Insuring collectables/collections

Fleeb

Does anybody here have any experience in insuring collections/collectables, and if so, which insurers would you recommend for this?

I'm in a fairly unusual position in that my collection is worth substantially more than the other, more prosaic, contents of my house such as TVs and furniture. The collection is comprised of lots of medium value items, rather than a small number of very high value ones.

The last time I looked this scenario wasn't catered for by mainstream insurance companies. The policies I saw had a provision for including individual high value items like a watch but they tended to exclude collectables entirely or limit the maximum payout on them in the even of a claim.

I did eventually find an insurer but the policy isn't cheap. It is now renewal time, before I pull the trigger I thought I'd ask if anybody here can recommend an insurer I should take a look at. Maybe there is a mainstream policy out there that is flexible enough to provide the cover I need.

My collection of items is quite large; I can supply a detailed list of them to an insurer and a total value I'd like them covered by but I haven't priced individual items. Having to figure out a price for each item, and keep it up to date as market values fluctuate, would be a massive undertaking.

Any advice or ideas gratefully received!

InsideInsurance

What is it a collection of? What is the sort of single item and total collection value? What is the cost of the rest of your contents?

What you need will depend if an insurer sees them as Valuables or not. Similarly what the consequence of one item in the collection being damaged is.

So, for example, if you collected Toby jugs then each peice is standalone and so there is no need for a "collection" type coverage. If you had a collection of chess sets then the loss of one piece is more of an issue as whilst the whole collection isnt damaged one set is and so you may start thinking about wanting matching set coverage. I guess there could be something else where the whole collection is damaged by the loss of a single piece but cant think of an example off hand

Fleeb

It is a book collection. Lots and lots of books, the majority valued in the tens of pounds range, a few in the hundreds, a couple in the 1-2 thousand range. Total around £70000. The rest of the home contents are probably worth less than a quarter of that.

Most of them fall under the standalone item definition. There are some matching sets though, where the total set value would be affected if any member was lost.

I think most home contents policies would cover you if one or two valuable books got damaged, it is the potential of catastrophic loss of everything that is a problem. If the house burns down or gets flattened by a meteorite I want all of the books to be covered, which rules out any policy that says, for example, £20000 maximum payout for art and collectibles.

TBagpuss

Have you asked your 'normal' insurer whether they would class books as normal household contents and if so, whether there is any cap on the number?

I would however ensure that you have a detailed list of what you have and particularly those which are 'collectable'. I also have a lot of books, I have a list which gives the relevant details - e.g. 1st edition, signed by author, numbered limited edition, hard cover (with or without dust jacket)

I know when I asked my previous insurer they confirmed that these were all covered under my normal policy, provided that the total value of my home contents was accurate. Check the limit for art works - it may be that anything over £1,000 individually needs to be separately listed.

(Your post makes me think maybe I should check with my current insurers - like you, the majority of my books are individually relatively inexpensive - and the most valuable is probably worth around £500, but I do have an awful lot of them..)

I previously went via Lark as broker - my reason was not related to the books, but they seem to specialise in high end and non-standard policies so would be unfazed by an extensive library

Do please post an update

InsideInsurance

Fleeb wrote: »

It is a book collection. Lots and lots of books, the majority valued in the tens of pounds range, a few in the hundreds, a couple in the 1-2 thousand range. Total around £70000. The rest of the home contents are probably worth less than a quarter of that.

Most of them fall under the standalone item definition. There are some matching sets though, where the total set value would be affected if any member was lost.

I think most home contents policies would cover you if one or two valuable books got damaged, it is the potential of catastrophic loss of everything that is a problem. If the house burns down or gets flattened by a meteorite I want all of the books to be covered, which rules out any policy that says, for example, £20000 maximum payout for art and collectibles.

The question is going to be if you are bothered about sets.

A book collection doesnt fall under the traditional definition of Valuables and so for many insurers that use that then its not going to be an issue however most insurers do not provide matching set cover and so if one of a set of books is destroyed you only get a cheque for that one book.

Obviously you'd need to confirm with whoever you are buying from first but a quick chat on LiveChat with Direct Line and Aviva both say that a book collection does indeed fall under general contents and so no special terms or limits apply to it. The problem is neither provide matching set cover.

Admiral Platinum Home does provide matching set cover but their wording is about High Risk items rather than traditional Valuables which does include a generic "collection" term. Unfortunately they dont have LiveChat to be able to see if they do see a book "collection" as falling under their definition of high risk

Certainly if you start looking at the High Net Worth providers like Hiscox or Chubb then you arent going to have any problems at all, other than their price

dacouch

A collectors policy would be your best bet as any claims would be handled by someone experienced in handling claims for collections.

Collectors policies tend to have cover built into them for the type of things a collector needs such as automatic cover for new purchases, cover for you taking your collection to book fairs, inflation protection. They tend to be more likely to pay for specialist repairs for damaged items that traditional insurers would just write off.

Diminished value is also often included, this would be say be if you had a book valued at £1000 which was damaged by water. They would pay for repairs and then compensate you for the reduction in value to the book the damage and subsequent repair has had on the value of the book.

You can't go wrong with Hiscox https://www.hiscoxcollections.com/

Check the cover as it may or may not include the covers I've outlined.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to have your collection professionally valued as your collection is almost certainly worth considerably more than you believe. It's also a good idea to have a good cataloging system and also keep a copy of it off site eg at a friend's house or even on the cloud.

Fleeb

Thanks to you all for your input.

Looking at Hiscox they would have been a bit cheaper than who I was using before, but I'd have had to buy a separate home contents policy to cover the other stuff in my house.

It starts getting more complicated at that point - the Hiscox policy says it won't pay out in situations where another policy would cover the damage. So I'd have to try to find a general home contents policy where I can specifically exclude the books but include everything else (or risk having to suffer through the two insurance companies wrangling over whether the books are actually covered by the general home contents policy in the event of a claim).

Based on InsideInsurance's post I chatted with Directline and the customer rep confirmed that books (even rare ones) are covered under their home contents policy. They aren't classed specifically as valuables (which have their own conditions and limitations attached) and, most importantly, he said "In instances where you've lost a rare item, if we are unable to source a like-for-like replacement, we would usually make a cash settlement."

This is in contrast to Aviva, where the customer rep said they'd likely just replace a damaged book with a copy of the same title - not necessarily the same edition. If I understood him correctly that means they might replace a £500 limited edition of The Hobbit with a £6.99 paperback of The Hobbit and call it even. That rules them out!

I went with Directline Contents Insurance Plus (and saved a transcript of the web chat just in case I ever need to claim). The £100000 limit covers my valuation of the collection and other home contents and the policy even includes a provision about matching sets of items.

With regards to having the collection valued professionally I don't think it would be practical. It'd take weeks and would be out of date as soon as one of the authors kicked the bucket or Hollywood decided to make a movie based on one of the books. I'm an active collector and I keep an eye on the market for the genres/authors I collect, I'm sure I'm in the right ballpark.

I already have a comprehensive list of editions/condition/unique features (e.g. number or letter for limiteds, remarques or signatures where present, etc.) and I plan to take photos of the most valuable and rarest items. I'll make sure I keep backups off-site, thanks for suggesting that.