Is There an Alternative to Collectibles Insurance Services?21726
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 I've spent years perfecting my brand of assholery.
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DrWatson private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Hello All, I have had CIS for a few years and every year they keep going up. They are now about $150 more pet year than when I first started. Is there anyone else out there that I can check into about insuring my books? Or someone else you use? Thank you. |
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| Post 1 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
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weinsteinjt private msg quote post Address this user | |
| americancollectors.com 50k policy costs $200-250 annual and covers comics in shipments | ||
| Post 2 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
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Terk13 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @weinsteinjt Do they require some sort of updated inventory annually? Do they just go on your word or do they ask for photos? | ||
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 I don't believe this....and I know you don't care that I don't believe this.
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GAC private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Certainly look around for quotes...always a good idea to see what other markets can offer. If you find cheaper, similar coverage? Consider the loyalty to CIS you are giving up that should be/could be used in a claim situation. In a "grey area" of a claim...the loyalty card can be what you need to push the claim in your favour. Just something to consider in case you get quotes that are $20 cheaper (or whatever amount you deem not significant). |
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| Post 4 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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weinsteinjt private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Just initially they will ask for an inventory list with your estimated values and photos of any book over $2k. Their underwriters will value the collection and assign a policy amount. You can increase your valuation at anytime but will then need a new inventory listing and photos of new books over $2k. Renewals don't require another new inventory listing. They take your word as far as the listing but not on the over $2k books. I've been with them a few years already, so hopefully it's still the same process. I never had to submit a claim, thank God, so I don't know what that process is like. | ||
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 Apparently, I am easily annoyed.
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Rbolton private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I roll mine in with an addition to my home owners for my books and my guns. I have never had separate policies. | ||
| Post 6 • IP flag post | ||
 My Chihuahua is watching me in case I do something cool.
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ICConquest private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Rbolton This is what I do also. | ||
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Collector
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Terk13 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @weinsteinjt Makes sense. Thanks for the info! | ||
| Post 8 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
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Briten private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Rbolton nailed it! That what I do. | ||
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Collector
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weinsteinjt private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Rbolton I had a $1M USAA umbrella policy with separate policies for jewelry and firearms. My wife's jewelry and my firearms collection started getting too big and exceeded their policy limits,so they suggested I use American Collectors for complete coverage. It's so happens they also covered comic books, including any books in shipping/transit, a happy coincidence. | ||
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Collector
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weinsteinjt private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Terk13 Your welcome bud!! | ||
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 I'd like to say I still turned out alright, but that would be a lie.
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flanders private msg quote post Address this user | |
| This reminds me, I forgot to renew my policy! | ||
| Post 12 • IP flag post | ||
 I have a problem with fattening women up.
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Bronte private msg quote post Address this user | |
| American Collectors Insurance 951 Haddonfield Road Suite 2A Cherry Hill NJ, 08002 I bailed on cis because they dont cover hurricanes in Florida. This company does. However, they are a bit more problematic. For example you have to itemize all books and artwork over 2k in value. They do cover original art as well but require an appraisal. I used Romitaman. And they accepted it. |
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| Post 13 • IP flag post | ||
 If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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xkonk private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I also have a rider on my homeowner's policy. The main issue for you could be that it doesn't cover shipping; the assumption is that stuff stays in your house for the most part. | ||
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 Ima gonna steal this and look for some occasion to use it!
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IronMan private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Rbolton For all of those that said you have insurance through your homeowners policy. I tried doing that with State Farm and the premium quoted was really, REALLY high. Nor did it include private shipping insurance. @weinsteinjt Thanks! I'll look into them. Do you know if they have dealer policies? CIS does. A dealer's inventory changes constantly. What one is looking for in a dealer policy is just a flat coverage limit and private shipping insurance. Also some coverage for inventory at shows / off site. I currently have both dealer and collector policies with CIS. I should mention that I have had one claim with CIS - a package I shipped lost by USPS - and the claim process went well. I posted about it on this forum years ago. CIS paid about $800 as I recall. They didn't refuse to renew my policy and the price at renewal did not go up. |
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I don't believe this....and I know you don't care that I don't believe this.
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GAC private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @IronMan While price for coverage is important for sure...what's more important is the claims experience. You don't want headaches or the insurer considering claims' denial...your claims experience sounds like how it should always be....quick and ending with money in hand....that type of claims experience has value. | ||
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Collector
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weinsteinjt private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @IronMan I don't know if collector's has dealer insurance. When I started a policy with them I was just a collector. I never asked them about a dealer policy. Thanks for the info about CIS, I'll look into them as well if collector doesn't have a dealer policy. Are there limits on the inventory valuation for that $800 policy? | ||
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Ima gonna steal this and look for some occasion to use it!
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IronMan private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by weinsteinjt $800 was the amount that CIS paid for a claim on a lost shipment of a comic book. Not the price of the policy. CIS is really easy as far as inventory goes. They only require a specific schedule (list of item(s)) valued over $25,000 |
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| Post 18 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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weinsteinjt private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @IronMan I requested a quote from them, if they ask who referred me I'll let them know IronMan sent me. Thanks Bud! | ||
| Post 19 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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weinsteinjt private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I just got the quote, that was pretty fast. Wondering if this is fair pricing. Collectibles Insurance Services estimated dealer quote: Policy Limit of Insurance: $500,000 Estimated Total Annual Cost: $4,134.90 Away from Scheduled Premises & Personal Travel Coverage: 10% of policy limit of insurance Signature Required Shipment Coverage: 10% of policy limit of insurance Any Suggestions/Opinions? |
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I have a problem with fattening women up.
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Bronte private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @weinsteinjt When i had cis, the burglary amount was less than my covered amount. I had to pay extra to match the coverage of 200k. My suggestion is to read the contract carefully and make sure the coverage is what you want it to be, dont assume like I did. Thankfully I never needed to put a claim in but after hurricanes the next likely loss would be theft. |
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| Post 22 • IP flag post | ||
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Ima gonna steal this and look for some occasion to use it!
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IronMan private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by weinsteinjt Your policy would be larger than mine. But it appears to scale at a lower rate. That is to say if my policy was for the same coverage amount and it scaled at 100% I would be paying more. So it seems "fair" in that sense. Maybe one way to look at it is you would be paying less than 1% of the coverage amount. As Bronte mentions, the standard policy has 1/2 the value of coverage for burglary. I too didn't catch that right away. It was several years later when talking to someone at CIS to raise my coverage limit. Bronte notes you can pay extra to make coverages match. I'm going from memory, but I believe an alarm system and safe can make a difference also in burglary coverage. |
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| Post 23 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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weinsteinjt private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @IronMan Thanks for the reply. They informed me that they unfortunately don't provide policy discounts for safeguards such as safes, central station alarm, fireproof containers, or a vigilant armed homeowner. | ||
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I have a problem with fattening women up.
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Bronte private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @weinsteinjt Are you sure about the monitored alarm? They asked for proof of alarm when I did my policy. |
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| Post 25 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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weinsteinjt private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Bronte No discounts but they stated it affects the amount of coverage you can get. Here are the questions I posed and their responses. I asked about discounts for safeguards in question #3. Hopefully this can also help inform everyone else on the forum: 1) I do need the travel insurance since I go to conventions or auction houses with at least $50k in inventory but do I need to purchase temporary (3-4 day) riders if I ever transport a large quantity (over $50k) for the purpose of setting up a booth to sell items at conventions? As far as travel coverage goes, you can choose no coverage, 10%, 25%, 50%, or 75% of your total inventory value. Just let me know the typical amount of coverage you would need for travel and I will update the quote. 2) So far I have $200k (cost value) inventoried on excel but not updated for current fair market values. I need at least a $50k buffer to account for updated FMV values and non-inventoried items. The annual costs for a 500k policy is a little high for me right now, so if it's not too much trouble, could you please provide me with separate quotes for $250k valuation at $100, $250, and $500 deductibles? We pay out based on current market value, so what you paid for your inventory (cost value) does not matter. We realize that the nature of the game is buy low/sell high, so you want to insure your inventory based on what you would sell it for instead. Our deductible starts at $500 and go up from there. I have attached the updated quote for $250k in coverage, and increased the travel coverage to 50%, but one word of caution as we lower the inventory value- we have something called a coinsurance clause, which basically means that if we are not insuring at least 80% of your total inventory value, you run the risk of being paid out a percentage of that claim (minus the $500 deductible), based on the percentage of the inventory we actually were insuring. Please double check your inventory value as I wouldn’t want you to have any issues should you ever need to make a claim. 3) Also is there any discounts for protective measures installed such as safes, fire proof containers, central station alarm, vigilant armed homeowner, etc? No, there are no discounts for safeguards, but safeguards do play into the amount of coverage you get against burglary and theft. Safeguards can be any of the following: central station alarm, having some/all inventory stored in a safe that weighs 300 lbs or more when empty and has no wheels, or in a smaller safe that is bolted to the wall or floor, or in a vault with 3” walls, no windows and a metal door (or a safe deposit box). If there are no safeguards on place, the coverage against burglary is $50,000. If there is one safeguard in place, the coverage against burglary is $500,000 or the limit of the policy, whichever is less. If there are 2 safeguards in place, that burglary coverage would be $1M or the limit of the policy, whichever is less. 4) My high valued items are currently listed on my website (wtccomics.com) with photos, but will your underwriters need additional photos of my inventory stored at my location? In general we do not need a whole lot of documentation up front to put a policy in place, though our underwriters do often ask for a few photos showing how the inventory is stored/displayed. That said, your documentation is critical in the event of a claim, as we are 100% reliant on the information you provide to help us determine current market value at the time of a loss. Acceptable forms of documentation can be any of the following- receipts, a detailed inventory list, photos, or video. The better the documentation, the more smoothly the claims process would go. Basically, you want your documentation to back up a) what you had and no longer do, and b) what you believe your items to be worth. |
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Ima gonna steal this and look for some occasion to use it!
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IronMan private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by weinsteinjt  |
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| Post 27 • IP flag post | ||
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Ima gonna steal this and look for some occasion to use it!
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IronMan private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @weinsteinjt I only became aware of #2 - the coinsurance thing - with my last policy renewal. I'd have to get into the tax boxes and pull out older policies to see if this is something new. I believe it is something new. It also seems nonsensical. If one files a claim and they ask what the value of ones entire inventory is then one should say the total value of your inventory is equal to 100% of your policy limit. You were fully insured. Or maybe even over insured - just to be safe. So No Coinsurance. CIS pretty much depends on the customer to say what they had and what it's worth. It is I'm certain easier to claim something is worth less versus more. Bottom line: the LAST thing you wanna say is "man, this is not going to cover even a fraction of what I lost. But I guess it's better than nothing..." It's kinda annoying and I don't know that any other class of insurance does such. If my house is worth 300K and I only have 200K insurance State Farm doesn't use that as an excuse to only pay 100K on the loss. So it seems like a "gotcha" for anyone unaware and that admits their collection/inventory was not fully insured. Over the years some things have improved on my policies. When I first signed on the private shipping insurance rules and coverage varied based on shipper and service tier. Now any of the major shipping services are all the same. Just send requiring a signature and you have a deductible (mine being $200) I'll also add that if you get something really expensive in (as a dealer) that you can call and temporarily increase (a few weeks or a month) your coverage for a modest amount. So you are covered until the book has sold/sent to auction or whatever gets it out of your possession. |
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| Post 28 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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weinsteinjt private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Ironman Those are all great points. It just illustrates that the insurance companies will do anything to over-insure to increase the policy premiums. The coinsurance thing does seem like a "gotcha" clause. I think they are copying the health companies "co-insurance" models so when you file a claim it's not only the deductible your responsible for but the co-insurance. Also their bare minimum deductible is set at $500, they couldn't quote me a $250 or $100 deductible. I will still need to insure the majority of my shipments anyway. I agree they should issue temporary riders. No one should pay for $100k optional travel rider for an entire year, especially traveling to conventions/auctions only take a few days. At least this does bring up alot questions I need to ask my current carrier, American Collectibles. I think I need to read their policy over again to see if it mentions these clauses. Thanks for your input! |
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I don't believe this....and I know you don't care that I don't believe this.
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GAC private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Co-insurance is not a "gotcha" clause. It's an important part of an insurance policy that protects the insurer from litigation and that they receive the full premium for the risk they're insuring, it also ensures the insured gets a full payout in the event of a claim. Insurance is 100% data driven...the values have to be correct. |
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