Insurance for My Guns

CoRoMo said:

That's pretty good. I wish they had quoted me that price. I'd never opt for a rider if I had that sort of alternative.

You brought up a good point though. Rider policies usually require an inventory/appraisal of what is being covered. A lot of the time, the outside policies do not. Whether or not you have issues with an insurance company knowing the extent of your collection, might or might not be worth the extra cost that may apply.

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Collectibles Insurance Services rates are pretty consistent across all 50 states. Here are some sample quotes using Texas. The only time the rates are significantly higher is if you are a dealer.

$5,000 = $43 year
$10,000 = $71
$15,000 = $99
$25,000 = $165
$50,000 = $325
$100,000 = $616

CoRoMo said:

I thought it was only $1,000 IIRC.

Collectibles LLC is a good looking place. I've had them give me a couple quotes before. I would like to hear from someone who has filed a claim with them and see how the payout was handled. I doubt I'll ever find such a testimony, but you never know.

Anyway, I married into the insurance biz. The agent being a liar isn't anything that should stand in the way of your coverage. He's just the guy you deal with. You probably have about $2,500 in firearms coverage on your homeowner's policy, and you can bump it up to $5,000 for cheap. Something like $15/year. The state you live in might or might not affect specifics in the policy.

Riders can be less expensive than outside policies like Collectibles LLC offers. For about $330 per year, you could get something like $15,000 coverage from Collectibles LLC, but for half that premium, a rider on your homeowner's policy could cover say $10,000. The homeowner's policy would probably have a zero deductible, but the outside policy would have a couple hundred dollars as a deductible.

This was the case for me anyway. The rider turned out to be the far less expensive option.

hth

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CoRoMo - $15,000 in coverage for a collector in CO would be $99 year.

Not sure if any High Road customers of ours have filed a claim for guns but I can share details of a gun claim from last year with you. We have a collector in AZ whose entire house burned down and he had collection of antique firearms. The fire was on 7/14/09. His initial claim payment for guns that could not be restored was made on 9/18/2009. It took sometime for the remainder to be restored. Final claim payment for the restored guns was completed on 05/14/2010. The delay was caused by the time for restoration to be completed.

Collectibles Insurance Services has been in business since 1966 and has been insuring guns for 14 years. We have approximately 16,000 customers nationwide.

+1 on USAA if you are eligible i.e. affiliated with the military.

When I did mine last year, and I need to update, all they asked for was make, model, serial, and accessories with value. Not sure what it cost me but I do all my ins through them so I get a discount.

They are also great with claims too, my wife, who is super coordinated, spilt coffee on my laptop and rendered it useless. All USAA asked for was the make model and what I payed for it when I bought it. A few days later I had a check in my account and went and bought a new one. Im sure a loss of firearms requires a little more than that but the people there are top notch in my experiences.

My condo association changed how they insured the condos, for the better believe it or not so I needed to see my agent. While there I looked at what I had for firearms. It was 2,500. I bumped it up to 5,000 pretty painlessly.

+1 on USAA if you are eligible i.e. affiliated with the military.

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Yup, I have USAA even though I don't work for them. Nothing against my Co, but nobody can compete with USAA who has a low risk pool and can legally discriminate to only insuring that low risk pool of customers.

This thread reminds me, now I'm home from my last sandbox trip, I need to look up my firearms theft limits and probably get a rider also.

Eastern would be cheaper on a $20-30k Collection, more like $160.

insure what you cant afford to lose.

as far as cost and the wife/ friend with agent issue, when my homeowners came up for renewal this past spring i decided to shop around. there had been a local independent guy beating the pavement and leaving his flyer on my door a few times this year, which i can appreciate. So i called him and made an appointment. he put me into a Travelers policy that had slightly more coverage on the house and cars for severeal hundred less per year. i had been with allstate for 15 years as i had gone to hi school with my agents daughter and had my house and cars with him. when i called to ask if they could match the cost and coverages they could not. I told him i was really sorry and i had never had a claim, only paid in all those years so i said see ya later. if you shop around and get a quote for better price, maybe wife will see the light when you tell her its $300 a year better times the next 10 years thats a nice vacation

i have a pretty good safe and NRA insurance my house has a decent firearms rider and i live in a good neighborhood. not too concerned about theft. after next door neighbors garage burned to the ground a week after we moved in, im more scared of fire than anything else. My gun collection is worth 35-40k retail if i had to try to replace it and thats if i could find the stuff for sale! im not rich by any means but that is 15+ years of buying a few guns a year plus gifts and inheritances plus appreciation in value. it adds up.

I just talked to my insurance agent and they quoted me $.85 per $100 of my stated value as a rider on my homeowners policy.

Insurance choices

LubeckTech - My late father worked for State Farm and was something of a gun collector. My current agent (also S.F.) is an avid hunter. The only problem I have with their firearm rider is the single item limit.
Talk to your wife, explain to her why you are uncomfortable with this particular agent. She might surprise you, but at least YOU made the effort to involve her in the decision. If she still stalls you, go ahead and get another agent. :banghead: After all, YOU are the one paying for the insurance, right??

I just talked to my insurance agent and they quoted me $.85 per $100 of my stated value as a rider on my homeowners policy

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Thats $425 for $50,000 while Collectibles Insurance charges $325. Seems like when i asked about a rider on my homeowners policy it was cheaper to get it through Collectibles Insurance.

Maybe if you had a small collection. Big a big collection it appear Collectibles Insurance would be the way to go.

Brion

Collectibles Insurance Services rates are pretty consistent across all 50 states. Here are some sample quotes using Texas. The only time the rates are significantly higher is if you are a dealer.

$5,000 = $43 year
$10,000 = $71
$15,000 = $99
$25,000 = $165
$50,000 = $325
$100,000 = $616

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See, now, that is not my experience.
I had them for two years (also in TX, and my rate was "a bit" north of that for the first two years, and my quote for the third year was "well north" of that...no claims at any time.

I am currently with the Mass-based guys, and will re-evaluate that next March.

orionengnr said:

See, now, that is not my experience.
I had them for two years (also in TX, and my rate was "a bit" north of that for the first two years, and my quote for the third year was "well north" of that...no claims at any time.

I am currently with the Mass-based guys, and will re-evaluate that next March.

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orionengnr - That does not sound correct at all. Why don't you email me at [email protected] with your name so I can look up your policy and see what happened. The only reason your coverage would have been more than the prices quoted in the thread regarding Collectibles Insurance would be if you had a bad claim history or you actually had a dealer policy (vs a collector policy).

ElToro has it right...

I have been representing insureds as a Public Insurance Adjuster for over 20 years. I live and work in Illinois the home of Allstate and State Farm. If you examine the practice both these companies use, selling their services through "captive agents" it begets the concept that "No man can serve two masters" The Agent is not your agent, he is the companies employee.
If you want some representation, shop for insurance from an independant agency that represents a variety of companies. And if you suffer a serious loss, hire a licensed bonded public insurance adjuster (like me!) to represent you. The company writes the policy, interprets the terms and sends an employee to Minimize the claim payments. Fairly, I know some honest independant adjusters and perhaps even a slight few company adjusters who give fair treatment to their claimants. But their masters are always the companies. If you handle a major claim yourself you will lose more than the percentage you would pay a public adjuster.
If you go to court, get a lawyer, if you run afoul of the IRS, get an accountant. If you face arguing with the largest private financial entities in the world and go it alone, you are ignorant. And I mean that in the best way.

Collect below

$5,000 = $43 year . . . Eastern Ins. see below!
$10,000 = $71
$15,000 = $99
$25,000 = $165 . . . $ 125 prem = $35,000 NRA & club discounts, $100 deductible
$50,000 = $325 . . . $ 165
$100,000 = $616 . . . $ 330 w/250 ded and NRA disct

Keb said:

Collect below

$5,000 = $43 year . . . Eastern Ins. see below!
$10,000 = $71
$15,000 = $99
$25,000 = $165 . . . $ 125 prem = $35,000 NRA & club discounts, $100 deductible
$50,000 = $325 . . . $ 165
$100,000 = $616 . . . $ 330 w/250 ded and NRA disct

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Does Eastern Insurance cover modern guns? Especially for folks that hunt or shoot? Their website indicates coverage for "historic guns" - "Do you collect historic firearms, memorabilia, artifacts, or other items? We offer Firearms/Collectibles Insurance Protection to give you peace of mind. " - - https://www.easternbank.com/site/personal/insurance/Pages/other_insurance.aspx

Looks like the minimum coverage/premium is $125 for $35,000 in coverage.

These folks http://www.collectinsure.com/ sold me about $10,000 of coverage for less than $100 ... I'm in Florida where any property coverage is notoriously high priced and hard to obtain. I am also a career agent and after checking them out thoroughly I was very satisfied with the application process and their issue time.

^ I just got $4000. coverage from them

Yes Eastern does all guns

all guns. Not just antiques.

Does anyone know if collectinsure covers ammo and ancillaries too (magazines, magazine holders, Scopes, etc)? I have quite a bit invested I'm that stuff, as I'm sure many others do.

snubbies said:

I have my guns insured with Collectibles Insurance Services LLC Tele: 410-876-8833 I pay $168.00 every 6 months. It covers your guns in shipment and on premises. My limit is $15,000.

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I also use these folks too. Something like $46/yr for 7K.