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Collectible Insurance Services review
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163 posts in this topic

3 hours ago, Gaard said:

Do insurance companies knowingly tell untruths about what is covered?

I am not certain I would state "untruths". It is more a matter of not completely understanding what is or is not covered at the representative/agent level. Sometimes an answer is given that is completely at odds with the position or finding an adjuster or legal representative would state, and then the problems start. That is exactly why I always tell anybody to read their policy completely and understand it, and have it reviewed by a 3rd. party, that can explain what the policy really states if there are questions. But, people are people, and of course some will fib to their advantage. There have been some whoppers, to be sure, especially when there is a lot of wampum on the table.

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On 3/21/2018 at 4:07 PM, skypinkblu said:

The problem with a rider is, you most likely will need to get appraisals before you get the insurance or you won't collect if something happened. I had a jewelry rider and I almost got stuck because 1 thing was stolen (in about 15 years of paying premiums) and the person who did the original appraisal was no longer in business.

I called our carriers before I bought collectible insurance. They said I'd need appraisals.  If my books were all cgc maybe they'd take GPA, but mine are not all cgc and GPA changes all the time.

I called a few other places and they all needed professional appraisals, too.  CIA did not, they just want a list (pictures of course if you have them) and a separate list of anything over $5k.

This really isn't the case at all. The only items you would need to get appraised are things like jewelry (due to the variance in value based on the quality of the gems), very rare items, items where only a few exist, or really old antiques. And with most people those items would represent less than 1% of the items being insured. Given the sheer amount of price guides that are out there, including websites that track the price of various auctions, one shouldn't have any problem getting a fairly accurate value on the items they are insuring and the only times insurance companies will demand an appraisal is if you have an item valued significantly higher than the normal market value. And this is another example of why saving your receipts is so vital. Its not just for proof of purchase, but also to show the amount you spent on the item. Insurance companies have massive databases regarding the value of various merchandise.

Out of all of the items we had insured at the time we had our house fire, there were only a few items that we needed to have appraised at the request of the insurance company. One of the items was my Ansel Adams "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico" print and the reason they requested an appraisal on that print is because that print is a very unique case in the world of limited edition prints as Adams continued making prints of that image over the years using different techniques and different sizes as he was never fully satisfied with the prints he made for that image. So the value on that print can vary dramatically given the size of the print, when it was printed, the method he used to print it, wether its signed or not, etc. 99% of the items people wind up insuring do not require any sort of appraisal. 

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9 minutes ago, OrangeCrush said:

This really isn't the case at all. The only items you would need to get appraised are things like jewelry (due to the variance in value based on the quality of the gems), very rare items, items where only a few exist, or really old antiques. And with most people those items would represent less than 1% of the items being insured. Given the sheer amount of price guides that are out there, including websites that track the price of various auctions, one shouldn't have any problem getting a fairly accurate value on the items they are insuring and the only times insurance companies will demand an appraisal is if you have an item valued significantly higher than the normal market value. And this is another example of why saving your receipts is so vital. Its not just for proof of purchase, but also to show the amount you spent on the item. Insurance companies have massive databases regarding the value of various merchandise.

Out of all of the items we had insured at the time we had our house fire, there were only a few items that we needed to have appraised at the request of the insurance company. One of the items was my Ansel Adams "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico" print and the reason they requested an appraisal on that print is because that print is a very unique case in the world of limited edition prints as Adams continued making prints of that image over the years using different techniques and different sizes as he was never fully satisfied with the prints he made for that image. So the value on that print can vary dramatically given the size of the print, when it was printed, the method he used to print it, wether its signed or not, etc. 99% of the items people wind up insuring do not require any sort of appraisal. 

What isn't the case? I did call my carrier and a few other suggested ones and they DID say I'd need appraisals on the comics before they would be covered. I even spoke to a few people here about doing them. CIA did not require appraisals. It's a fact, not a guess, I made the calls myself.

 

This was just for comics, I did not need appraisals for items that were stolen from my home that were not considered special "collectibles" . I just had to find similar things and list them. That however was more then 20 years ago. My calls re the comics were probably 7 or 8 years ago. 
I suppose things can change.

Edited by skypinkblu
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16 minutes ago, skypinkblu said:

What isn't the case? I did call my carrier and a few other suggested ones and they DID say I'd need appraisals on the comics before they would be covered. I even spoke to a few people here about doing them. CIA did not require appraisals. It's a fact, not a guess, I made the calls myself.

Then the agents you talked to have no clue what thier talking about or your using a really lousy insurance company. To make people appraise items that any 10 year old could find the value on just using the internet makes absolutely no sense at all. In all my years working in the field, I never once saw an insurance company make people have things like comics appraised and I haven't had to have a single comic that I own appraised either and my insurance company has a complete list of every comic I own. My advice, get a better insurance company or ask for a different rep next time you call. 

Now if you owned an Action Comics #1, a Wonder Woman #1, or any other comic that had a value of $200,000+...well, that would b a different matter entirely as the difference of just a few grades can be as much as $50,000+. I would expect an insurance company to have comics like those appraised. 

Edited by OrangeCrush
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17 minutes ago, OrangeCrush said:

Then the agents you talked to have no clue what thier talking about or your using a really lousy insurance company. To make people appraise items that any 10 year old could find the value on just using the internet makes absolutely no sense at all. In all my years working in the field, I never once saw an insurance company make people have things like comics appraised and I haven't had to have a single comic that I own appraised either and my insurance company has a complete list of every comic I own. My advice, get a better insurance company or ask for a different rep next time you call. 

Now if you owned an Action Comics #1, a Wonder Woman #1, or any other comic that had a value of $200,000+...well, that would b a different matter entirely as the difference of just a few grades can be as much as $50,000+. I would expect an insurance company to have comics like those appraised. 

Comic books that are not professionally graded ARE covered, you do know that, and you know that the prices of comics the same issue vary a lot? I think you are talking about getting the value of a encapsulated graded comics. Most of mine at the time were not CGC'd. 

and I do own a Wonder Woman 1, along with a few other books. Not all Wonder Woman 1's are worth $200k, but they can cost more than an average SA book.

Edited by skypinkblu
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16 minutes ago, OrangeCrush said:

Then the agents you talked to have no clue what thier talking about or your using a really lousy insurance company. To make people appraise items that any 10 year old could find the value on just using the internet makes absolutely no sense at all. In all my years working in the field, I never once saw an insurance company make people have things like comics appraised and I haven't had to have a single comic that I own appraised either and my insurance company has a complete list of every comic I own. My advice, get a better insurance company or ask for a different rep next time you call. 

Now if you owned an Action Comics #1, a Wonder Woman #1, or any other comic that had a value of $200,000+...well, that would b a different matter entirely as the difference of just a few grades can be as much as $50,000+

Wait are you series? You use the internet to tell you how much a comic is worth vs a person who's specialty is to appraise art?  O.o

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9 minutes ago, Shmoopee said:

Wait are you series? You use the internet to tell you how much a comic is worth vs a person who's specialty is to appraise art?  O.o

If your asking me if I am going to get a general value for a particular comic using various sources off of the internet, including the selling prices you see on eBay, as opposed to spending a thousand dollars to have someone come to my house and appraise all of my comics....well, yep I am going the internet route each and every time. It certainly worked just fine for me the last time I had a major loss. Don't get me wrong, if you want to spend a crapload of money to bring in an appraiser so you can get a value that is pretty much going to fall right in line with the pricing you see online then by all means have at it. I don't like wasting money if I don't have to and bringing in an appraiser to appraise my comics is definitely a waste of money in my book, especially when the insurance company isn't demanding that I do it. I was more than content with the money I got for my comics when we had our fire and I am perfectly content with the amount my comics are insured for right now. I have absolutely no need for an appraiser. 

Edited by OrangeCrush
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1 minute ago, OrangeCrush said:

If your asking me if I am going to get a general value for a particular comic using various sources off of the internet, including the selling prices you see on eBay, as opposed to spending a thousand dollars to have someone come to my house and appraise all of my comics....well, yep I am going the internet route each and every time. It certainly worked just fine for me the last time I had a major loss. Don't get me wrong, if you want to spend a crapload of money to bring in an appraiser so you can get a value that is pretty much going to fall right in line with the pricing you see online then by all means have at it. I don't like wasting money if I don't have to and bringing in an appraiser to appraise my comics is definitely a waste of money in my book, especially when the insurance company isn'y demanding that I do it. 

Good point.

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5 minutes ago, OrangeCrush said:

If your asking me if I am going to get a general value for a particular comic using various sources off of the internet, including the selling prices you see on eBay, as opposed to spending a thousand dollars to have someone come to my house and appraise all of my comics....well, yep I am going the internet route each and every time. It certainly worked just fine for me the last time I had a major loss. Don't get me wrong, if you want to spend a crapload of money to bring in an appraiser so you can get a value that is pretty much going to fall right in line with the pricing you see online then by all means have at it. I don't like wasting money if I don't have to and bringing in an appraiser to appraise my comics is definitely a waste of money in my book, especially when the insurance company isn't demanding that I do it. I was more than content with the money I got for my comics when we had our fire and I am perfectly content with the amount my comics are insured for right now. I have absolutely no need for an appraiser. 

I just hope you are not confusing people.  The reason I used CIA is because they didn't require an appraiser. I also think you will find that the value of the collections on here, vary greatly. Anyway no point in us going back and forth here, I sent you a pm.

Edited by skypinkblu
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22 minutes ago, skypinkblu said:

Comic books that are not professionally graded ARE covered, you do know that, and you know that the prices of comics the same issue vary a lot? I think you are talking about getting the value of a encapsulated graded comics. Most of mine at the time were not CGC'd. 

and I do own a Wonder Woman 1, along with a few other books. Not all Wonder Woman 1's are worth $200k, but they can cost more than an average SA book.

That can be said for pretty much every collectible on the market. Values are not set in stone and they are constantly going up and down. That's why its so important to update your policy on a regular basis if many of your collectibles are increasing in value, especially if they are doing so by considerable margins. That doesn't mean that one can't come to an adequate figure for insurance purposes. Honestly, my advice would be to get in touch with a quality insurance rep that really understands the industry because from what I am seeing here, you could really use some help in this regard, no offense intended. 

I just hope you are not confusing people.  The reason I used CIA is because they didn't require an appraiser. I also think you will find that the value of the collections on here, vary greatly. Anyway no point in us going back and forth here, I sent you a pm.

Every post I have made in this thread has been to try and help people to not be confused and to try and convince people just how VITAL it is to have proper insurance coverage. 

Edited by OrangeCrush
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As a general statement, using your own direction of value may appear to be convenient, maybe even more economical, but it shifts the risk entirely on the policy holder because it's the easiest way to demonstrate subjective lack of impartiality.

Edited by comicwiz
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16 minutes ago, comicwiz said:

As a general statement, using your own direction of value may appear to be convenient, maybe even more economical, but it shifts the risk entirely on the policy holder because it's the easiest way to demonstrate subjective lack of impartiality.

I+1  :foryou:

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1 hour ago, OrangeCrush said:
1 hour ago, skypinkblu said:

What isn't the case? I did call my carrier and a few other suggested ones and they DID say I'd need appraisals on the comics before they would be covered. I even spoke to a few people here about doing them. CIA did not require appraisals. It's a fact, not a guess, I made the calls myself.

Then the agents you talked to have no clue what thier talking about 

Edited 1 hour ago by OrangeCrush

more likely you don't

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1 hour ago, comicwiz said:

As a general statement, using your own direction of value may appear to be convenient, maybe even more economical, but it shifts the risk entirely on the policy holder because it's the easiest way to demonstrate subjective lack of impartiality.

First off, I never said to use your own direction for value. I said that its easy to gauge value off of many of the price guides and websites on the internet that track the value of various collectibles. So that value isn't coming from you, its coming from respected sources in the industry that focus on value. There is a MASSIVE difference between someone just coming up with a value and doing adequate research on the value of an item from respected sources. And it wouldn't put the policy holder in any risk at all because there is no subjective impartiality when your getting your values from respected price guides and respected sites that basically report the value for various collectibles. 

Edited by OrangeCrush
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17 minutes ago, OrangeCrush said:

First off, I never said to use your own direction for value. I said that its easy to gauge value off of many of the price guides and websites on the internet that track the value of various collectibles. So that value isn't coming from you, its coming from respected sources in the industry that focus on value. There is a MASSIVE difference between someone just coming up with a value and doing adequate research on the value of an item from respected sources. And it wouldn't put the policy holder in any risk at all because there is no subjective impartiality when your getting your values from respected price guides and respected sites that basically report the value for various collectibles. 

I'm an accredited personal property appraiser, meaning I had to be taught and tested on standard pratice and bound to a code of ethics. I'm perfectly qualified to appraise my own collection, and five posts above this one, I explained why I wouldn't.

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9 minutes ago, comicwiz said:

I'm an accredited personal property appraiser, meaning I had to be taught and tested on standard pratice and bound to a code of ethics. I'm perfectly qualified to appraise my own collection, and five posts above this one, I explained why I wouldn't.

And that is your choice. If you want to bring in a professional appraiser for your items then that is 100% your choice. Myself, I'm a licensed insurance agent and have worked in the field on and off for roughly 8-9 years and have literally seen well over 400+ claims just in regards to contents alone and I never once saw a claim be denied because the insured used legitimate sources to gauge the value of the items they were insuring. On top of that, I had a complete loss when we had our house fire and 99.9% of the items that were insured were done so using values I obtained using various sources like websites and price guides and State Farm didn't deny a single piece of property with my claim. So you continue on as you have been and I will continue on as I have been. I will only use an appraiser if the insurance company requests that I do so. 

Edited by OrangeCrush
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5 minutes ago, OrangeCrush said:

I will only use an appraiser if the insurance company requests that I do so. 

At the very least, this back and forth got you to clarify this point. Because a few posts back, it sounded like your way and no other:

2 hours ago, OrangeCrush said:

If your asking me if I am going to get a general value for a particular comic using various sources off of the internet, including the selling prices you see on eBay, as opposed to spending a thousand dollars to have someone come to my house and appraise all of my comics....well, yep I am going the internet route each and every time.

I posted what I did because your position was starting to be unclear, and I didn't want people reading this to possibly be misinformed.

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6 minutes ago, comicwiz said:

At the very least, this back and forth got you to clarify this point. Because a few posts back, it sounded like your way and no other:

I posted what I did because your position was starting to be unclear, and I didn't want people reading this to possibly be misinformed.

I don't know how you could come to that conclusion when I openly stated that I had to get my Ansel Adams print appraised at the insurance companies request. Here is the quote right here:

Quote

Out of all of the items we had insured at the time we had our house fire, there were only a few items that we needed to have appraised at the request of the insurance company. One of the items was my Ansel Adams "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico" print and the reason they requested an appraisal on that print is because that print is a very unique case in the world of limited edition prints as Adams continued making prints of that image over the years using different techniques and different sizes as he was never fully satisfied with the prints he made for that image. So the value on that print can vary dramatically given the size of the print, when it was printed, the method he used to print it, wether its signed or not, etc. 99% of the items people wind up insuring do not require any sort of appraisal. 

 

Edited by OrangeCrush
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2 hours ago, OrangeCrush said:

If your asking me if I am going to get a general value for a particular comic using various sources off of the internet, including the selling prices you see on eBay, as opposed to spending a thousand dollars to have someone come to my house and appraise all of my comics....well, yep I am going the internet route each and every time.

 

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