I understand if you choose not to respond, but how much is your monthly premium for how much coverage?

And, who is your provider?

I'm paying $36 a month for about $25K personal articles policy w/St Farm.

Is that about normal?

Yes. My policy is through my AAA Homeowner's policy and costs about the same, as an add-on to the basic.

$15k through Farmers. Premium is less than $50 annually on my homeowners policy.

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Front sight and squeeze

My guns are only insured up to $2,500 with my homeowners so I had to get a rider in the amount of $50K to cover the entire collection. It only covers actual cost replacement and cost me $380 per year, single payment. They have to have the serial numbers, models, brands and such of each gun. Then they requested a photo showing the serial number. Now I have 30 days to furnish any newly accquired gun descriptions to them or that gun is not covered.

I dont have anything above my homeowners, but do have a couple questions. Doesnt owning a safe and or haveing a alarm system lower those preimums, or wont they even insure you at all, if you dont own a safe? Surely, I would think it to be a factor.

Owning a a safe does not help me at all. Got a couple of them. Having a monitored alarm for fire, entry, and motion gives me a 15% discount on my home owners but not my rider.

Looking at it another way, the 15% cuts my homeowners coverage about $128 per year. The monitoring fee is $180 per year so I lose $52 a year by having the system, not counting the $2000 it cost to have it installed.

An alarm system does not keep someone from entering my home to get the stuff, it just lets the police and myself know when the home has been entered. Let's assume the call is handled Routine, Next Up by the police. The avg 911 call takes 14 minutes to handle. How many guns can you walk out with in say 10 minutes and be long gone by the time police arrive?

Thanks. My next door neighbor owns the local alarm installation company. As a lockheed guard I ran more alarm runs than I can count. I know the truth in how that go`s in real life. (Not that good.)

My insurance company wanted a list of firearms including serial numbers. Not gonna happen! I have everything insured with the NRA Armscare insurance. You pay based on what you decide your firearms are worth. You pay X amount per hundred dollars.

If you have any one firearm that is worth more than $1500, it goes under a separate listing called "scheduled firearms", and all you provide is a description of the firearm and accessories so they can determine that the value that you placed on it is realistic.

Your guns are protected in and out of your home, as long as they are in a locked vehicle, etc. It is not very expensive, and protects against fire, theft, etc. The normal coverage one gets with other insurance policies.


WG840

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Freedom above all else.

There's nothing in my policy that says guns aren't covered. To some degree buying a rider simply buys double coverage.

I've never had a gun stolen but I did have a 35mm camera and two lens stolen about 4 years ago. A lot of photographers think they have to buy a rider for their cameras, you don't. Regular insurance depreciates the value of the merchandise from the time you bought it. They offered me about $1200 for what was taken. However, I had full replacement as part of the policy. Now the stuff that was stolen was maybe 40 years old. They bought me a brand new outfit for $13,000.

If you have a 1st generation Colt SAA, and you have full replacement insurance, they'll buy you a brand new Colt SAA. If you have a 1st generation Colt SAA owned by Teddy Rossevelt, they'll buy you a brand new Colt SAA.

The point is if you have a rare gun that is worth more than a new replacement you need a rider, and you should have proof what that gun is worth. You insure the gun for what's it worth, not the depreciated value or the replacement value. Few of us own rare guns so the standard homeowner's policy works just fine.

Call your insurance company and make sure exactly what they cover.My house was robbed and I lost about $7000.00 worth of guns along with just about every "valuable" I had.They gave me about $1000.00 for my guns and told me it was my fault they wouldn't be giving me any more than that.It seems I was suppossed to know you had to have a separate policy to cover your guns.

A lesson on homeowners insurance.

It does not cover everything in a home. Usually jewelry and guns are limited to $2,500 or less. Cameras, computers and electronics are limited to generally $5,000 or less. Other contents such as clothes, furnishings, appliances will be covered under the contents coverage.

I have a lot of computers and pricey cameras but I use them in business. They are in my home and subject to any peril that could occur in the home. They have to be listed on riders.

Now for the really bad news.

Insurance companies do not send someone out with a suitcase full of money to see how much you want. They want proof something existed. They want receipts, they want estimations, they want serial numbers. I had an employee many years ago whose home burned down. She claimed she collected movies on VCR and lost over 400 of them at $20 each. Then she filed for the family clothing for about $30,000. She also figured her furniture was worth $50,000. All this in a two bedroom home in a rural area that was valued at $28,000. What she received, after filing suit, was the $28K the home was valued, $12,000 for clothing, $3,000 in extra living expense and $20,000 in furniture reimbursement. I feel she made out like a bandit at that.

Policies have clauses and exclusions. They may be hidden in the language but they are there. A camera will be paid for in the event of loss unless you claim to have a Nikon D3 and all the lenses at a cost of maybe $20K. They will replace guns but only up to a couple thousand dollars. They will not replace a room full unless they are on a rider.

The best insurance you can have begins with a honest agent.

My camera was a Leica M4 and a 50mm Summilux (it's a real camera, it takes 35mm film), made in the '70's. Price on the used market was about $2000. Depreciated value was about $1200 by their calculation. My policy calls for full replacement so I asked for them to replace it. M4 production ended around 1980 so they bought be a similiar Leica M7 body, cost was $4500. A new Summilux was $3000. The other two lenses were about $6500. Total $13000 plus I had to pay the $500 deductable.

Your are correct, not all policies are the same and you need to make sure what the exceptions are. I move a lot and always get at least three quotes and look at the policy before I buy. Usually the prices are always identical but what is covered is vastly different.

I carry insurance through the NRA .

How much is that (per 1000) and do you have to be a lifetime member for it?

Mine is with the NRA. I have over $1000 of firearms but the way I look at it is if someone breaks into my house and take my guns then I am clearly not there so I have at least one or more of my firearms with me thus brining down the total (depending on what gun I have with me at the time) at or below $1000. However, if I'm home with all of my firearms and someone breaks in then....... lets just say that I would be filing a claim for Aftermath inc to come into my house for the clean up.

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Don't look, reload and shoot!

Look at it this way. If your firearm collection is worth that close to $1000, then you need more guns. Make a New Years resolution to buy at least one a month throughout 2011.

Once you have yourself acclimated to one a month, then in 2012, you can get a new one every three weeks and it will not hurt at all.

Once you are past that, you will not mind walking into a gun store and paying $2500 for one gun. You walk out not missing the money and feeling good about the deal you got on the gun.

The thing about getting older is we tend to buy more of what we want. I figure life is short and we should enjoy the things we want in life while we can. I do not want to end up sitting in a wheelchair, wrapped in a blanket at the nursing home regretting I did not buy the gun I wanted while I could.

I use:

Collectibles Insurance - Protecting Books, Stamps, Antiques and other Rare and Vintage collections in Baltimore, Maryland

to schedule my collection.

++10 What Oldman45 wrote.

2011 was the gun-a-month year. Cheapest gun was $487. That hacked the inheritence down to size.

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S&WHF 366