Skyrocketing Prices and Insurance Coverage

[BearGriz]

I recently moved, and with a new home owner insurance policy I've been thinking for a couple months that I need to finally get a rider on my insurance or take advantage of the NRA additional coverage, or something like that (something I've needed to do for a while, but the move is a good excuse).

But the sudden increase in prices during this recent panic has made me wonder how on earth I'm going to value my "collection." (The price increases have also probably pushed me well past the normal home owners coverage limit, whereas in the past I was probably over it, but wasn't bothered to do the math.)

I've done some research on this forum on doing valuations, but it seems like right now the market may not be stable enough to get a good handle on real and stable replacement costs -- even on items like magazines, which I hadn't considered much before. In November I was making a preliminary list of what I estimated my replacement costs would be, but it seems like I need to crumble up that paper and start over with the new prices.

I guess in the end when I choose a coverage amount, I am in effect placing a limit on the amount I can be compensated for, and then I pay more or less (in premiums) for a higher or lower limit. Then once I experience a loss, that is when I really have to prove the replacement value, correct? With that in mind, do many of you ever inflate your coverage a little bit to hedge against inflation/time between valuations?

Is anyone else looking at their coverage in light of the skyrocketing prices? If you have any thoughts or advice on how I should approach this (including where I should look at this crazy time for real/reasonable comparable valuations), I'd love to hear it. Thanks!

 

[1911 guy]

Keeping in mind that you'll be paying monthly for the rider and over the years the premium may exceed value (hopefully, because that means you didn't get robbed or lose them in a fire or such), you may be better claiming only those with a high replacement cost. For example, put the Perrazzi on the rider, but leave off the Savage rifle.

 

[Animal Mother]

Yes, in the past, I've rounded up my replacement cost per item, to ensure I'll have enough coverage.

During the last big scare in '08, I upped my coverage to reflect a more accurate replacement cost based on the market conditions at the time, by the time my renewal came around, prices had settled back down, so I revised my coverage limits to reflect the lower replacement value. Honestly, it is up to you, but I'm not bothering this time around. Should the unfortunate occur and my collection is stolen or lost in a fire, I'd buy a couple of replacement guns for HD at today's high prices and bide my time until this all settles back down, which I believe it will. Once prices are stable again I would start to build my collection back up. Your settlement money will go further a year from now, and I'd really be surprised if an insurance adjuster would honor a valuation of a non-collectable weapon far in excess of MSRP based on handful of Gunbroker auctions that have been going on in the past month.

 

[jmace57]

As my wife and kids are not into firearms at all, I keep an up-to-date list of every gun in the safe with an estimated value, so that if something happens to me, somebody doesn't low-ball them. I will say that I have updated my estimated values of that, but especially the thousands of rounds of ammo as well.

 

[longknife12]

ANPAC keeps reaising the value on mine. So far, no problems.
Dan