Homeowners policy and guns

[Bravo11]

After reviewing some of my homeowners insurance policy I read a statement that got my attention.
"Some property, such as jewelry, stamps, coins, guns, and silverware, have special dollar limits specified in your policy."
First of all if someone breaks into your home what else are they going to steal besides jewelry, guns, etc. I don't really expect them to steal towels and couch cushions.
I understand this is a standard policy statement. If so, what insurance do you carry on your guns? I'm a NRA member and I've seen their gun insurance stuff in my renewal packets. I've never paid that much attention because I thought I was covered.

 

[Standing Wolf]

I've never paid that much attention because I thought I was covered.

In my experience, the main thing to remember about insurance—any type of insurance—is to be suspicious. You've always got to make double-triple-quadruple sure you know what's covered and what's not. Your policy may, in fact, tell you what is and isn't covered, but you might need a lawyer to figure out what it actually says.

Insuring firearms in your home has a catch with lots of insurance companies: the @#$%^&*s want you to list all the makes, models, and serial numbers. If you register your guns with an insurance company, do you think that information is ever just going to disappear?

It's my understanding the N.R.A.'s policy doesn't require registering your guns.

 

[cuervo]

That is their way of telling you that your $150,000 house insurance policy isn't going to cover a $150,000 gun collection.

Typically, guns and other special items have a fixed ceiling of coverage, something like $10,000 or 10% of the policy value or something like that. If you want more coverage, you have to buy it in addition to the homeowner's policy.

 

[Fly320s]

I added a rider to my homeowner's policy to cover my guns. My police limited the pay-out to $1,000 (IIRC). So I added a rider to cover the replacement value of my guns, plus a little extra for my growing collection. It only added a few dollars to my monthly bill.

 

[poe_9999]

Your dollar guess may be way to high. My homeowners insurance (USAA) has a $2000 limit and a $1000 deductable. When i found that out i called 5 other insurace companies and found out thier policies cover less. Alot of it depends on the state you live in. The USAA person i talked too said if i lived in SC my policy would cover me for $10,000.

 

[TangSafetyM77]

Unfortunately I know about this

And yes you should be worried and double-check everything. I was robbed to the tune of 9 longarms (they left all the pistols, musta be in a tad of a rush) last year. That's when I found out that I had a $6,000 limit on guns. This information did me no good after the fact. They also have a clause where they hold back a portion of the money until after you submit receipts showing you went and replaced your guns.

I am getting the special rider now, of course. I have to have them appraised, but oinly have to submit seril numbers if the guns are stolen so that they can list the guns as stolen. Get more coverage when in doubt. My collection had grown slowly over the years, and the actual figure surprised me when I totalled everything up.

 

[insidious_calm]

varies by state, company and policy...

Mine had a ceiling of $10,000 on guns. Adding replacement coverage meant documenting the collection (serial #'s, pictures, appraisals, etc. which I have anyway) to the Insurance company. I wasn't crazy about giving them that much info so I purchased a fixed dollar rider in addition to my homeowners policy.

[tinfoil]IMHO I would not purchase "replacement coverage" if it requires you to tell them up front all that information. Just amounts to more people who really don't need to know with "need to know" information about you and your guns.[/tinfoil]

I.C.

 

[field70]

My homeowners is with State Farm Ins..It had limited coverage for firearms and jewelry..I bought moe coverage for both through them..added as a rider...No inventory was furnished for either..Just a blanket amount of X amount of dollars for the guns and for the jewelry..Didn't cost that much..what the NRA has is good, but expensive.

 

[Bravo11]

Thanks for all the feedback. I guess I need to tally up the replacement cost and compare NRA versus ins rider cost.

 

[Rockrivr1]

I looked into my homeowners policy about two months ago and found out I was only covered for $1,000 through Arbella. Unfortunately Arbella in my state wouldn't allow for a rider to be added. When I was talking to my insurance agent, she actually recommended that I use the NRA offered insurance policy. Her reasoning is that while riders are good for most things, they don't always work in a homeowners favor when it comes to firearms. She indicated that the NRA offered program was specifically made for firearms, which in her opinion lead to less hassle in the event of theft or fire. So I called the NRA the next day and signed up. Figure $250 for a year is definitely worth it compared to what I could potentially lose.

 

[Jim K]

I may be wrong, and if so, please tell me, but it seems to me that Prudential once stated that their homeowners policies were null and void if the insured owned a gun of any kind. They had a clause about irresponsible and dangerous behavior on the part of the policy holder, and considered owning a gun to fall into that category. The result was that they would not pay a claim for anyone they found out owned a gun, even if the gun or guns had no relationship to the claim or were not part of the claim. They never told anyone of their interpretation of that clause until the person tried to collect on the policy, then they refused to pay.

Jim