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Old 16th Mar 2020, 7:07 pm   #1
electronicskip
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Default How do you insure your collection?

A question I've asked myself many times.
How can you insure your collection of relics?
New for old just won't work of course as many collections would run into silly money when they were new and of course unobtainable.
Any thoughts? As I'm looking to do just this.
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Old 16th Mar 2020, 7:39 pm   #2
Nuvistor
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Default Re: How do you insure your collection?

Some information here.
https://www.moneysupermarket.com/hom...ors-insurance/
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Old 16th Mar 2020, 7:39 pm   #3
chriswood1900
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Default Re: How do you insure your collection?

I insure mine on my household insurance, increasing the value of contents to cover the likely replacement value. My collection is not hugely valuable and I list any particularly valuable items of which I have very few.
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Old 16th Mar 2020, 10:23 pm   #4
Dave Moll
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Default Re: How do you insure your collection?

As mentioned in the moneysupermarket article, it is worth noting that individual items worth £1,000 or more should be listed explicitly on insurance policies.
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Old 16th Mar 2020, 10:35 pm   #5
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Default Re: How do you insure your collection?

household insurance varies widely as to contents, contents in sheds, sheds, audio equipment, things housed in buildings attached to the house, buildings so many yards away from the main dwellng etc. Some include it, some dont automatically but will for a fee. I would shop around.
The only thing I've named seperately is my organ.
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Old 16th Mar 2020, 10:46 pm   #6
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Default Re: How do you insure your collection?

Ask yourself the question is it worth paying the premiums? As you're unlikely to get your stuff replaced, might it be better just to take the hit? Remember there are excess clauses etc.

Having said that I have some particularly valuable items and in addition to specifying them I have to have them valued by an "expert" on a regular basis.
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Old 17th Mar 2020, 12:01 am   #7
knobtwiddler
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Default Re: How do you insure your collection?

It also depends on whether you want your gear on display. If you tend to use one item at a time and aren't bothered about being able to look at the collection, an option to consider if getting a large safe. They cost a packet new, but can be found cheaply on auction sites. A fire safe ought to do it. I have several, mostly found on eBay for 150 quid a pop.
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Old 17th Mar 2020, 5:03 pm   #8
donutty
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Default Re: How do you insure your collection?

I looked into this for my record collection. It is covered under my policy, with the exception as usual for items over £1000 which must be named individually.

Take photos of the items, with a way to prove they were in your house and stick them on 'the cloud' (Google photos, etc) so whatever happens you have something to go on.
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Old 17th Mar 2020, 5:27 pm   #9
avocollector
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Default Re: How do you insure your collection?

Never bothered for the radio/test gear - after all if anyone wants to make off with my 40's 30kg Marconi sig gen then good luck to them!!!!
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Old 17th Mar 2020, 10:43 pm   #10
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Default Re: How do you insure your collection?

I was once told by an insurance actuary that I shouldn't bother insuring anything if I could afford to bear the loss. (He was speaking for himself and the advice was very much off the record !)

The reasoning was that a direct loss to yourself will always be less than the average price charged by an insurer who will factor in all his costs and profit margin against the the probability of having to pay out.

(This doesn't apply where there is the possibility that you may have to pay an unaffordably high claim by another against you. Typically - a third party motor insurance claim)
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Old 18th Mar 2020, 1:29 pm   #11
Paul_RK
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Default Re: How do you insure your collection?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Granitehill View Post
I was once told by an insurance actuary that I shouldn't bother insuring anything if I could afford to bear the loss.
That's always been my view - maintenance contracts etc. are a good money-spinner for those that issue them or they wouldn't exist, and when it comes to vintage electronics I'd neither much care about replacing anything that was lost or destroyed nor would it readily be possible even with financial compensation in hand. So we've always settled for insuring the building we live in and taking out a basic contents policy: which does now include details of the sole item we have, a radio, whose monetary value runs well into four figures.

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Old 20th Mar 2020, 5:14 pm   #12
David Simpson
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Default Re: How do you insure your collection?

I guess if someone owns two or three CT160's, or VCM163's, several items of top of the range HP test gear, likewise Tek gear, a couple of tip top 1154/1155/PSU rigs, some very early 1920's Marconi sets, and so on - then we're talking several thousands of quid, if not more. Therefore they would be well advised to get a super-dooper insurance policy. Especially these days, if they live in a flood prone area.
However, I guess that most of us have just modest collections of gear & sets. My stuff just comes under the normal household policy.

Regards, David
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Old 25th Mar 2020, 11:10 am   #13
GMB
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Default Re: How do you insure your collection?

My father was in insurance and he always told me "insurance is a racket".

There does seem to be a trend these days for insurance policies to want to cover what I consider to be trivial losses. This has to be a money-spinner for the companies. I have always viewed insurance as just required to cover very very low probability huge losses.

As for many vintage items, you run into the replacement cost problem. Actually this is a big deal for cars too, if you don't replace them every couple of years.

I have direct experience of this:
I had an 18-year old car wrecked by a failed attempt to steal it. It would have cost many thousands to repair it. What I lost was a fully working car that I had serviced all its life. What the insurance company thought I lost was a worthless heap of almost-scrap valued at £50 (which they duly paid me). Where could I get a car that I had serviced from new for £50 ?

Sadly I also found that it is impossible to insure something for how you value it yourself. I tried with a specialist broker who claimed to do this for classic cars - but on going into the process I discovered it involved getting a valuation done, and guess what - it would be "market value" thus defeating the point of it.
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Old 25th Mar 2020, 1:31 pm   #14
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Default Re: How do you insure your collection?

I do keep a list of serial numbers for my more valuable or sentimental items of which I would be gutted if they were acquired by thieves.
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Old 27th Mar 2020, 6:22 pm   #15
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Default Re: How do you insure your collection?

I insure using two things. Firstly a fire extinguisher, second not having anything anyone would want to pinch.
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