coin of that caliber

 

yes and make sure all the reciepts are in the fireproof box