After receiving a Trumpter USS Hornet for Christmas, it dawned on me about the costs of some of my kits. Since I was lucky enough to have an extended Christmas holiday, I went to work to create a database of all my kits (both built and unbuilt) and to each entry, I added the purchase price. After discovering my kits + spray booth + airbrush amounted to in excess of $3,100 it led me to think about what would happen if my kits were stolen or destroyed by fire (heaven forbid)!
Has anyone given any thought to insuring their collections? I am considering doing so due to the current value of my stash. My biggest concern is that eventhough the contents of my house is covered under insurance, I doubt if my model collection would be. I guess I would need to supply pictures and my database if I decide to proceed.
Any comments you guys may have would be welcome…
BTW, happiness, health and prosperity to all in 2009.
I ask my wife who has been a insurance agent about this and she stated that depending on state and the insurance company, they may or may not be covered. This is becaused any kits you have built may be considered as one of a kind and are hard to insure. She also said that if you are worried about this, go see your insurance agent. But remember that there will be a limlt amount on what you insure.
I have some experience through a good friend of mine. He’s one of the people who helped me get back into this crazy hobby, and his house was flooded recently. It wiped out his magazine and reference library that he had been working on for 20+ years, as well as soaked his stash. The styrene survived, but most of the instructions, almost all of the decals and many of the boxes were damaged beyond repair. His built models were high enough up off the floor to survive.
Luckily he had documented his library and stash by spreadsheet and photos. He is collecting quite a bit of money through insurance. He’s looking at about 70% of the total value.
It pays to at least inventory what you have, just in case. And keep everything up about two feet off the ground helps, too!
Keeping them off the ground helps vs water, hurts vs fire, eh’.
Even insuring them… if they get destroyed its a bad thing. I have more then one kit that I doubt I will beable to replace. I have a 1/144 scale (gundam kit) Qubeley MKII, Red, limted edition, extra finish version. Its out of production, no longer sold in stories. Very few people have it in their stores. I was lucky to find mine, someone was blowing out his story mechendice on ebay, had 3 of them. It was my grail kit, I dunno how I’d replace it if it gets damaged or destroyed.
Thanks for the comments. I have all intentions to talk to my insurance rep and put my original post out more for others to think like-minded. The biggest problem, as mentioned by Smeagol, is how do you replace a kit that is OOP or discontinued. Some of these kits are probably quite valuable and literally irreplaceable irregardless of insurance settlements should something happen.
I have some experiance with this. I had a house fire and lost everything. Its a humble feeling to walk through the remains. But anyway you would just more than likely have to start over (I did) and try to find all the stuff you lost. I’m still working on that.
Naa, never considered an kind of insurance on what I do have hobby-wise. I’m actually of the opinion that it’s better not to know the dollar value of what I do have. That way, I’m not inclined to feel guilty over matters of my budget in the first place.
I think this is actually a case of Ignorance truley is bliss![;)]
Insure them separately, if you can’t get them under a general policy rider. More than likely they come under your homeowners insurance already, if you daren’t making a profit from their use.
The best thing about insuring them? It’s the only way you’ll ever get back out of them what what you’ve put into them. The bad part? You gotta burn your house down to do it!
I’m always piqued when people mention “how much they’ve invested” in their models.
Want an investment tip? Buy silver, today. It’s a tangible asset you can hold, it is in ever shortening supply against an ever growing demand and the price is poised to blast off again. Now, thats an investment.