Gun Insurance - What do you guys do?

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carbine85

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My home owners covers $2000 and $120 per year for the next $4000 ($6000.00 max.). I thinks that's expensive. The NRA doesn't say much on their website and I can't get through to their insurance department.
So I'm curious as to whom you guys use and what it cost.
 
My insurance (Germania) covers firearms like any other property. No additional premium.
 
You can basically self-insure with a good safe.
Otherwise, Collectibles:
http://www.collectinsure.com/

This is who I use. They are much cheaper than the NRA sponsored program which IMHO is a rip off. The only real qualification is that you have a 300+ LBs safe that you store your collection in.

It covers loss and theft and you simply need to have accurate records of ownership. Serial numbers and a pic are all you need. You do not need to schedule any items unless you have an individual item that is woth more than $5000.

You can apply online. It takes about 48 hours for them to underwrite your policy. I paid with credit card over the phone and the policy was in force that day.

IIRC you can get about $20,000 of insurance for about $150 a year.
 
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On the other side of gun insurance, I checked out the NRA's liability insurance in case I was hit with a civil suit after a shooting self-defense situation. The way I read their policy, for about $200 / year , they would provide $200,000 for the trial but only if I won. I went with a $1,000,000 umbrella policy with USAA for $120 / year. I had to up the coverage on my other policies, auto and home, with them but felt the overall value was best there.
 
You can basically self-insure with a good safe.
Otherwise, Collectibles:
http://www.collectinsure.com/
Do we know of anyone who has actually had to file a claim with them? I know they will SELL me insurance, but I don't know for certain that they will honor a claim without having to hire a lawyer and sue them.

Mind you I have no reason to suspect they are anything other than a stand-up company---but I also have no information to the contrary either. I've been looking at them and I would like to know if they have a track record. Of course, I realize that the number of people who are insured by them who also get robbed must be a pretty small sample and the chances that one of them reads THR must be tiny.

My homeowners is through State Farm and they limit firearms theft to $2500. I'm an NRA Life Member but the NRA additional ArmsCare is VERY expensive.
 
Personal effects rider through USAA as well, covers my gun & wife's jewelry. $28 a month, I think.
 
Personal effects rider through USAA as well, covers my gun & wife's jewelry. $28 a month, I think.
Same here....a rider....it is pretty cheap.

I also do State Farm on my collector cars....they have agreed value and are cheaper than the special companies that just do collector cars.
 
Do we know of anyone who has actually had to file a claim with them? I know they will SELL me insurance, but I don't know for certain that they will honor a claim without having to hire a lawyer and sue them.

Mind you I have no reason to suspect they are anything other than a stand-up company---but I also have no information to the contrary either. I've been looking at them and I would like to know if they have a track record. Of course, I realize that the number of people who are insured by them who also get robbed must be a pretty small sample and the chances that one of them reads THR must be tiny.

My homeowners is through State Farm and they limit firearms theft to $2500. I'm an NRA Life Member but the NRA additional ArmsCare is VERY expensive.

I do not know anyone who has filed a claim but they have been in this business for 60 years. They insure collections with 3,000+ items and also insure large dealer collections as well.

The insurance is underwritten by United Naitonal Insurance Company which is rated "A" by AM Best. Since it is specialty insurance, it is offered on a non-admitted basis (surplus lines). Therefore the coverage is not covered by the states' insurance guarantee funds if the insurance company were to go out of business.

This surplus line part is pretty common for collectible/gun insurance outside your homeowners policy. IIRC

In the end there is always some risk in buying insurance but in my research I was not able to come up with any negative data on this company. When I choose them the BBB info I could find contained nothing negative.
 
My home owners covers $2000 and $120 per year for the next $4000 ($6000.00 max.). I thinks that's expensive.
Ouch! That is very expensive for what you get. Our homeowner's insurance automatically covers $2.5K toward firearms and doubling that costs a whopping $12 per year, so $5k for $12/year.
The NRA doesn't say much on their website and I can't get through to their insurance department.
My NRA life membership covers something like $2,500 and costs nothing. http://www.nra.org/benefits.aspx I'm not familiar with their pay-for policies.

If you have more value than that, either a rider from the homeowner's policy or get a policy from a company like Collectibles Inc.
 
I also use collectinsure, a safe is not insurance. Even with my 400 pound plus safes bolted to the wall I just look at them as a convenient way for thieves to carry off lots of stuff at one time. They protect you from casual thieves, but the pros will have them out in just a few minutes.
 
I use collectinsure as well, and while it is a very good idea to have one, it is my understanding that a safe is not a requirement. I looked over my policy just to double check. That may be a requirement at certain higher dollar amounts, but is not with the policy I've had with them for years.
 
Safe Requirements – 300 lbs empty, no wheels and a combination or digital lock. This is part of their current underwriting.
 
If you take about one minute you can generate a gun collectors quote with no safeguards (safe, vault, etc.), but with full burglary and theft protection using the link below:

https://secure.collectinsure.com/onlineapplication/Quote.asp

My most recent rate sheet shows a divergence between pricing between no safeguards and valid safeguards for coverage above $25,000 but for coverage levels at or below that amount there is no pricing difference. Therefore, I see no reason to give them a reason to deny any future claims on the basis of not meeting the valid safeguard requirement, should a portion of my collection not be in my safe at the time of theft.
 
I use collectinsure as well, and while it is a very good idea to have one, it is my understanding that a safe is not a requirement. I looked over my policy just to double check. That may be a requirement at certain higher dollar amounts, but is not with the policy I've had with them for years.
You are correct. I have a safe but wasn't sure if it would meet their weight criteria so I got the insurance as if I don't have a safe.
 
I believe in self insurance. Safe's help a lot. But they are expensive too as far as I'm concerned.
 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Directed also at others who say self-insure ... What about when you aren't home?
 
I've had State Farm for years. I believethey're the largest insurer in the US, so it's not like they lack resources nor are difficult to contact.

You can increase the standard firearm coverage for a minimal cost. I also have a floater (covering some other specific household items) to which I add some of my more expensive firearms. All very reasonable, IMHO, and since State Farm knows I own firearms, there's no concern about liability issues.
 
AAA for their basic casualty policy of $15K charges $117/year according to my last bill back in December for "insurance."

But my primary "assurance" policy is my Liberty Centurion gunsafe.

Play on words, although the safe is the primary preventive measure, with the pay-back feature of the insurance policy only secondary.
 
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