Just curious about insurance

I had posted in some forums about a friend who just lost his home to fire and had no insurance (very sad). It got me thinking how many of us had our trains insured or knows if your home policy covers them?
We have a separate writer that covers all the trains.
How about you?


Mike

 

Home policy covers everything, auto policy covers it if some are in my vehicle. And this is where an inventory comes in with the replacement value listed. Note I said replacement. Insuring something for todays value may not get it replaced later since prices do go up. Specifically having a replacement value is just that. Replacement regardless of cost. Therefore my $8 Concor passenger car is today at least $17-$20 at replacement value.

 

My homeowners policy is similar to John's, i.e. replacement value. Now I must update the inventory from 5 years ago....:tb-embarrassed:

 

We have a custom rider on our home owners that covers replacement at current cost. We could probably have done it with the inventory using the general collectibles clause of our policy, but the rider is like $8 or $9 per year, so we went with it. Agreed on the need for an updated inventory with photos.

 

Worth talking to one's insurer to find out what is covered under general contents and what a specific rider would cost. Thanks for tip here. I'm sure my insurer wouldn't cover the trains on a general contents basis. Have built an Excel file with purchase costs & acquisition dates, but not for insurance.

 

We're on renters insurance this year (somewhat transient for work). The company just asks us for replacement value on things we own and doesn't seem particular about what those items are. I'll have to check when we move into a home we own again if we go with a different company.

Would things be different if someone had trains in their home primarily to sell or use in a train club rather than strictly "personal use"?

 

My HOP covers replacement cost. I had used it years ago after a break in, which lead me to moving from HO to N.

 

They obviously do not know what household goods are to model railroaders !!!!!!

 

Last October a truck (not mine) crashed through my garage wall and destroyed my HO layout. My homeowner's policy covered it. My insurance company didn't argue with the value I put on it...it was a very reasonable value. Now building in "N". Insurance carrier is the Auto Club. Very good to deal with. 11,000 damage to the garage & stuff.....another 9,000 to the car parked in the carage.

 

Add A RIDER To Your HOMEOWNER'S Policy

There are 3 ways to go about covering your model trains, your layout and your collectable trains.
1) Get a separate independent insurance policy from an agent.
2) Get a separate insurance policy from a organization/association. The NMRA has a sponsored insurance company that covers "collections"
3) Get a rider attached to your Homeowner's Insurance Policy. Usually VERY CHEAP and you are dealing with the Insurance Company that already is insuring your house and property.

I checked around and ended up having the rider attached to our Homeowner's Policy. It costs about $7.00 a year and covers up to $100,000 of my layout, model trains and supplies. We agreed on a set value system and a video record of my collection and layout. At first I used a VHS video camera, but have changed to a recordable DVD-R system. The DVD-R is updated every so often and stored in our safe-deposit box at the bank. At first it was a little hard to get the insurance company is understand exactly what I was wanting to get coverage on: "You want to insure WHAT? Toy Trains?!?" I then had them think about stamp or coin collections, once they realized what I was meaning, obtaining coverage was NO problem and it does bring a little piece of mind.

I have also stated to my Wife, that if there is ever a fire, I will get her and the dogs out of the house first. An then, if SAFELY possible I will be going back into the basement to get two containers out. The first container has all of my SPECIAL-RUN Kadee/MTL collection (every SPECIAL-RUN KD/MTL car put out till 1999[when I quit collecting])) and the second container has the INDIANA RAILWAY's steam engine collection (I don't want to even try to figure out, in terms of $, what I have invested in it). Wife is not sure if I am kidding or not!

The bottom line is: Get Insurance on your trains. It's CHEAP for coverage. Makes one less thing to worry about, ask anybody that has gone through a flood, tornado or fire!

 

The best advice for everybody is to talk to your insurance agent. He gets a commission to service your account so let him earn it. While generally layouts and all our stuff is covered by homeowners and renters insurance under 'contents', there is a dollar limit to the 'contents' coverage. Usually contents is written as a percentage of the building value. Most people are underinsured. Your best bet is to get replacement coverage on contents but do talk to your agent. Some companies have individual limits on certain items such as hobbies, especially those hobbies involved in collectibles such as coins, stamps, figurines, etc. You may find out, much to your dismay, that your trains could be classified as a 'collection' and may fall under an omnibus clause such as '...other collectibles'. So talk to your agent now before you have a loss because after a loss no one is going to listen to you.

 

I checked with my insurance agent when I bought my house. He made a statement similar to what was stated earlier. You want to insure what? When I explained to him what I was talking about he told me that they will cover up to $25,000 in replacement value for collectables, as long as it is NOT fine furnishings and fine artwork. As long as I dont go over $25K, I don't have to get an underwriter, but YES I am covered.