Homeowner’s Insurance?

Years ago there were a number of break-ins' that involved firearms.....later discovered they were linked to a person with access to insurance company data that showed policy holders, their inventory, and where they lived.

I'm not a big fan of listing everything for an agent whose data could be hacked. I'd rather invest in my own security (ie: safe) and have complete control over the contents, knowledge, and information. Over time the added insurance premiums for those items can easily pay for fire resistant safes and alarm systems. Nothing can be 100% protected, but using a multi layered security approach is better than insurance.

Homeowner's insurance insures contents up to the total value stated in the policy. Insofar as your firearms are contents, they're insured up to the limits of the policy. HOWEVER your standard homeowner's policy won't replace a lost firearm with another firearm of same make, model and value. To do that you need to add a rider that specifies exactly what's insured and how much it's worth. You'll need to document that with a list of firearms stored in your home noting make, model and serial number and with proof of ownership by receipts and photographs and proof of value by appraisals.

Bobson said:

Are these sorts of items commonly covered by homeowners insurance? Or are there specific insurance companies that I should inquire with? I realized I have no idea whether my current house insurance policy will cover my sporting equipment,

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I think you should probably ask your insurance agent Bobson. We're with State Farm, and we asked our agent about our guns being covered several years back. Our agent explained they were, but in our estimation, the coverage wasn't high enough considering how many guns we have - both my wife and I are into guns, hunting and shooting, and between us, we probably have more guns than average. So we ended up adding a "rider" (or something like that) to our homeowner's insurance. I don't remember how much it costs us yearly, and without going downstairs and getting into the safe where our important documents are stored, I couldn't tell you how much coverage we have.
Edited to add: As wiscoaster said above, we do have a list of the guns we own, proofs of ownership, photographs, and other such things. All of that stuff is in the same fireproof safe as our homeowner's insurance policy.

wiscoaster said:

. HOWEVER your standard homeowner's policy won't replace a lost firearm with another firearm of same make, model and value. .

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Then, what would they replace it with?

ColtPythonElite said:

Then, what would they replace it with?

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They don't replace it. They just reimburse you in the amount you're insured for your lost home contents. You can buy whatever you want with the money.

If you want firearms (and this applies to any specific content) replaced you need to get the rider that specifies exactly what's insured and what it's worth. This is useful for property that increases in value over the years.

Gotcha....I expected value. I didnt expect them to go shopping for me.

I dont have a rider through my homeowners. First, it was too costly. Second, they wanted an itemized list and serial numbers. I bought a firearms policy through another company with fewer restrictions.

NRA used to sell insurance I believe, but considering current mixup I don’t know how seriously I would look at that option.

After The Incident including fire of 2010, my guns out of the safe were smoke and water damaged, no flame effect. My regular homeowners paid to have them refinished, about $7000.

Along with my homeowners I have a separate collectibles policy for my guns. I pay around $400 for $40K coverage. I have found that being overinsured is way better than being underinsured especially when you're dealing with hard to replace stuff. I have way more experience trying to collect on insurance than most having had 2 floods, a fire, and a couple of hurricanes. Luckily nothing was damaged in the earthquake.

There are companies out there who insure collectibles, including firearms for not a lot of money. Most homeowner policies limit coverage to $2500 which doesn't do much in today's market.

Bobson said:

I have no idea whether my current house insurance policy will cover my sporting equipment,

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First, read your policy with highlighter in hand. Look especially for "items not covered" and "limitations and exclusions" ( both these items are the "fine print that taketh away").

Second, sit down with the highlighted policy and your agent, and discuss your concerns. While all policies have similarities, they all have individual peculiarities that cannot be properly addressed on a forum like this.

Standard homeowners or renters insurances only cover around $2000 on firearms unless you specifically ask and pay for more.

patmccoy said:

First, read your policy with highlighter in hand. Look especially for "items not covered" and "limitations and exclusions" ( both these items are the "fine print that taketh away").

Second, sit down with the highlighted policy and your agent, and discuss your concerns. While all policies have similarities, they all have individual peculiarities that cannot be properly addressed on a forum like this.

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And while some items may be covered for fire or theft, many times they will not be covered for loss by "Acts of God" including wars, natural disasters, etc. That includes your house as well

patmccoy said:

...Look especially for "items not covered" and "limitations and exclusions"...

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George P said:

...many times they will not be covered for loss by "Acts of God" including wars, natural disasters, etc. ...

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Excellent points. Homeowner's insurance companies are in business to make money. NOT to protect homeowners from loss. Be aware of the "gotchas" in your policies and do what you need to do to cover yourself.

Pat Riot said:

Standard homeowners or renters insurances only cover around $2000 on firearms unless you specifically ask and pay for more.

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Good to know I can almost get enough to replace my Ed Brown, or about 4 Glocks.

CDW4ME said:

Good to know I can almost get enough to replace my Ed Brown, or about 4 Glocks.

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At $2000, I can replace 1 HK P7 and a Sig P365..............what do I do with the the $30K worth of guns?

@ColtPythonElite and @Jimbo80, what companies sell those policies? Thanks.

Usually, the limit on most homeowners' policies for firearms is around $2500 for theft. Fire or flood may cover more, but I'm not sure. I have Statefarm and I know that's what my agent told me at one time. Also, they used to allow adding a rider for whatever the homeowner stated was the value of their firearms collection but that ended quite a few years ago. They generally want a professional appraisal if over a certain amount.

However, there are several insurers out there who only specialize in collectibles and they are pretty easy to deal with. You don't have to provide them with an inventory or a an appraisal either other than your own assessed value.

Here's one that several people have recommended over on the Colt forum

https://collectinsure.com/guns

My insurance needs are simple. I tend to not agree with buying crazy expensive safes or have a large amount of guns. These two things will save more money down the road than any level of contrivance for perceived safety and security of your firearms. Conventional gun safes can be broken into way too easily and fire will destroy everything no matter what kind of a safe you have.

My needs involve a modest homeowners policy for "sporting goods" and a $400 "safe" that is screwed to the wall and floor joists which are beefed up with 3/8" steel shoring on the studs and joists. They will be able to get into it in less than 20 minutes if they know what they are doing but it wont be as easy as it looks. They key to me saving way more money on insurance than a safe and security systems is having a small amount of firearms and virtually nothing of intrinsic value in the house. My collection could be replaced for 3-4000. NRA and my homeowners cover that easily. Nothing of great sentimental value either. Truthfully, if I lost everything, I would more than likely not replace all of it and end up spending 2-3000. Everything is replaceable. That is how I operate.

Thank you for the question. Over the years, I had a lot of customers that had insurance and many of them had problems with their insurance. In the case of at least three of these customers, they were robbed as a result of the insurance company allowing an inventory of their holdings to fall into the hand of bad guys! As as result of this experience and general being a cheapskate, I never purchased separate insurance. But then.... in late November 2013 a couple of thieves broke into a storage facility that I had rented. They made off with over $34,000 in optics, ammunition, reloading supplies and exquipment, chainsaws, etc. They took so much stuff that they had to steal a van from down the street to carry it all away! I put in a claim with my insurance company and it was immediately denied. The insurance agent explained there were at least two problems. First, this "storage facility" was not my residence and my policy only covered a residence which I owned. And second, my policy had a "personal property" limit of $2000. I then asked him why I was even bothering with such "coverage," to which he replied "I don't know," upon which I immediately cancelled all of my policies. After that I looked into other insurance and decided to remain a cheapskate. Let us know what you discover! Thanks again.

CopperFouling said:

@ColtPythonElite and @Jimbo80, what companies sell those policies? Thanks.

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This is the one I use:

https://www.easterninsurance.com/insurance-quotes/personal-insurance/historic-firearms

Try Nationwide Private Client, no limit on guns and no rider. Only have to provide SN for any firearm over $25K. I added $100K to my contents coverage and it was pretty inexpensive. Prices don't compete with Allstate, but probably do for the same coverage.

Regards,

Kris

WestKentucky said:

NRA used to sell insurance I believe, but considering current mixup I don’t know how seriously I would look at that option.

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NRA members have, I believe, $2500 coverage included in their membership, but you have to activate that coverage. Been a while since I did so, but as I recall you send an email to activate.
Information on how to activate would be available @ 800-672-3888, I'm sure.

Additional NRA Armscare Insurance is available, and is handled by Lockton Affinity LLC, P O Box 874952,KC, MO 64187; Phone (877) 672-3006. The policy is underwritten by Lloyds of London. Only individual firearms valued over $2500 require listing serial numbers.

Regards,
hps

There may be some cases where it is worth it, but IMO it is usually better to spend the money on better security than insurance. Insurance companies are a lot easier to deal with when it comes to weather related claims such as tornados. But theft and fire claims are very often fraudulent and you're going to be investigated vigorously if you make a claim. Even if they can't prove you are making a fraudulent claim they will still try to say that your negligence contributed to the fire or theft. You may well collect, but may also find your policy cancelled.

I've had 2 guns stolen on separate occasions, I never notified the insurance company. Not worth the hassle and the red flags in my file. Plus more red tape and hassle if they are recovered. Both stolen from me were recovered BTW. One is still in a evidence locker 30 miles away waiting for the meth head found with it to go on trial. I will get it back eventually. The other was recovered 800 miles away. To get it back I'd need to spend 3 days on the road, 2 nights in a motel and drive 1600 miles round trip to pick it up personally. The gun isn't worth that much, told 'em they could keep it.