Many people assume their collectibles are covered by their home or renters insurance, but there are limitations. Standard policies may not account for increased market value, and covered losses are limited. Scheduling items or obtaining a standalone collectible insurance policy can provide better coverage for items such as trading cards, comic books, and more.

If you are someone who stands in front of the mirror each night and asks yourself if you need comic book insurance, baseball card insurance, or “is art covered by renters insurance?” This is the post for you. I sincerely you can stop asking yourself questions in the mirror and get back to spending time with your family.

It is likely you have come to our site just in time. If you’ve read any of our blog posts, you know you should never assume anything when it comes to your insurance. For more examples, read our post about real-life horror stories in which actual clients didn’t understand their coverage until it was too late.

Collectibles such as baseball cards, Pokemon cards, and comic books are covered on your personal property coverage but there are severe and extreme limitations that need to be considered, especially if you have a high-value collection.

Table of Contents

Types of Personal Property Coverage on Homeowner’s and Renter’s Insurance

Personal property coverage on your home and renters insurance policies has two types of coverage options:

• Replacement Cost
• Actual Cash Value

Replacement Cost means your policy will cover the cost of replacing your property with a like or similar item. Clothes, furniture, and general household items are very easy to go out and replace. They are readily available.

Actual Cash Value (ACV) is replacement cost minus depreciation. This type of coverage can be pretty rough, especially if you don’t realize you have it until you have a claim. Adjusters (the people who assess the damage, value, and cut the checks during a claim) assess depreciation based on age and condition. This coverage attempts to cover you for the depreciated value of the lost items, not the cost to replace the items.

How do standard home or renters policies cover collectibles?

Now that you understand replacement cost and actual cash value, let’s talk about how they would cover collectibles. A baseball card is easy to replace at Wal-Mart. The problem here is your insurance policy is not going to account for the increased market value of your collectible item. Policies are only designed to reimburse you for your actual cash value or replace the item with something similar.

The lack of accounting for increased market value on collectible items is the reason policies have built-in sub-limits on items like firearms, antiques, art, jewelry, and collectibles.

Note: It’s very important for you to review your policy after you receive it. Read the exclusions and the limitations on certain types of coverage!

Actual cash value is replacement cost minus depreciation, so… that could create a really frustrating situation. If you have a comic book that sells for $5,000 on eBay, your insurance company might offer you pennies for it after they factor in depreciation.

They see it as a magazine, nothing more than pieces of paper and ink. The irony of all of this is that many high-value comics, cards, art, or collectibles are even more valuable because they are old. Insurance companies see the age of these items as a reason to DEPRECIATE them even more.

What a mess.

I have a friend who owns the The Incredible Hulk #1 comic. It is worth tens of thousands of dollars. If an insurance company offered him a few pennies for it because of the depreciation… well, he would get angry.

The adjuster wouldn’t like him when he’s angry…

Types of Covered Losses are Limited

There is something else to consider. Standard home insurance property coverage only applies to covered losses in your policy. That means if you lose your collectibles in a flood, hurricane, or earthquake, or you just lose them… they are not covered by your standard policy.

Benefits of Scheduling Collectibles on Homeowners or Renters Insurance

You can schedule the items on your home insurance policy. This means you’ll have to get a appraisals and submit a detailed inventory list to your insurance company.

1. The insurance company will be able to add the coverage for your valuable collection to your policy. This will override the sub-limits of your standard policy and cover the collectibles at the appraised values.
2. This also typically broadens the covered losses for your scheduled items to include accidental damage or mysterious disappearance.

Benefits of a Standalone Collectibles Insurance Policy

Purchasing a standalone collectible policy is another option.

1. It puts your collection into the hands of a company who specializes in such areas.
2. If you have a claim on just your collectibles, you won’t suffer the surcharges that accompany a homeowner’s claim.
3. Typically have a more understanding valuation method and can account for some market fluctuations.

Types of Collectibles to Consider Scheduling or Adding a Collectibles Policy

• Trading Cards
• Comic Books
• Art
• Antiques
• Firearms
• Old Video Games
• Action Figures or Toys
• Wine or Spirits
• Musical Instruments
• Collectible Glasses
• Fine China
• Autographed Photos
• Anything that has increased in value due to rarity

Conclusion: My Fellow Nerds

Video games are a great example! Old N64 cartridges just seem to be climbing in value now that they are old and haven’t been made in roughly 30 years. They’ve become more of a collector’s item that represent a time in history.

You can’t replace them with new ones because they don’t make them anymore. A depreciated cartridge isn’t worth anything. The demand of the market is what makes these things valuable. As long as we have nerds, your Nintendo 64 games will have value.

No offense, I am a fellow nerd. Obviously, I have a friend with a Hulk #1…

I am in a nerd herd.

So, if you are a nerd and you have a big nerdy collection worth lots of money. Do the right thing. Do the nerdy thing. Contact me and let’s ensure you insure your collection properly.

Proudly serving Bradenton, Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Ellenton, Parrish, Palmetto, or anywhere in Florida!