Collectible Insurance Services review 5 5

[OrangeCrush]

15 minutes ago, comicwiz 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.

Yes, I am going the do it myself route each and every time, unless the insurance company tells me otherwise, which again, I made perfectly clear. 

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. 

And that is the stance I have been pushing this entire time. Value all of your items yourself unless your insurance company tells you to get an appraisal. As long as you get values from legitimate sources, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Your insurance company is not going to deny your claim because you got the value's of your contents from respected sources as opposed to getting them professionally appraised. If they want you to get a professional appraisal, they will tell you just that. 

Edited March 24, 2018 by OrangeCrush

[comicwiz]

Each and every time doesn't sound like it comes with conditions, but again, glad it was clarified. I'm also glad you got an appraisal on your print, since it's the only print in the world, or only exception to an item requiring an appraisal.

[OrangeCrush]

Bottom line - I made posts in this thread to try and help people in regards to insurance because if there is one thing I have learned in my lifetime, its that most people are pretty much clueless when it comes to insurance. Most people don't even understand their own insurance policies and don't even have a clue in regards to the limits on those policies. I offered up the option to use riders on your homeowners policy as opposed to going with collector centric insurance because I have heard a lot of horror stories with collectors insurance, the last of which was the issue that started this thread.

As for the topic of appraising your items, people are entitled to do whatever they see fit. All I am doing is offering my advice, nothing more and nothing less. If people want to spend a lot of money getting their collectible's professionally appraised then that is their choice and they are 100% entitled to that choice. Most appraisers will cost roughly $200-$400 an hour and if your dealing with unique items or really old or valuable antiques, you can expect the appraiser to be there for a considerable amount of time as pieces like those require that the appraiser go over the piece in extreme detail. Again, the choice to go that route is 100% up to each individual here. Myself, I would never go that route unless the insurance company requested it as I know first hand that insurance companies accept the stated value that price guides and various websites post for collectibles. Some people in this thread were claiming that insurance in general was a waste of money and that people should just take the money they were going to spend on insurance and just buy more comics with it. Just like with the appraisal topic, people are entitled to follow that line of thinking as well if they so choose. Each and every person in here is ultimately responsible for making those decisions themselves and they are entitled to follow any course they see fit. If you don't want insurance, don't get it. If you want to use an appraiser, use one. Again, its all up to the individual collectors on these forums. People can either listen to the advice I have given or ignore it completely. Not to seem harsh, but In the end it has absolutely no bearing on me whatsoever and regardless of what some people in here may think, I am not some deviant trying to screw people on thier insurance coverage. As much as I would hate to see someone in here suffer a loss like I did, there is nothing I can do about it one way or the other. All I can do is offer advice on how to best protect yourself from suffering a serious loss. Again, wether people actually listen to that advice is 100% up to them. 

As for myself, I will continue to approach insurance the same way I have been the last 20+ years. I have now had 3 major loses to date and have gotten every last dime I had coming to me in a timely manner with absolutely no resistance or fight whatsoever so I see absolutely no reason to change things up now. I know the insurance game all too well, which is exactly why I save all my receipts, take pictures of all of the items I'm insuring, update my policy on a regular basis, etc, And I keep multiple copies of those documents and pictures off site as there is no point in having receipts and pictures if they wind up being destroyed. As long as you play the insurance game right, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

[lizards2]

1 hour ago, OrangeCrush said:

2 hours ago, lizards2 said:

more likely you don't

In other words, you have absolutely nothing to add to the discusssion, lol. Thanks for playing!

More likely, I added exactly what many are thinking.  And I understand you have no use for what other people think.

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

2 hours 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.

Agreed. While the posts are well intended, the legal reality of liability is quite different, and at the rep/agent level, an entirely different objective exists.

[skypinkblu]

5 hours ago, OrangeCrush said:

Yes, I am going the do it myself route each and every time, unless the insurance company tells me otherwise, which again, I made perfectly clear. 

And that is the stance I have been pushing this entire time. Value all of your items yourself unless your insurance company tells you to get an appraisal. As long as you get values from legitimate sources, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Your insurance company is not going to deny your claim because you got the value's of your contents from respected sources as opposed to getting them professionally appraised. If they want you to get a professional appraisal, they will tell you just that. 

Let's just say you own a raw Amazing Fantasy 15. You've owned this book for 10 years, so the price you paid, is much lower than the current price. You have a rider on comics, a regular rider, not one that is a specific company that covers collectibles, just a rider to your house insurance.

Your house is robbed, someone takes a bunch of stuff, including your  RAW Amazing Fantasy. You tell yourself, I think that book was still a 6.0. you  have  cell picture, you  bought it as a 6.0 10 years ago on eBay, you paid $1,000. you have the auction description. GPA clearly states that the latest sale of a 6.0 is $59k+. So you read it a few times, showed it to your friends, maybe dropped it by accident so there was a little added bump now, but HEY, you have proof!

You tell the insurance co, that's what it's worth. You show them the original eBay receipt, you print out GPA, you show them the picture you have that you took when you bought the book.

They know nothing about comics. Do you think they will just accept what you are saying? .

I don't even know if CIA would accept that, but they are a company that regularly deals in collectibles, so THEY told me that I have to list anything that is worth more than $5k separately with them, so I've done that. That's what they require, which seems pretty easy to me, that's why I chose them.

My point has been that there are lots of variables here. You can't give such specific advice, that's what I mean about confusing people. Someone may see that  you are a broker and just point blank accept your statements and be in for a sad surprise. I'm sure not many people, but all you need is one.

Mr. Mcknowitall and ComicWiz are long time credible members and  are often helpful with advice, and it's never one size fits all.

I think that's what most of us are saying to you, it's not a one size fits all thing here.

 Collections here vary greatly, so do the items that are in them and on that note, I'm going to let the professionals continue;) Night.

[OrangeCrush]

1 hour ago, skypinkblu said:

Let's just say you own a raw Amazing Fantasy 15. You've owned this book for 10 years, so the price you paid, is much lower than the current price. You have a rider on comics, a regular rider, not one that is a specific company that covers collectibles, just a rider to your house insurance.

Your house is robbed, someone takes a bunch of stuff, including your  RAW Amazing Fantasy. You tell yourself, I think that book was still a 6.0. you  have  cell picture, you  bought it as a 6.0 10 years ago on eBay, you paid $1,000. you have the auction description. GPA clearly states that the latest sale of a 6.0 is $59k+. So you read it a few times, showed it to your friends, maybe dropped it by accident so there was a little added bump now, but HEY, you have proof!

You tell the insurance co, that's what it's worth. You show them the original eBay receipt, you print out GPA, you show them the picture you have that you took when you bought the book.

They know nothing about comics. Do you think they will just accept what you are saying? .

I don't even know if CIA would accept that, but they are a company that regularly deals in collectibles, so THEY told me that I have to list anything that is worth more than $5k separately with them, so I've done that. That's what they require, which seems pretty easy to me, that's why I chose them.

My point has been that there are lots of variables here. You can't give such specific advice, that's what I mean about confusing people. Someone may see that  you are a broker and just point blank accept your statements and be in for a sad surprise. I'm sure not many people, but all you need is one.

Mr. Mcknowitall and ComicWiz are long time credible members and  are often helpful with advice, and it's never one size fits all.

I think that's what most of us are saying to you, it's not a one size fits all thing here.

 Collections here vary greatly, so do the items that are in them and on that note, I'm going to let the professionals continue;) Night.

This will be my final post on this topic because I am not going to go back and forth on this topic. I have already passed along all of the information I wanted to pass along and I have made my opinions on these matters 100% clear. And as I stated in my last post, the information I have provided in this thread was posted with the singular intent of trying to help people with the issue of getting proper insurance, making sure they have enough coverage for various categries of possessions, and being able to prove that they owned the items if they ever wind up having a loss. Wether people want to listen to that advice or just ignore it completely is entirely up to each individual on this forum. I am not some internet deviant or troll that is out to personally sabotage people's attempts to properly insure their contents and collectibles. Honestly, I wouldn't wish what happened to my wife and I in 2008 on my worst enemies and its because of that massive and devastating loss that I take the time to pass along information on insuring your contents/collectibles in threads like this. Again, wether people listen to that advice or ignore it altogether is entirely up to them.

And I'm not just some miscellaneous collector pretending to know a lot about this topic, like a lot of people on the internet like to do these days. I have been a licensed insurance agent since 1992 and not only have I seen a massive number of claims during that time, mostly dealing with homeowner policies and renters insurance / content police, I have also had 3 significant losses of my own, all of which were paid in full. So I am I well aware of the things you need to prove ownership, the methods one can use to obtain values outside of using an appraiser, and the various loopholes insurance companies will try and use if they want to deny or fight a claim. Out of all of the claims I have ever seen, including my own, I have yet to see a single claim denied based on the fact that the person used legitimate sources outside of appraisers for gauging the value of the items insured. And if the insurance company does wind up disagreeing with the value of a particular item when you have a loss, they will still cover the item. They will just give you the value they deem appropriate and you do have the right to contest that decision by the insurance company. The bottom line is that people are entitled to their opinions, regardless of how right or wrong those opinions may be, so if people want to think that your going to get scr*wed on a claim if you don't use an appraiser then they are 100% entitled to that belief. Its really no different from the people that think the moon landings were faked or that Kennedy was killed by a single shooter. No matter how right or wrong an opinion is, people are entitled to their own opinions. So again, I am not going to go back and forth on these issues as I have already passed along all of the relevant information I wanted too regarding this topic. What people ultimately do with that info is entirely up to them. If people want to spend a couple thousand dollars on an appraiser then by all means have at it. Not to seem callous but its not my money so I honestly couldn't care less how people go about spending it. And just like my previous policies, 99% of the items I currently have insured were valued by myself using various respected sources, and I am not worried in the slightest abut having any issues if I wind up having another loss. 

And while I'm officially done with this thread, I am still more than happy to answer any qestions people have so if anyone has any legitimate questions concerning insuring your possessions, or any other questions concerning homeowners or renters insurance, feel free to send me a PM and I will be more than happy to help you out. The single best advice I can give is to ALWAYS get a replacement cost policy over an actual cash value policy, save and scan all of receipts, save all of the manuals that come with various merchandise, take pictures of all of your merchandise and most importantly, keep at least one duplicate set of those scans/pictures etc. off site. I recommend storing one of the hard drives that has all of that information in a safety deposit box. Having receipts, pictures, manuals etc. doesn't mean squat if they wind up getting destroyed. Hopefully nobody in here ever has to deal with anything like this, but this is definitely one of those cases where its better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. 

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

That is a shame. I think many benefited from the thread and your posts. I thought it was and is a very useful thread. I wonder if you maybe misinterpreted posts as being a personal attack.  did not think that, at all, but I can understand how you may have.

20 hours ago, OrangeCrush said:

This will be my final post on this topic because I am not going to go back and forth on this topic. I have already passed along all of the information I wanted to pass along and I have made my opinions on these matters 100% clear.

 

[entalmighty1]

21 hours ago, OrangeCrush said:

This will be my final post on this topic because I am not going to go back and forth on this topic. I have already passed along all of the information I wanted to pass along and I have made my opinions on these matters 100% clear. And as I stated in my last post, the information I have provided in this thread was posted with the singular intent of trying to help people with the issue of getting proper insurance, making sure they have enough coverage for various categries of possessions, and being able to prove that they owned the items if they ever wind up having a loss. Wether people want to listen to that advice or just ignore it completely is entirely up to each individual on this forum. I am not some internet deviant or troll that is out to personally sabotage people's attempts to properly insure their contents and collectibles. Honestly, I wouldn't wish what happened to my wife and I in 2008 on my worst enemies and its because of that massive and devastating loss that I take the time to pass along information on insuring your contents/collectibles in threads like this. Again, wether people listen to that advice or ignore it altogether is entirely up to them.

And I'm not just some miscellaneous collector pretending to know a lot about this topic, like a lot of people on the internet like to do these days. I have been a licensed insurance agent since 1992 and not only have I seen a massive number of claims during that time, mostly dealing with homeowner policies and renters insurance / content police, I have also had 3 significant losses of my own, all of which were paid in full. So I am I well aware of the things you need to prove ownership, the methods one can use to obtain values outside of using an appraiser, and the various loopholes insurance companies will try and use if they want to deny or fight a claim. Out of all of the claims I have ever seen, including my own, I have yet to see a single claim denied based on the fact that the person used legitimate sources outside of appraisers for gauging the value of the items insured. And if the insurance company does wind up disagreeing with the value of a particular item when you have a loss, they will still cover the item. They will just give you the value they deem appropriate and you do have the right to contest that decision by the insurance company. The bottom line is that people are entitled to their opinions, regardless of how right or wrong those opinions may be, so if people want to think that your going to get scr*wed on a claim if you don't use an appraiser then they are 100% entitled to that belief. Its really no different from the people that think the moon landings were faked or that Kennedy was killed by a single shooter. No matter how right or wrong an opinion is, people are entitled to their own opinions. So again, I am not going to go back and forth on these issues as I have already passed along all of the relevant information I wanted too regarding this topic. What people ultimately do with that info is entirely up to them. If people want to spend a couple thousand dollars on an appraiser then by all means have at it. Not to seem callous but its not my money so I honestly couldn't care less how people go about spending it. And just like my previous policies, 99% of the items I currently have insured were valued by myself using various respected sources, and I am not worried in the slightest abut having any issues if I wind up having another loss. 

And while I'm officially done with this thread, I am still more than happy to answer any qestions people have so if anyone has any legitimate questions concerning insuring your possessions, or any other questions concerning homeowners or renters insurance, feel free to send me a PM and I will be more than happy to help you out. The single best advice I can give is to ALWAYS get a replacement cost policy over an actual cash value policy, save and scan all of receipts, save all of the manuals that come with various merchandise, take pictures of all of your merchandise and most importantly, keep at least one duplicate set of those scans/pictures etc. off site. I recommend storing one of the hard drives that has all of that information in a safety deposit box. Having receipts, pictures, manuals etc. doesn't mean squat if they wind up getting destroyed. Hopefully nobody in here ever has to deal with anything like this, but this is definitely one of those cases where its better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. 

I bet you're a blast at parties.

[skypinkblu]

47 minutes ago, entalmighty1 said:

I bet you're a blast at parties.

Back  when Woody Allen was funny;) 

 

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

I still remember that.

[skypinkblu]

1 hour ago, Mr.Mcknowitall said:

I still remember that.

I think that actor was "Ward Cleaver".

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

9 minutes ago, skypinkblu said:

I think that actor was "Ward Cleaver".

Yes.

[OrangeCrush]

4 hours ago, Mr.Mcknowitall said:

That is a shame. I think many benefited from the thread and your posts. I thought it was and is a very useful thread. I wonder if you maybe misinterpreted posts as being a personal attack.  did not think that, at all, but I can understand how you may have.

 

I'l make one last post to address this post. 

First and foremost, I appreciate the kind words and if you found some of the info useful, then it was worth my posting it up. As for my ceasing to post in this thread, it wasn't so much personal attacks as much as it was condescending posts and people pretending to know what their taking about when they have absolutely zero experience in the insurance industry. If there is one aspect of the internet that drives me crazy, its all the people running around pretending they are experts on everything because they read an article on wikipedia or other sites that can give a quick overview on various topics. And it's not that I don't have the tolerance for such posts as one couldn't be a member of any internet forum these days without being able to stomach such posts as they are pretty much everywhere these days. its just there was nothing more for me to add to this topic as I had already addressed all the issues I wanted to address. Sticking around at this point would simply to be argumentative and that's just not the kind of person I am in forums. I would much rather spend my time in threads I enjoy than have to listen to ridiculous posts like how fun I must be at parties, lol. 

[The Lions Den]

On ‎3‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 2:24 PM, OrangeCrush said:

I would much rather spend my time in threads I enjoy than have to listen to ridiculous posts like how fun I must be at parties, lol. 

Thanks for the information...  

[SweetSue]

On 3/12/2018 at 2:09 PM, october said:

I have. 

A $500 slab I sold on eBay was destroyed in shipping. They asked for proof of damage, proof of the sale, and the signature confirmation on the shipment. I sent all three and they cut a check right away.  

Quick question. Friend of mine had an expensive item destroyed in shipping she sent to someone who bought it and like you said, she sent them photos, invoice, and Sig confirmation from the buyer/receiver. She got the check within 10 days to pay the buyer/receiver yet theory never asked her or the buyer for the item back. Is that the norm, or is that because the item is considered unrepairable?

Edited February 5, 2020 by SweetSue
Spelling.

[SweetSue]

Anyone?

 

On 3/12/2018 at 2:09 PM, october said:

I have. 

A $500 slab I sold on eBay was destroyed in shipping. They asked for proof of damage, proof of the sale, and the signature confirmation on the shipment. I sent all three and they cut a check right away.  

Quick question. Friend of mine had an expensive item destroyed in shipping she sent to someone who bought it and like you said, she sent them photos, invoice, and Sig confirmation from the buyer/receiver. She got the check within 10 days to pay the buyer/receiver yet CI

never asked her or the buyer for the item back. Is that the norm, or is that because the item is considered unrepairable?

[Deadpoolica]

20 hours ago, SweetSue said:

Quick question. Friend of mine had an expensive item destroyed in shipping she sent to someone who bought it and like you said, she sent them photos, invoice, and Sig confirmation from the buyer/receiver. She got the check within 10 days to pay the buyer/receiver yet theory never asked her or the buyer for the item back. Is that the norm, or is that because the item is considered unrepairable?

I'm assuming this was insured thru the carrier right? If so, they hardly ever ask for the damaged item...they consider it damaged & worthless/not worth the time  

[SweetSue]

1 hour ago, Deadpoolica said:

I'm assuming this was insured thru the carrier right? If so, they hardly ever ask for the damaged item...they consider it damaged & worthless/not worth the time  

It was insured by C.Insure for under 30k, (but was still an expensive item). Horrible it was so ruined. They obviously required photos, receipts, and signature proof etc. I was just surprised they didn't mention sending back, though I'm not sure what they would have done with it anyway .

Edited February 6, 2020 by SweetSue
spelling.

[NoMan]

 Here's the low down as I see it: The only opinion/experience that matters here is that of some one who lost a book in a fire, flood, theft from gun vault, whatever and is trying to recover from said insurance company. I mean, what else matters? All insurance companies are great at collecting premiums. "My company is sooo great!"