TylerDurden_73

So I was Looking over my DVDspot account today and I realized that I have over $26,000 MSRP. I figure that's roughly $16,000-$17,000 retail. My question to you is...Do you have insurance on your DVD's, or do you know anyone who does? I mean If JLo can insure her ass for 1 million dollars, why can't we take out policies on our valuables?

I have a comic collection also worth that much, and I want to get them insured. Do I call my homeowner's insurance and set up a second policy for valuables not covered?

Anyone...thoughts...

Heat

Ask your agent about it, chances are it'll be a rider on the policy.

And I do not insure my DVDs, nor my comic books. I really do have a few comic books in the closet somewhere, left over from when I was in high school - I figured my kids might like them when they are older.

mndtrp

I have renter's insurance, but I'm not sure if they're covered under it. I assume so, but really don't have any idea.

Al_Tahoe

DVDs are covered under my Homeowner's Insurance, without a seperate 'rider' policy. Good thing too, as the South Lake Tahoe forest fire came within about a mile of my house!

firemen

SterlingBen

Current value is less than half of msrp if you kept everything wrapped. If you watched anything expect it to be more around 1/4 of msrp. Aside from the few oddball oops/criterions.

Example: The msrp of SCTV Vol 4 is $89.95, I bought it for $10, and then I unwrapped it, which means it's worth less than $10

Ahh, but your talking retail replacement price yes? So never mind then. Always be sure to get replacement cost insurance and not current cost insurance. I know thats not the correct vernacular there but you can really get screwed if they know everthing is crazy depriciated.

"I just bought that 32 inch Sony Trinition"

Living Dead

I have about the same MSRP on Spot that you do OP.

Not sure how homeowners works, but I have a $25,000 renter's insurance policy. $20,000 of that is DVD's and home theater and computers. The rest is all old furniture, and since I rent, I have no expensive appliances. I literally have nothing of else of value.

I have pictures of everything I own stored online, so that should I ever lose any of this stuff, the insurance company won't be able to give me any shit and I will be able to prove what I had and be reimbursed.

I feel a lot safer with the coverage. My monthly payments are pretty cheap too, but of course YMMV.

C_Fletch

Yea, renter's insurance is a must of you have a decent amount of DVDs, CDs, Games, conoles, HT gear, TV, Etc, etc, etc.

You'd be suprised when you start counting how much all you stuf is worth as a whole. I took out 20,000 and think I need to raise it.

Monthly payment should run you about $12 to $25 depending on how much coverage you want. That's not too bad for some peice of mind.

speedyray

My renters insurance is cranked up pretty high - probably too high, but I figure better safe than sorry. I will probably actually lower it after I sell off a big chunk of my collection (my project for the next few months). I figure selling off a 1000+ DVDs will decrease my needed insurance between $5000-$10000 depending on the replacement value I would be given.

WallyOPD

Yeah my DVDs are also covered under my standard renter's insurance policy. Pretty cheap monthly rate.

philip74

as you said it "you are not sure how it works". i dont know if there are any major insurance differences in the states, but in europe your home ensurance seems sort of small. you have nothing else of value?? did you ever imagine that the entire apartment burns down, with walls destroyed and water damage from the fire department. such a damage can go into the 100s of thousands!
if someone has a major dvd collection of 10 or 20 thousand dollars i would definitely ensure it seperately!! my ensurance agent once told me that in case of damage their is some square foor formula. now picture that just your collection which sits in a small space is destroyed...i doubt that the ensurance company would pay for the entire collection.
i prefer to be on the safe side and have higher ensurance then actually needed. ok, maybe the premiums are a bit higher also, but definitely worth my sleep at night!

JerryKILL

I specifically asked State Farm about this topic when getting home owner's insurance. I have a collection valued at around $50K. I did have to get a little extra on the policy to cover that amount, but it was no problem. They said I would be covered for theft, as well as the usual fire or other disaster. They did tell me to keep a list of everything in the collection, which I do anyway in an Excel spreadsheet, and store that list in a safe location away from the house. Pictures were also recommended.

Zodiac_Speaking

I should. During a fight yesterday my g/f tipped my shelfing case and dumped all my dvds everywhere. Luckily no damge or 'off the spindels', but damn, don't mess with a man's collection.

Jah-Wren Ryel

Lol, your GF is threatened by your DVD collection. She probably thinks you give more attention to your DVDs than you do to her.

Jay G.

Living Dead said he has renter's insurance, which means he rents the apartment, and thus would not be something that is of value to him, since he doesn't own it. The damage to the apartment would be covered by the apartment owner's insurance.

Of course, most renter's insurance also has liability coverage, for events where the renter is found liable for damage to other people's property, such as accidentally burning down the apartment. This coverage typically extends into the hundreds of thousands, but as it's separate from what is being discussed here, damage to personal property, I doubt Living Dead was including liability in his coverage amount.

tofferman

Yep, mine is also included in the homeowners policy without a 'rider' policy. Come to think about it, the dvd collection, collectively speaking, has the highest value of any asset I own, besides the house and Silverado pickup.

SterlingBen

Time to screw that shelf into a wall stud

Peep

Replacement cost is a godsend. I had a used Nikon camera that I bought 10 years earlier for $100 stolen. Sadly, that camera was long OOP and the insurance company insisted that they pay me $1300 to replace it.

Careful of "Acts Of God" though. Had a bunch of compact discs scratched to bits (along with a bunch of other damage) during an earthquake and the company laughed in my face.

Zodiac_Speaking

Without getting off topic, there's a lot more to it. But I moved out. Dvds are safe.

Al_Tahoe

Thank goodness!

matome

Homeowners insurance here.

milo bloom

Has anybody done this lately? Our renter's insurance is up for renewal and we're trying to get an idea of my collection (link below).

A lot of it would be easily replaceable but then I also have a lot of the Doctor Who titles that are out of print.

Does anyone have a rule of thumb for insuring their collection?

malazar

I just have $30,000 of contents insurance that covers my collection as part of my condo policy. I didn't need to get a separate rider or anything.

Alan Smithee

I've had renter's insurance ever since I've lived here, but I'm thankful now that DVDs aren't as hot as they used to be since there's less chance of anyone wanting to break in and steal them. I've still made copies of most of the super-rare ones and kept those at my parents' house just in case.

rw2516

It probably varies by policy but collectibles are usually not covered by homeowners insurance. Requires a specific rider. DVDs and CDs are probably not considered collectibles and most likely are covered. You can just replace them at retail. Comic books, baseball cards, action figures, movie posters, etc. , stuff you can't just go out and rebuy would probably not be covered.
Insurance companies considering collectibles separate probably originates with artwork. No way they want to pay for a Picasso if your house burns down.
Without a collectibles rider they'll probably give you cover price(.10/.12 cents) for your NM silver age comics.

kd5

I'm about 99.999% sure they're insured along with "contents" via our home owner's insurance policy.