CMV
Member
BDS' "Starlite" thread made me think of this, but was too far OT to put on his....
Check your homeowner's insurance rider for firearms coverage. Everyone knows this I'm sure - firearms, like electronics & jewelry - are covered by a very small limit - not same as the huge amount for all your household goods, so you buy an additional rider to cover them beyond the $2-$5k most homeowner's policies have. But what many don't realize, all your gun-related "stuff" falls under that firearms limit. Lots of people get a $10k firearms rider & call it good thinking they could probably replace all their guns for $10k (or $5k or $75k or whatever your case is). But ammo, reloading tools, components, magazines, holsters, targets, gun safe, scopes, gunsmithing tools, spare parts, etc. ALL that falls under that policy limit or rider limit. So let's say you could replace every gun you had for $13k so you get a $15k rider - more than enough and some headroom for new additions. But if you add up all that other stuff, $20k might be more appropriate.
Full replacement value coverage. Many pay a little extra for this. Cost is insignificant & you lose your couch, you want a new couch, not half a couch. It is a MUST for firearms. The insurance company will depreciate them worse than if they were an S Class Mercedes-Benz. Literally they follow a chart that is roughly 10% per year to determine value. So you have a 5 year old Glock in great shape. Cost you about $500 in 2014, you could buy something real similar to it today for about $500. So your Glock is worth $500 right? Nope....insurance will look at it like new one is worth $500, 5 year old used one worth $250 (or some ridiculously low number you couldn't even get a beat to death police trade for). So the full replacement value (and this isn't just for guns but they're a great example since they really don't depreciate) just makes sense.
But here's the catch....you don't get that $ until you actually replace it! You still get the same $250 depreciated value for your Glock. But they will say full replacement value is $575 (whatever it costs, + tax). So you go buy the replacement, turn in receipt, then you get the difference between the $250 they already gave you and amount you paid, up to that max value they assigned. So let's say you decide you don't really want to replace that Glock with another, you want a Taurus instead. But the Taurus is only $400 OTD. You will only get that $150 difference, even though your Glock was worth more. Go the other way and decide you'd rather have a Sig (what you probably should have bough the first time, but I digresss
). The Sig ends up being $700 OTD. Doesn't matter that replacement cost more, the max replacement value for that Glock is all you get total. However, a gun is a gun. You lost a Glock 19, you don't have to replace it with a Glock19. Or even a different Glock or different 9mm. Replace it with a weatherby shotgun if you want, but you're still working with those Glock 19 numbers regardless.
I learned this stuff the hard way from a burglary a few yrs back & have a pretty good homeowner's insurance company (USAA). I can't imagine how frustrating the process would be with someone less responsive/caring. I was really shocked to find out how quickly I bumped up to what I thought was an adequate rider amount. And then it got real frustrating with many guns....had a full German Sig P220 9mm that I completely restored, Cerakote, SRT trigger, extended threaded barrel, unicorn horn grips...you get the idea. Was really hard going from "yes, I realize it's 40 some years old, but it's not depreciated down to $100 value" then to "yes I realize you can't find a market price for a new Sig P220 9mm, but mine is not the same as P220 Nitron you're basing replacement value from". Other difficult parts (besides the whole thing in general) were things like a P229 Elite Stainless. Nice gun, but I didn't want another $1200+ P229. Especially when I get $500 for it, then have to turn in receipt for the other $700. Where's that other $700 come from? Since this was many guns, $700 here, $300 there, added up to a LOT of difference between the depreciated value vs the full replacement value. I was made whole, but took time & had to come up with that difference between the two values. But something like that still tricky because I didn't really want another. A regular P229 with SRT & night sites would be fine (meaning I shouldn't have bought the Elite just because it was pretty - turns out I didn't care). So it's either find another $1200+ replacement or lose the difference.
I ultimately went a little over my coverage when it was all said & done. Not by a huge amount and was made mostly whole. Had it been a fire or something I would have come up real short losing ammo, reloading stuff, spare mags, etc. And they didn't take everything. But what I ended up doing was making a list of all the guns, their values, and what I replaced them with. I had to match up this replaced that. And it was one for one. Didn't have to be like for like - a gun was a gun - but I couldn't have bought two $600 VP9's and said those were replacement for the $1200 Sig.
Other than having the common sense to secure your stuff from thieves, protect it from fire, whatever to preserve it in the first place (what got gone of mine was all unsecured - complacent in a nice neighborhood in suburbia), do yourself a favor and document anything some insurance adjuster couldn't easily find on Gallery of Guns. Rare collectible, something you put a lot of $ into customizing, class 3, or just something that hasn't been in production for a long time...document it's condition & value. Could be as simple as taking a picture, describing upgrades, condition & value on back, then taking to your FFL & have him sign it. Doesn't have to be a full-on appraisal like it's the Mona Lisa, but something that documents it's true value. After it's gone/destroyed, you can't do this..... And it doesn't have to be something very rare or highly customized. Say you have a $650 Remington 700. You added a Leupold VX scope, one-piece mount, and a nice sling. You bought a padded case to carry it around in. You have 10 boxes of various factory ammo for it. Guess what, you have double that $650 in the gun altogether. Receipts for all that stuff are long gone.....insurance company is going to look at it (1) like a $375 ADL, then (2) like the $650 rifle it is after you fuss they got it wrong the first time. So they give you $350 & tell you you can have the other $300 when you turn in the receipt for replacement. So if all that was documented as an $1100 gun (not the ammo, but the other stuff), your path would be easier. If not, you're losing the scope, mount, case, sling, whatever else for it OR you're doing separate line item claims going through that process with each extra - when did you buy it? do you have receipt? depreciated value is $X, replacement value is $Y. "My scope was a VX, not a Rifleman"....all that hassle.
So protect your stuff. But also document it well. This will also help tremendously with police report if necessary. It took me a long time going back & getting serial numbers for every gun to give them. A couple - like Ruger P89 I bought off armslist for a truck gun - I had no idea & couldn't give it. That means no matter what, I'm NEVER seeing that gun again. But for most I still had box, had a picture of it I could make out s/n, had receipt, had some way of getting s/n for most. But would have been 100x easier if I had the sense to just document it all before it happened.
Check your homeowner's insurance rider for firearms coverage. Everyone knows this I'm sure - firearms, like electronics & jewelry - are covered by a very small limit - not same as the huge amount for all your household goods, so you buy an additional rider to cover them beyond the $2-$5k most homeowner's policies have. But what many don't realize, all your gun-related "stuff" falls under that firearms limit. Lots of people get a $10k firearms rider & call it good thinking they could probably replace all their guns for $10k (or $5k or $75k or whatever your case is). But ammo, reloading tools, components, magazines, holsters, targets, gun safe, scopes, gunsmithing tools, spare parts, etc. ALL that falls under that policy limit or rider limit. So let's say you could replace every gun you had for $13k so you get a $15k rider - more than enough and some headroom for new additions. But if you add up all that other stuff, $20k might be more appropriate.
Full replacement value coverage. Many pay a little extra for this. Cost is insignificant & you lose your couch, you want a new couch, not half a couch. It is a MUST for firearms. The insurance company will depreciate them worse than if they were an S Class Mercedes-Benz. Literally they follow a chart that is roughly 10% per year to determine value. So you have a 5 year old Glock in great shape. Cost you about $500 in 2014, you could buy something real similar to it today for about $500. So your Glock is worth $500 right? Nope....insurance will look at it like new one is worth $500, 5 year old used one worth $250 (or some ridiculously low number you couldn't even get a beat to death police trade for). So the full replacement value (and this isn't just for guns but they're a great example since they really don't depreciate) just makes sense.
But here's the catch....you don't get that $ until you actually replace it! You still get the same $250 depreciated value for your Glock. But they will say full replacement value is $575 (whatever it costs, + tax). So you go buy the replacement, turn in receipt, then you get the difference between the $250 they already gave you and amount you paid, up to that max value they assigned. So let's say you decide you don't really want to replace that Glock with another, you want a Taurus instead. But the Taurus is only $400 OTD. You will only get that $150 difference, even though your Glock was worth more. Go the other way and decide you'd rather have a Sig (what you probably should have bough the first time, but I digresss
). The Sig ends up being $700 OTD. Doesn't matter that replacement cost more, the max replacement value for that Glock is all you get total. However, a gun is a gun. You lost a Glock 19, you don't have to replace it with a Glock19. Or even a different Glock or different 9mm. Replace it with a weatherby shotgun if you want, but you're still working with those Glock 19 numbers regardless.I learned this stuff the hard way from a burglary a few yrs back & have a pretty good homeowner's insurance company (USAA). I can't imagine how frustrating the process would be with someone less responsive/caring. I was really shocked to find out how quickly I bumped up to what I thought was an adequate rider amount. And then it got real frustrating with many guns....had a full German Sig P220 9mm that I completely restored, Cerakote, SRT trigger, extended threaded barrel, unicorn horn grips...you get the idea. Was really hard going from "yes, I realize it's 40 some years old, but it's not depreciated down to $100 value" then to "yes I realize you can't find a market price for a new Sig P220 9mm, but mine is not the same as P220 Nitron you're basing replacement value from". Other difficult parts (besides the whole thing in general) were things like a P229 Elite Stainless. Nice gun, but I didn't want another $1200+ P229. Especially when I get $500 for it, then have to turn in receipt for the other $700. Where's that other $700 come from? Since this was many guns, $700 here, $300 there, added up to a LOT of difference between the depreciated value vs the full replacement value. I was made whole, but took time & had to come up with that difference between the two values. But something like that still tricky because I didn't really want another. A regular P229 with SRT & night sites would be fine (meaning I shouldn't have bought the Elite just because it was pretty - turns out I didn't care). So it's either find another $1200+ replacement or lose the difference.
I ultimately went a little over my coverage when it was all said & done. Not by a huge amount and was made mostly whole. Had it been a fire or something I would have come up real short losing ammo, reloading stuff, spare mags, etc. And they didn't take everything. But what I ended up doing was making a list of all the guns, their values, and what I replaced them with. I had to match up this replaced that. And it was one for one. Didn't have to be like for like - a gun was a gun - but I couldn't have bought two $600 VP9's and said those were replacement for the $1200 Sig.
Other than having the common sense to secure your stuff from thieves, protect it from fire, whatever to preserve it in the first place (what got gone of mine was all unsecured - complacent in a nice neighborhood in suburbia), do yourself a favor and document anything some insurance adjuster couldn't easily find on Gallery of Guns. Rare collectible, something you put a lot of $ into customizing, class 3, or just something that hasn't been in production for a long time...document it's condition & value. Could be as simple as taking a picture, describing upgrades, condition & value on back, then taking to your FFL & have him sign it. Doesn't have to be a full-on appraisal like it's the Mona Lisa, but something that documents it's true value. After it's gone/destroyed, you can't do this..... And it doesn't have to be something very rare or highly customized. Say you have a $650 Remington 700. You added a Leupold VX scope, one-piece mount, and a nice sling. You bought a padded case to carry it around in. You have 10 boxes of various factory ammo for it. Guess what, you have double that $650 in the gun altogether. Receipts for all that stuff are long gone.....insurance company is going to look at it (1) like a $375 ADL, then (2) like the $650 rifle it is after you fuss they got it wrong the first time. So they give you $350 & tell you you can have the other $300 when you turn in the receipt for replacement. So if all that was documented as an $1100 gun (not the ammo, but the other stuff), your path would be easier. If not, you're losing the scope, mount, case, sling, whatever else for it OR you're doing separate line item claims going through that process with each extra - when did you buy it? do you have receipt? depreciated value is $X, replacement value is $Y. "My scope was a VX, not a Rifleman"....all that hassle.
So protect your stuff. But also document it well. This will also help tremendously with police report if necessary. It took me a long time going back & getting serial numbers for every gun to give them. A couple - like Ruger P89 I bought off armslist for a truck gun - I had no idea & couldn't give it. That means no matter what, I'm NEVER seeing that gun again. But for most I still had box, had a picture of it I could make out s/n, had receipt, had some way of getting s/n for most. But would have been 100x easier if I had the sense to just document it all before it happened.
